For me, climate change and the impact we’re having on the environment
is the biggest issue. I’m not an engineer and I’m not an environmental
scientist, but I do know how to make clothes, so for me, this is my way of
trying to address it. “A startup has an advantage in terms of developing a
supply chain from scratch." We do everything that we can to be sustain-
able. From sourcing materials to business practices, we think about our
impact on the environment. We have the “RefScale”, where we measure
the impact for every item that we make, from carbon dioxide, to waste, to
water usage. We look at the difference between what we do and what the
industry average is, and ensure that there is a significant energy savings
in our approach. We also offset the carbon dioxide and water we do use.
Your approach is unusual because it is so data-driven. Many other brands
that talk about being environmentally friendly don’t quantify their efforts.
It’s really not that hard to quantify sustainability. I think a lot of companies
are approaching it from a gaining perspective, and I wonder how many of
them actually want to make a big change.
I also wonder how many of them can. It’s hard for a big company with
a lot of staff to forgo profit because they want to be more green. It’s also
hard to reconfigure your supply chain once it’s already been established.
A startup has a huge advantage in terms of developing a supply chain
from scratch that abides by these environmental values. You call yourself
a fast fashion brand, but your company is very different from say, Zara or
Topshop, in terms of values. How do you define fast fashion? I think that
fast is the future. Pretty soon, it won’t be called “fast fashion,” because
all of the slow brands will be gone.
To me, fast fashion is about paying attention to what people want and
making that right away. Instead of guesstimating what people are going to
want to wear in 18 months, we release some products, see what is doing
well then release more of those. It’s that simple. Instead of doing a giant
advertising campaign to convince people to buy a red dress because you
have a million units of it that you purchased a year ago, we just make what
people are already buying right now.
One of the criticisms of fast fashion is that it encourages people to
treat clothes like they’re disposable. How does that square with your
environmental values? “Fast is the future. Pretty soon, it won’t be called
‘fast fashion,’ because all of the slow brands will be gone.”I think training
consumers not to treat clothes as disposable has to do with educating
them about the true cost of the clothing. It’s about making it clear that
there are people behind the clothes. If you wear a complicated jacket
that you bought for $10, chances are there is human suffering behind
it: you’re probably not paying the person who made it. If you’re buying
T-shirts for $2, $5, or $7, that should immediately set off alarm bells.
That’s just about inexpensive clothing.
The question is not fast we’re making the clothes, because you could
take 18 months to make garments and still not pay your workers. We have
our own factory where we focus on ensuring that we’re abiding by a code
of ethics. But we’re also fast fashion.
“
FAST IS THE FUTURE.
PRETTY SOON, IT
WON’T BE CALLED
‘FAST FASHION,’
BECAUSE ALL OF
THE SLOW BRANDS
WILL BE GONE.
”
31