As an entrepreneur, there are always barriers to enter the market. From initial capital, product development, social media strategy-the list goes on. As the fashion designer for Marielle|Ejiama, an emerging sustainable fashion label, I encounter many of these barriers on a daily basis.
In recent years the idea of eco-fashion and sustainable clothing has begun to move away from the bland yoga wear connotations it once held. Capsule collections from major fast fashion retailers (that’s a conversation for another day…) like H&M’s Conscious Collection and the emergence of luxury fashion brands that boast some kind of sustainable or eco-friendly accreditation like Mara Hoffman, Suno, and Edun have helped to shift the eco-fashion aesthetic. Combined with the likes of Vivienne Westwood (who has always been known for being a badass and a fashion icon) and brands like Loomstate and emerging designers like Gretchen Jones, one could say that eco-fashion is finally gaining the necessary traction to create mass market appeal and breakthrough. Still other brands like Patagonia have been in the sustainable fashion game for years and continue to innovate and challenge designer creativity and consumer accountability.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, eco-fashion can be defined as “clothing and other goods made from recycled materials or otherwise produced by methods that are not harmful to the environment.” Honestly, this is a great place to start, but still a bit limiting. It’s very hard to assert that every designer listed above produces their entire garment with no harmful repercussions to the environment (another day, another conversation), still more, it does not leave explicit space for the idea of how the complete life cycle of the garment increases it’s eco-friendliness. For the sake of this conversation, the barrier to entry that I want to explore is the fabric. Sure, one could definitely say that the cost of eco-fashion is too damn high , but yet still one could argue that the cost of fast fashion on our environment is too damn high as well. Is it possibly to strike somewhere in between? Can we produce clothing that consumers want to wear, is mindful of its environmental impact, and yet still is available and accessible to consumers at multiple price points? These are questions my business partner and I end up going around and around with in the wee hours of the morning. Why even bother making clothes if they’re destroying their environment? Because, let’s be real y’all, no planet=no need to wear that cute dress. More seriously, if we’re not factoring in the environmental aspect into our prices, are the prices reflected ‘real’, or are they a ‘passing the buck’, if you will, to the next generation that will have to deal with the next big environmental crisis? How can we, as designers and brands, drive down the costs of our garments?
One of the biggest factors is the price of the fabric. As an emerging designer, being able to hit 1,000 yard minimums on organic cotton jersey is nearly impossible. And that’s for only one fabric, what if you want to use multiple fabrications within a season (also, are fashion seasons a smart thing? More at 11.)? In order for us to drive down the cost of the garment, we need to hit those crazy minimums, but we frankly don’t have the capital, or even the space, to deal with that much fabric. We have considered two solutions.
One solution is that we front the initial high cost of the fabric in order to meet the minimum. And then we restrict ourselves to that one fabric for at least the next two seasons, creating and developing a smaller line of garments. This opens us about to having room to differentiate within the price bracket so that we can be more accessible, as well as gives us the design challenge of being innovative and interesting with the same fabric for continual seasons. Sometimes the best art is created within the confines of external limitation. This is the solution we are tentatively going forward with for this summer through next spring.
Another solution is a co-op, of sorts, between emerging designers. Does it not make sense for us to band together for our mutual benefit? I think that one of the issues is the idea that there is only so much space in market and you must bludgeon your competition with a roll of fabric in order to be successful. I disagree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. There are few things I love more than meeting other interesting emerging designers, some eco-friendly and some are not, and hanging out with them. No one knows the stresses of creating an eco-friendly fashion brand more than someone else doing it and there is so much we can all learn from each other! I believe that the changing tide of pushing eco-fashion truly into the mainstream is to band together in order to support each other. This would enable us to hit minimums, most likely exceed them, and that lowers the bottom line for everyone. How I envision it working is kind of like the sign-up sheet for the holiday party when you were in elementary school. There is a literal, or virtual (it’s the digital age, y’all), ‘sheet’ that lists several of the most popular eco-friendly textiles. These could include organic cotton jersey, organic cotton sateen, recycled polyester, etc and even leave a few places blank for people to suggest specialty fabrics not listed. As designers saw a need for these fabrics in their upcoming collection, they would ‘sign-up’ for the number of yards they wanted. Once we hit the expressed minimum (which could vary between fabrications), orders would be processed using payment information already on file. Once received the goods would be divided and allocated to each designer. Obviously this is a very rudimentary system and there is plenty of room for growth and streamlining within it.
A few more points, each fabric would be purchased in its PFD form (that is plain white and prepared for dyeing). Additionally, we would have relationships, ideally, with one or two wholesalers and then be able to expand to one or two textile mills. The majority of the fabrics would be purchased from the same wholesaler, located as physically close to the physical location of the co-op designers as possible, in order to cut down shipping costs and pollution in transportation. It would be best of the co-op had some kind of physical location where, at the very least, the shipped goods could be received and processed to be distributed. At most, it would be nice to have a place where designers can have a shared workspace or just the opportunity to bounce ideas off of another person in a similar situation. Just imagine all of the amazing collaborations that could come out of this kind of opportunity!
