Ten minutes with … Ayesha Mustafa, founder of Fashion ComPassion
Social enterprise director Ayesha Mustafa discusses the rewards and challenges of running a sustainable online fashion portal
Tell us about your business
I started Fashion ComPassion in 2011 as a sustainable online fashion retailer. We provide a platform for socially responsible brands empowering women artisans from war-torn and developing countries. We currently work with 15 brands, from 20+ women co-operatives in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We help them with such things as design guidance, product diversification and expansion into new markets.
We’ve also partnered with the United Nations World Food Programme and every time an item is bought on our site, we help feed a schoolgirl in the developing world.
What are the best and worst parts of your job?
I love working with people from different countries and cultures who are helping others create a better life for themselves, and being inspired by the lives and stories of the women we work with. On the negative side, like most entrepreneurs, I have become extremely involved in my business and it takes over your life. Managing a healthy work-life balance is hard, especially if you are a startup and don’t have a big team. I sometimes want to do everything at once but I have learned, with time, that focusing on specific things in order is crucial.
What was the inspiration behind setting up Fashion ComPassion?
Fashion and philanthropy have been my two biggest passions andFashion ComPassion is a combination of the two. The business side of fashion had always been of interest for me — especially looking at who makes garments and how. Growing up in Pakistan and the Middle East, where one sees discrepancy in wealth, poverty and lack of opportunities — especially for girls and women — I wanted to create a platform that could directly help the most marginalised. But it all became clear, when I interned at the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh at age 16 and saw the transformational impact it created on the women, their families and society.
Do you believe the fashion industry suits social enterprises?
Not at the moment. Fashion today is about producing at low prices, fast production times and turn round, high volumes, very high margins, and is celeb and trend-led. This is the challenge of our times — to make fashion fairer, to bring transparency, ethics in the supply chain. To run a business that is profitable and sustainable but is based on a model where people and the environment are as important as creating a financial profit. This type of business model is not prevalent in fashion but many are taking steps towards it.
Do you believe sustainable fashion is a viable alternative for all clothing retailers?
Yes, it is. But this means making a big shift and changing how retailers operate — from sourcing, to production, to logistics. For this to happen, we first need to change the perception of consumers focused on fast fashion. This means educating about effects that this current pattern of consumption will have on people and planet, getting celebrities, influencers and global leaders to support sustainable fashion and focusing on who makes the products. When there is a desire for it, retailers themselves will have to start creating fashion in a more transparent and ethical manner.
What impact would you say the current financial crisis is having on the sector and its long-term success?
With less money in the economy, people have realised the traditional way of conducting business solely for profit is not the future. The tragedy of Rana Plaza showed what happens when businesses are based on unfair models of profit generation, manipulation and unfair practices. The world has woken up to understand that for everyone to move forward and grow, a fair model of business needs to be developed. This has given rise to more social entrepreneurs.
