Building a fashion brand is hard and most people who undertake their own label can tell you they had no idea what they were getting into when they begun. To make it slightly easier we like to spread the wisdom. So here's our interview with the founder of Poplinen at a look behind navigating the supply chain and creating a brand that is based on ethical and sustainable practices as well as body inclusivity. 

We've all heard of the dangers of being a small brand in a busy factory that suddenly gets a massive order leaving your stuff pushed aside and late, well we discovered Quavaro during a weekend getaway to Washington DC and were inspired by their story of turning a manufacturing disaster into a fully vertical ethical supply chain as they navigated manufacturing in Mexico. Take a peak into the process of starting an ethically made in Mexico brand with husband and wife team Cesar and Pial Vega, founders of Quavaro. 

After nine months of development, we are over the moon to finally announce our Ethical Manufacturing Platform is launching into beta! This platform has been 3 years in the making and was a result of the Research & Development trip our Founder, Jessica Kelly, took to India. Jessica encountered some really incredible factories but knew how hard it was to find them online. The THR3EFOLD Ethical Manufacturing Platform seeks to make it easy for apparel and accessory brands to get connected to ethical factories around the world and manage their production all in one place. 

Join us for the launch of Ethical NYFW, an event bringing the conversation around the social and environmental issues in fashion to the main stage during New York Fashion Week. We are partnering with human trafficking organization Who They Are and Arlo Hotels for a 4 day pop up shop and party and we cannot wait to kick it off. But that's not all we are celebrating...

Building a brand is exciting and has lots of twists and turns. Step behind the scenes of ethical fashion brand Poppy Row to see how the Founder Crystal Row went from an idea (half naked in a bathroom) to launch to serve all sizes with modular staples that work for every facet of life.

Levi's estimates it takes 998  gallons of water to make one pair of jeans. This is crazy. The process of making denim is notorious for a massive waste of water, excessive chemical use, and little use of recycled material. But here's how one company is using technology to produce denim with one glass of water.

Brands come to us all the time looking to source deadstock fabric and be more sustainable, but then they stop short when they realize they cannot find the exact fabric they want. The biggest problem with our current design model, is when you come up with the product idea first, you have to then source new fabric to fit the exact vision you have in your mind. This perpetuates our massive waste problem in the fashion industry. To be more sustainable you have to design differently. By using design thinking you can design FOR deadstock fabric and still build a successful sustainable fashion brand to scale. Here's a real life example of how one man did just that with the brand Far From Lost.

It can be hard to spend money in the early days of your business. Every dollar counts and there are so many things that demand your money it can seem overwhelming. So hiring a business coach is just more money down the drain right? No. Do not underestimate the opportunity cost you are sacrificing by "saving a few dollars" verses investing now for bigger gains later. Here's 6 reasons you should hire a business coach for your fashion brand and a few coaches that might be good. 

Here are some great sustainable fashion events to take advantage of during the sleepy days of summer. Get connected and supercharge your way into the Fall/Holiday season.