AEQUEM PANEL ON SUSTAINABLE FASHION AND CAREERS
Last Thursday, we hosted a panel event with sustainable fashion shopping platform, Aequem. There was a great turnout for the lovely founders and their talk on their story and how important sustainable fashion is, but just in case you were not able to attend the panel, this blogpost is a quick rundown of some of the topics that were discussed.
Aequem is a new platform that launched less than a year ago and has become the largest sustainable fashion platform - it has grown quicker than the founders envisioned. The platform was born from the idea of making better fashion choices more easily as a consumer, since it is hard to make choices correctly in a world that is dominated by fast-fashion brands. By creating a platform where sustainable fashion brands are congregated in one place, consumers can easily make better choices, as they are not getting confused between both sustainable and non-sustainable choices. Today, the platform includes over 50 independent labels, and new products and brands are being added every week.
Here are some snippets of our interview with founders Magda and Ieva!
What are your backgrounds and how did you find your inspiration
for the company?
Magda: I have been working in the fashion industry for 8 years seeing all aspects of it and from different perspectives. In the industry, I saw that either brands keep searching for better materials, processes and fabrics, or they go in the other direction towards cheaper and worse quality items depending on the customer’s choice, and the latter is much more popular. I have studied design and had my own brand, which is now on the back-burner, but all of this experience made me want to create a platform to make shopping sustainably easier and transform consumer's choices. I met Ieva at a business event and that is how our story began.
Ieva: I was travelling in South East Asia and simply saw terrible plastic pollution in the ocean. I have always loved fashion and seeing that made me want to use my passion as a solution for this environmental problem. I wanted to use recycled products differently to make fashion better and turn something unwanted into beautiful products - we are so used to wasting resources when we could use this waste that’s already there to create amazing fashion.
What were the difficulties that you encountered in starting the business?
In the beginning, it was really tough. Starting any business requires time and money but we had very limited time and needed to make things happen as soon as possible. So we created a short video presentation about what the platform will look like as a place for new brands, since lots of new brands did not have a market place on which to sell. It was really difficult trying to approach brands without having a full website yet, but after launching the platform, we were quickly approached by brands that wanted to get on board.
Magda: We really had to get out into the world to research and get an understanding of the market as well. Whilst at Paris Fashion Week, I researched and found at least 50 more sustainable brands in different showrooms, which was
amazing to see. Obviously, we did A LOT of research before launching - the British Library is great for
researching market trends!
Do you believe it is impossible for bigger brands to be truly sustainable?
If you start as a truly sustainable smaller brand, that’s
how you grow. But brands like Zara are based on different values, mostly based on "wear once then throw out" perspective. Sustainable materials such as organic cotton are brilliant in theory but definitely more expensive. If people stop buying from fast fashion brands and move to more sustainable brands, maybe they can see that they need to change their
strategy.
Tell us more about Milan Fashion Week!
It was a really wonderful week of shows, networking and we even had our own pop-up store. There were some great events full of fashion and music, and it was really interesting to see how people are passionate about unique brands and one of a kind
pieces. Italy is very into
sustainability, it banned plastic straws years ago! Fashion week as a whole is great for new brands so we loved it. If you put in effort to set up meetings and go to networking events, it is definitely worth it.
Do you have a favourite item?
Yes! A couple of items actually: French Kiss Studio t-shirts and hoodies. We also love our fish leather bags. A lot of fish are consumed for food and their skin is simply thrown away but with new technology, it is now possible to create a type of leather from them, and they are dyed naturally to be used in clothing. We are in love with the new hair products on our website too - with packaging made from recycled materials and organic ingredients. We also have a dry shampoo in a bottle that you can refill yourself!
What would your advice be for young people looking to start their own businesses?
Work on your personal network and be nice to everyone. You never
know who will be able to help you in the future. And try not to focus on the idea that something is hard, you should just try, try and try! Talk to people, get their details and email them - the worse case scenario is that they just won't respond. And finally, make sure you choose something that you're truly passionate about - sometimes you will be up until 2AM working, so make sure your heart is in it!
For more information on the giveaway and internships offered at the panel event, please email us at kclfashionsoc@gmail.com or info@aequem.com
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