Business For Good: Consumption with a Conscience
Business concern For Proficient: Consumption with a Conscience
Philly-based Wearwell is a clothing delivery service that volition have you looking—and doing—good
Apr. 03, 2019
When the Rana Plaza clothing manufactory in Bangladesh complanate in the jump of 2013, killing more than than i,100 people and injuring some other two,500, it was the deadliest garment factory blow on record.
More viii,000 miles away, 2 American University grad students, Erin Houston and Emily Kenney, heard the news and felt outraged, bereft. Kenney, then studying international evolution, had spent years working with grassroots community organizations in Central America; Houston, studying social enterprise, had been working in corporate media. Both wanted to do something, merely felt overwhelmed.
"It started as this very personal frustration of wanting to shop ethically. I'd pick something upwards in a store, see that it was made in Bangladesh, put it downwards, and walk away with nada," Kenney says. She and Houston wanted things that fit their personal manner and budget, and made a positive impact—but couldn't find items that checked all three boxes without doing hours of research. "At one point, I found myself downloading hundreds of pages of reports trying to runway a supply chain of a t-shirt, and I thought: I'm in grad school and working full time—how am I going to read this?" Kenney says.
"Our goal is to be the authorisation on witting lifestyle," Houston says. "Right now, that means selling apparel. But information technology also means educating our customers—and the industry."
As grad school wound down—Kenney prepared to work in India and then Cambodia, while Houston continued on in media—the women met for coffee, lamenting how little progress had been made when it came to ethical shopping.
"There'due south no i certification or ane group looking at standards," Houston explains. There are groups looking at organic materials, not-toxic materials, fair trade practices. In that location was the the Accord on Fire Prophylactic and Building in Bangladesh [an agreement between brands and trade unions to work towards a safe and healthy garment and cloth industry in People's republic of bangladesh], which, Houston says, over the final twelvemonth has started to fall apart. What was missing in the manner world, the women realized, was a clearinghouse of sorts, a stamp of approving and reassurance that y'all could experience good nearly the clothes on your back, without spending a fortune or compromising your personal style.
Then they decided to create one.
In February, they launched Wearwell, a clothing subscription service alike to Sew together Set up, the pop clothing delivery service—with a twist. All products come from vendors who provide living wages for workers and encounter standards of prophylactic and sustainability. For a monthly membership fee of $eight.50, a stylist—a human being, not a bot—will select half dozen pieces of wear, jewelry, or accessories for you lot, based on a profile you create about your sizes, manner, budget, and social values; send you a link to all samples; and give you the selection to add whichever items you like to your cart for purchase.
Correct now, Wearwell works with almost 30 vendors worldwide, like People Tree and Penh Lenh, buying some products wholesale and others on assignment; Houston and Kenney source the items, and their stable of freelance stylists make their picks from among them, keeping customers' budgets and preferences in mind. Products range from $xv to upwards of $200. And if you make a purchase, your monthly membership fee goes towards it.
The partners spent the final few years working from Houston's parents' basement in Delaware, tinkering with business models earlier officially starting Wearwell, which is unique from its competitors in a few ways. Its carbon footprint is smaller than Stitch Ready, since they don't send boxes with concrete appurtenances for try-on and return; instead, stylists curate a personalized list, with links to items (forth with styling notes and manufacturer info). And its price-betoken is friendlier than, say, Goop, which showcases the kind of luxe, sustainable fashion that can toll upward of four figures.
There's a misconception, the women say, that cute, upstanding mode has to be expensive. In fact, Kenney points out, in a recent commodity in The Guardian , " Oxfam said [that] if brands absorbed the price of paying a living wage, it would amount to [an increase of] less than 1 percent of the garment price."
"At ane point, I found myself downloading hundreds of pages of reports trying to track a supply chain of a t-shirt, and I thought: I'm in grad school and working total time—how am I going to read this?" Kenney says.
Now with an office in Center City, Wearwell has more than than 250 clients from effectually the U.Due south. Down the route, Houston and Kenney would consider expansion—perchance to menswear, habitation, kids, or an international market. If the women stay on their current class, they're prepared to exist profitable inside 3 years; if they aggrandize to other demographics, that projection could change.
Any direction Wearwell goes, Houston and Kenney are committed to staying in Philly. They recently joined Philly Startup Leaders and also became a part of Ben Franklin Technology Partners' portfolio.
"The thing that we actually beloved in Philly, beyond the cultural fit for us, is the opportunity to create jobs in a city that really can utilize them," Houston says. She points to the potential to open a warehouse that could employ people in need of transitional opportunities, like returning citizens or refugees.
To a higher place all, the women hope to provide more than a style service—they want to revolutionize the industry, enlightening manufacturers and enabling customers to shop their values.
"Our goal is to be the authority on conscious lifestyle," Houston says. "Right now, that means selling clothes. But it likewise ways educating our customers—and the industry."
Co-founders of Wearwell, Erin Houston and Emily Kenney 
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/business-for-good-consumption-with-a-conscience/
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