Billionaire clothing dynasty heiress launches Everybody & Everyone to make fashion sustainable
Since that revelation, Chou dove into the world of sustainable production head-first. Through her household’s financial investment cars she has dealt with companies like Modern Meadow, which uses bio-engineering to make leather items in a laboratory. Chou has actually also led financial investments in Thousand Fell, a soon-to-launch producer of completely recyclable shoes; Dirty Labs, which is establishing more sustainable laundry cleaning products; and Carbon Engineering, which is establishing a direct air capture technology for co2.
For Chou, an understanding of the environmental toll that the family company was taking on the planet started six years earlier– a couple of years before Iconix Brand Group got the China subsidiary she had co-founded with her dad in a deal reportedly worth $56 million.
The company’s attention to its environmental effect also extends to its supply chain. “Most of our materials are knit close to where our garments are made. That is absolutely decreasing our carbon footprint,” says Chou. “I put an emphasis on having factories in America … our jeans is produced in America and in the future we’re taking a look at sports and t-shirts to be produced in America.”
The brand-new brand, which sells women’s clothing for each size from 00 to 24 and at prices ranging from $18 to $288 (most fall in the $50 to $150 range, provided a quick scroll through the business’s new site) partners with business like Naadam and Ecoalf for sustainable cashmere and recycled fabrics made from plastic.
Digital printing is used in place of screens to avoid lots of water waste, the company said, and several of the company’s materials are not dyed at all. rather, the business counts on an upcycling process by separating recycled fibers mechanically by color.
“It was 6 years ago I began finding out about sustainability and five years ago that I said that I needed to have a sustainable brand name,” states Chou.
As the fashion industry has actually expanded, so has the wealth of the Chou family. South Ocean Knitters, the knitwear manufacturer begun by Chou’s grandfather, was accountable for one of the first foreign investments into mainland China in 1974. It is now among the largest suppliers of knitwear worldwide, and, together with the Hong Kong maker Li & & Fung, is behind the Cobalt Fashion Holding conglomerate.
well. About 20 %of commercial water contamination internationally can be traced to the dyeing and treatment of fabrics– and microplastics from polyester, acrylic and nylon are polluting the world’s oceans. The increase of quick fashion has motivated customers to speed up waste. Approximately one trash truck complete of clothing is landfilled around the world every second, according to a 2017 report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. That suggests customers are discarding around $400 billion worth of valuable goods every year as low costs and more “seasons” produce an illusion of disposability.
It was around the time that Chou had her kids, she says, that she realized the importance of making a brand name that was both ecologically sustainable and inclusive.
“I started developing Everybody & & Everyone from the ground-up, very first by getting the very best group in location then by discovering the best vendors, manufacturers and partners who were currently making strides in the sustainability space,” Chou stated in a declaration. “I desired this brand to be for every single lady, so body positivity, inclusivity and sustainability were going to be the backbone of everything we did. We then built the brands sustainable & & technical pillars, which consist of activation, recycled, coloring & & printing, naturals done better, bio-based fibers and end usage to guarantee our items would minimize negative effects. We are sustainable down to the labels sewn into each garment.”
Everybody & & Everyone applies the lessons that Chou has found out about sustainability to a brand-new fashion brand that she hopes can serve as a design for how to weave sustainability into every element of the market.
Image courtesy of World Resources Institute
Veronica Chou’s household has actually made its fortune at the forefront of the quick fashion organisation through financial investments in companies like Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger. However now, the heiress toan estimated $2.1 billion fortune is launching her own business, Everybody & Everyone, to show that the fashion business can be both environmentally sustainable and successful. There’s no argument about the unfavorable effects
of the fashion industry on the environment. The fabrics industry primarily uses non-renewable
resources– on the order of 98 million tons per year. That consists of the oil to make synthetic fibers, fertilizers to grow cotton and toxic chemicals to color, deal with and produce the textiles utilized to make clothing. The greenhouse gas footprint from fabrics production was approximately 1.2 billion lots of CO2 equivalent in 2015– more than all global flights and maritime deliveries combined(and a great deal of those worldwide flights and maritime deliveries were carrying clothing). The litany of catastrophes that can be associated to the clothing industry encompasses contamination, as
Everybody & & Everyone has actually likewise partnered with the organization One Tree Planted to plant a tree for each purchase that’s made with the business. In addition, the business has calculated its carbon footprint from all of its pre-launch activities and has actually bought and retired offsets to balance its emissions, Chou says.
“For our brand, recycled is a big story for us,” says Chou. “Our tee shirts, our socks, our packaging, our mailers, our labels, our sticker labels are all made from recycled materials that can be recycled once again.”
And her dad, Silas Chou, made millions as a financier in Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger. As an executive at Iconix Brand Group China, Veronica Chou played a role in the velocity of the industry– bringing American brand names to Chinese consumers. Chou likewise worked as the co-founder of the Beijing-based personal equity fund China Consumer Capital and as a director of Karl Lagerfeld Greater China.
Some clothes are also made with materials that have recycled silver in them– so that the clothes can be worn several times without smelling or the requirement for a wash.
Veronica Chou’s family has made its has actually at the forefront of the leading edge fashion business through investments in companies financial investments Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger. And her dad, Silas Chou, made millions as a financier in Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger. As an executive at Iconix Brand Group China, Veronica Chou played a role in the acceleration of the industry– bringing American brand names to Chinese consumers. Because that revelation, Chou dove into the world of sustainable production head-first.”For our brand name, recycled is a big story for us,” states Chou.