Green is the New Black!

by Hannah Jang, Chief Blogger

Fashion Week in New York may be over, but the momentum is still going strong! As proved by many designers this year, eco-fashion does not have to compromise style. Meet three talented local designers who create innovative eco-fashion clothing and accessories using eco-friendly fabrics. Who said sustainability can't be trendy and fun?

Designer:  Carmen Artigas

Product:  Handbags and home accessories

Exposure:  Studied fashion design in Milan at Istituto Marangoni di Design; Worked with Donna Karan, Romeo Gigli, Tocca, Swatch, Kate Spade; Had own line called Almeria; Certified organic yoga and spa line with certified natural dyes presented at BioFach, Germany 

A-ha Moment:  I took a 4-month sabbatical in India and it changed my life. I learned a lot about myself and decided to work with elements, colors and crafts that made me happy. Visits to my home country (Mexico) was the source of my inspiration and creative line.   

Local artisans from:  I met my local artisans through my supplier who was working with a prison craft program in Mexico City.

Fabric Material:  I use 100% polyethylene and it has 6 life cycles and zero waste production.

Current project:  I am working on a few developments for homeware, using the same material and technique.

Favorite quote or motto:  Do something that scares me everyday.

Giving back to community: I participate in Pop-up stores and design markets and KIVA micro lending. I teach Ethical Fashion at FIT and Sustainable Business Enterprise at Parsons. I feel we are moving into an age of transparency, traceability and responsibility and these courses address the real human and environmental cost of products. I advise young designers and garment industry veterans and teach them how to make informed decisions when sourcing textiles and considering manufacturing alternatives.

Advice to future designers:  Develop a good relationship or even a friendship with your suppliers. They will be more helpful and flexible down the road.

Favorite fashion trend and color for Fall: I don't believe in trends but I believe in style. For the fall, I adore anything made in alpaca and hand-loomed. My favorite fall colors include bright pink, soft turquoise, black and white.

Website:  www.vivalavidany.com

 
Designer:  Auralis Herrero-Lugo 

Product:  We make elegant and beautifully designed Urban Tropical clothing.                                                             Exposure:  I interned with Jill Stuart and worked with designers such as Susana Monaco.

A-ha Moment:  As you start to live a sustainable life- buying organic products and planting a vegetable garden- it sort of filters into all other aspects of your life. It happened very organically for me. One day I just decided to quit my job as a designer for a big corporation and started my eco-venture.

Local artisans from:  New York and Puerto Rico. I use NYC textile designers for our prints, Puerto Rican artisans for our accessories and a Puerto Rican designer for the jewelry.

Fabric Material:  We use organic, natural and recycled fabrics only. Sustainable fabrics that are Organic Exchange certified.

Current project:  We are using our fabric scraps to make an organic cotton underwear collection (we don't waste anything!).  We are also preparing for our Spring/Summer 2012 collection in which we are dyeing all of our fabrics using vegetable dyes. For Fall 2012, we are looking to incorporate some hand woven wool fabrics from Scotland and mix these in with our other eco fabrics. We have an exciting year ahead especially now that we have a new studio in Brooklyn!

Favorite quote or motto: "Take the path your talents make you take." (Henri Matisse) and “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete” (Buckminister Fuller).

Giving back to community:  As a start-up, we try to do as much as we can. We have recently worked with Kiva. I am one of the founding members of El Punto Es, an online magazine dedicated to Puerto Rican issues. We are also in the process of establishing a relationship with a water recycling agency in both Puerto Rico and NYC and will donate a percentage of our proceeds to them. Eventually, we will also be offering sewing classes and other educational programs for youth. 

Advice to future designers:  Make sure you have something new to bring to the table, because everyone's closet is already full.

Favorite fashion trend and color for Fall:  Deep teal with Burnt Orange

Website:  www.auralistudio.com

 

  

Designer:  Tara St. James

Product:  Sustainable ready to wear womenswear

Exposure:  Studied menswear design at LaSalle College in Montreal; Worked in denim design for 6 years before launching Covet and then started Study in 2009

A-ha Moment:  I decided it was time to take a risk and branch out on my own, mainly for creative reasons. I wanted to give myself the opportunity to create exactly what I wanted to make.

Local artisans from:  Madres Y Artesanas: womens hand knitting co-op in Bolivia who use locally sourced alpaca for their production; Grey's Exim: ethically certified factory in India who have an organic garden, school and daycare for their workers

Fabric Material:  I source as much as I can locally.  When not using vintage materials, I source organic, recycled, or sustainable such as hemp, tencel, linen, peace silk and organic wool.

Current project:  I just finished my SS12 collection and am working on a complimentary childrenswear collection for Spring.

Favorite quote or motto:  The future belongs to those of us willing to get our hands dirty.

Giving back to community:  I created Study Hall in 2010 to help teach my interns how to design more sustainably.  In exchange for their work, they design a piece that will be presented with the collection to buyers and stores.

Advice to future designers:  Be nice to the people you meet and work with because you never know who you'll need help from in the future.

Favorite fashion trend and color for Fall:  Oxford shoes and olive green!

Website:  www.study-ny.com  
 

 

5 Reasons NOT to Grow Your Business

by Adelaide Lancaster, Co-Founder of In Good Company Workplaces

I know what you might be saying to yourselves, “What? Are you crazy? Not grow my business? Isn’t that the point? How else will I be successful?” I hear your concern. Before you dismiss the choice not to grow, take a minute to think about your goals and the impact of growth.

As a culture, we have a real addiction to size. We believe that bigger is better. Period. Even in the business world, we impress each other by talking about numbers of employees, sales, market share and locations. From the second that most entrepreneurs start their business, they are encouraged to start thinking about just how big this venture can be - often even before the concept is proven, vetted, or even fleshed out. As soon as entrepreneurs open their doors they immediately start fielding questions about growth. “When will you expand? How many locations will you open? Are you going to hire people to see more clients?” As consumers and small business enthusiasts we, intrigued by fast-growing empires and the myth of the overnight success, egg the process on. “Yes, open a store in my city!” “You should hire more staff so you can see more people”, we chip in. “You should get your brand in Bloomingdales or Whole Foods.”

On the other hand, there are a whole lot of entrepreneurs who believe that success isn’t about size; it’s about satisfaction.  And sometimes that satisfaction isn’t congruent with growth or at least the traditional growth plans of replication or building a super-sized version of your business. Many entrepreneurs have found good reasons to reject a ‘growth for growth’s sake’ strategy. Let’s look at 5 of the most common:

 

1. BECOMING A SQUARE PEG. Growth may take you out of the role that you most enjoy. Let’s say you love the service aspect of your business or want to maximize the time you spend designing/writing/speaking/teaching/selling/creating/ or innovating. Building a bigger machine may require you to sacrifice too much of your desired job in order to focus on the business building tasks.                                                                                                                                                                 
2. INCOME PLATEAU. Many entrepreneurs are surprised that bigger versions of their business don’t necessarily yield bigger incomes. But increased revenues are almost always accompanied by increased expenses. Some entrepreneurs decide that the net gain doesn’t justify the sacrifices required.                                                                                                                                        
3. UNSUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE. More moving pieces inevitably mean more to pay attention to and more responsibility. A business goal for lots of entrepreneurs is longevity. They want to enjoy running their business in 10 years. This kind of long-term sustainability can be undermined by growing too fast or too soon. Burnout is a real risk in entrepreneurship and stamina is a valuable asset.                                                                                                                
4. UNDERMINES BUSINESS PURPOSE. To the surprise of some, having as many customers as possible isn’t the goal for every business. For some businesses a high-touch experience is what it’s all about. Others go for depth rather than breadth. Growth can force businesses to compromise on their core purpose, altering what they are known for and moving away from what the entrepreneur cares about.                                                                                                                                                                                          
5. LIMITS RANGE OF ACTIVITIES. More and more entrepreneurs are building their businesses by creating a portfolio of various activities and diversifying their revenue streams. For example a consultant who loves speaking, creating products, consulting, and writing or a product company that wants to retail, wholesale, license, consult, and speak. Growing or scaling one aspect of their business would preclude them from pursuing other activities and outlets.

 

None of this is to suggest that I am anti-growth or anti-big-“small business.” On the contrary, I want to help entrepreneurs pursue their best end, whatever that may be. I don’t believe in growth for growth’s sake but I do believe in growing for the right reasons. So as you consider your own venture’s future don’t blindly put size before everything else. Instead define success by your own satisfaction, carefully considering your goals, business purpose, role, motivations, and desired outcomes – these elements will help you decide the size that is right for YOU.

 

Adelaide Lancaster is an entrepreneur, speaker and co-author of The Big Enough Company: Creating a business that works for you (Portfolio/Penguin). She is also the co-founder of In Good Company Workplaces, a first-of-its-kind community, learning center and co-working space for women entrepreneurs in New York City. She is a contributor to The Huffington Post, and a columnist for The Daily Muse and The Hired Guns. She lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband and daughter. 

Summer Takes the Fall

by Hannah Jang, NYWSE Chief Blogger

As the season of short shorts and bare bellies draws to a close, we look forward to breathing in that crisp autumn air and watching the wind dance through the blazing foliage. September always conjures up back-to-school memories of new clothes, backpacks bursting with a fresh crop of school supplies (colored pencils!) and trendy haircuts.

Fall is also the season of change and transitions. As I transition into my new role as the NYWSE Chief Blogger, I would like to extend a big thank you to Oi Yen Lam for providing us with thought-provoking and inspiring articles for the past year.

Looking ahead, this space will feature updates on our exciting line-up of fall events and personal stories from the NYWSE network. If you would like to contribute as a guest blogger, share your personal journey as a social entrepreneur or even share a new idea, we would love to hear from you! Email us at: [email protected].