Vintagewknd’s co-founders Eileen Tan and Eden Tay.
Vintagewkd
Creating sustainable style with a classic vibe might sound like a frightening activity to most, nevertheless it did not cease 28-year-old Eileen Tan from quitting her job to embark on the journey.
After leaving her full-time job within the oil and fuel business in 2019, Tan got down to make Vintagewknd a sustainable different to quick style — all within the identify of minimizing the waste that she witnessed within the style business.
Her dream was to design and create classic clothes through the use of outdated materials and making them look model new. However that journey was not all the time simple.
Folks and firms have an interest to [push] traits quick and laborious … issues to do with the surroundings get misplaced.
Eileen Tan
co-founder, Vintagewknd
“It is rather a lot concerning the mindset. Folks and firms have an interest to [push] traits quick and laborious. So, issues to do with the surroundings get misplaced within the course of — which is one thing that after all we battle with as nicely, like creating sustainable clothes,” Tan not too long ago instructed CNBC’s Inside E-commerce.
Making sustainability trendy
Tan, collectively together with her associate Eden Tay, first began curating and promoting classic clothes on a part-time foundation on on-line market Carousell in 2015. It wasn’t till 2019, once they took the enterprise full time, that they began specializing in sustainability.
With all the fabric for his or her reworked clothes coming from garment waste factories and manufacturing traces, upcycling is vital to their enterprise. Upcycling refers turning waste supplies or undesirable merchandise into one thing helpful, and on this case might be luggage or clothes.
Vintagewknd’s co-founders Eileen Tan and Eden Tay.
Vintagewknd
The duo have since left Carousell to arrange their very own e-commerce retailer and department out to different social media accounts resembling Instagram, the place they’ve over 34,000 followers. Their advertising efforts are actually primarily centered on TikTok, the place they movie area of interest styling movies primarily based on themes like Winnie the Pooh, Pokemon, and tv exhibits from the ’90s.
When requested concerning the degree of demand for sustainable clothes, Tan mentioned that sizing and worth factors are boundaries to entry as garments are usually made in smaller batches, making the merchandise costlier.
Shifting client habits
There may be simply a lot waste on the planet. I’ll undoubtedly look into [diversifying our product range].
Eileen Tan
co-founder, Vintagewknd
“As much as 90% of shoppers need to purchase one thing from a sustainable model or retailer. 85% of them are keen to pay considerably extra for that,” mentioned Gwendolyn Lim, Companion at Bain & Firm. “So, if the platform is ready to work on this thought of sustainability, that is also a recreation changer.”
Tan mentioned the shoppers of Vintagewknd are usually receptive to the concept of protecting the sustainable message — even in style.
Whilst retailers like on-line style model Zalora have publicly made sustainability a precedence, Tan hopes different corporations may also catch that imaginative and prescient. “With the intention to make a worldwide impression, bigger style firms do must make the change,” she mentioned.
Vintagewknd’s co-founders Eden Tay and Eileen Tan.
Vintagewknd
