By Lea Stewart / Source: Ecouterre

maven-women-1-537x403

When a frustrated lawyer decided to turn conventional thinking about women’s businesswear on its head, Maven Women was born. “I wanted to embody social justice, not just in my career as a public interest lawyer but also in the clothes that I wear,” Rebecca Ballard, the company’s founder, explained. Launched on the eve of the 2016 Copenhagen Fashion Summit, Maven Women seeks to empower not only the workers who make its clothing in South Asia but also the women who wear it. Customers, for instance, are able to vote on the type of styles they’d like to see the company produce. (Everyone who votes receives a discount once an item goes into pre-sales.) Ecouterre sat down with Ballard to learn more about Maven Women’s “co-creative” approach, how it’s standing up against rampant abuse and poverty wages in the garment industry, and why it takes a village to launch an ethical apparel brand. As a special treat, Maven Women is offering a special discount for our readers. Simply enter “Ecouterre” at checkout to take $10 off.

maven-women-3-900x675

How did you decide to found Maven Women?

The idea for Maven Women came to me about a decade ago. At that time, I was a frustrated lawyer seeking elegant workwear created in a socially conscious way. I literally could not find a single option.

Our lives are more connected that we realize and we have more power to create positive change than we know. Maven Women brings together my desire to make all of my consumptive choices in line with my values, using my purchasing power as a form of advocacy to create a kinder, gentler world.

“Maven Women has become a movement for all of the women out there who demand better and want to create the change they seek.”

Its aesthetic is founded on my love of elegance and glamour, which I believe we could use more of in the workwear world. We also have a focus on comfort, using only materials that are just lovely to touch.

Maven Women is no longer just my idea. It represents the vision of so many women who want better options in terms of both sustainability and style.

I spent the past decade in dialogue with social impact leaders, as well as amazing professional women who shared with me the types of styles they were seeking.

This helped us develop our co-creation process, and I encourage you to spend 30 seconds engaging in this.

Maven Women has become a movement for all of the women out there who demand better and want to create the change they seek.

maven-women-2-900x675

What is “slow fashion” and how does it inform your brand?

The fashion industry pumps out far too many well-marketed yet poorly made clothes that don’t fit, flatter, or speak to each of our authentic personal styles.

The vast majority of Americans have more clothes than they wear on a regular basis.

In fact, the average American buys five times as much clothing as in 1980 and throws out 65 pounds of clothes per year, which often get dumped in the developing world.

“Why is it that we, who have so much, still struggle with feeling like we have nothing to wear?”

We don’t like what we have, and we only wear only 20 percent of the clothes in our closet.

Slow fashion aims to reverse this trend by producing quality clothing with beautiful, timeless styles in a way that is made to last.

It’s the exact opposite of “fast fashion,” and, much like the “slow food” movement, it focuses on going back to basics and the way clothing used to be made.

I’ve spent time in very poor parts of the world and seen how people dress themselves and their families with pride, looking beautiful with the few items they have and taking great care of them.

Why is it that we, who have so much more, still struggle with feeling like we have nothing to wear?

maven-women-4-900x675

Tell us more about your collaborative approach to production, and how the pre-sales model works.

I believe women inherently know what looks good on them and what fits and flatters. However, too few companies are asking them what they want to create.

They are pushing trends on women that might not work for their frame, fit their personal aesthetic or lifestyle, or really not even be all that attractive when measured against the test of time.

All of our designs start off with a “focus group” of busy working women, many of whom are working moms.

I run sketches by them to get their feedback and make quite a few tweaks based on their ideas. I may repeat this process a few times until I get something just right.

We also have honest conversations about price point to make sure that whatever we develop is affordable for women in a wide range of professions, including those who work in the public and social sectors.

The next step is to get those designs turned into a beautiful watercolor sketch for voting.

“Too few companies are asking [women] what they want to create.”

We encourage women to vote on their favorite designs, and once they receive enough votes they move into pre-sales. We may also go back to women who have voted to ask them why they did—or didn’t!—vote on particular designs, using that feedback to create new ones. The “Elizabeth” was born out of this dialogue.

By selling via pre-sales we’re able to pay our supply-chain partners upfront, a socially conscious practice in line with the fair-trade ethos.

It also cuts down on waste, as we really get a sense of the cuts and colors that have the most interest without just guessing.

And finally, it puts power back in the hands of consumers who are demanding better, demystifying how clothing is created, and bringing them in as co-creators and investors in a better future for fashion.

At this point, your customers aren’t “customers” in the traditional sense

We see everyone who purchases during pre-sales as an “investor” in creating something truly beautiful inside out, that honors people and the planet every step of the way.

In gratitude for their patience, we offer them deep discounts. Once an item goes through pre-sales, it can be purchased via regular channels.

We’ll also make any tweaks necessary and take customer feedback from that in creating future styles.

maven-women-5-900x675

You promote plenty of like-minded organizations and even competing brands on your site.

People ask me often what my “end game” is and I tell them it’s simply this: for the global garment industry to fulfill the promise of economic empowerment that drives people to work in it.

A universal truth that spans cultures is that people want good jobs that give them the ability to provide for themselves and their families.

The goal is for the woman in Bangladesh—or India, or Peru—who takes a job working at a factory or farm to see an increase in her family’s socioeconomic status and education level, rather than suffer the abuse that may put her in a worse position than when she started.

This is also intricately linked with the ecological impact of the industry, as the environmental issues are often most acutely felt by those who work in it in the developing world.

It’s going to take an entire ecosystem making every type of product you can imagine—from tap shoes to lingerie to sweatshirts to blue jeans—to change things.

“It takes a village to launch an ethical brand. It’s important for those of us doing the right thing to stick together.”
Customers can only buy what the market offers, and much of the innovation here is happening with newer, smaller players. If there isn’t a competitive product which is environmentally or socially conscious in any major product category then we don’t have a chance for a complete transformation.

One of the reasons why America hasn’t gotten further with sustainable fashion is that it’s hard to “unravel”—pun intended!—the fashion industry’s status quo.

Doing something the right way in every way can have tricky ethical issues that are easy to sidestep if you aren’t looking for them. You need to have people you can trust to chat with when things get complicated.

It takes a village to launch an ethical brand. It’s important for those of us doing the right thing to stick together.

Many of the sustainable fashion leaders are entrepreneurs, and it can also be lonely and hard and often rather scary to launch a company.

Sadly, most new companies also don’t succeed, so the stakes are high. One of us may also be able to provide key advice or insight to another who is always happy to return the favor.

To use four examples, the conversations I’ve had with Sica Schmitz of Bead & Reel, Marissa Heyl of Symbology, Amy DuFault from the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator, and Safia Minney of People Tree have been instrumental in starting up Maven Women and a great encouragement.

It’s also an awesome life when you get to know people as passionate, lovely, and dedicated as these ladies.

maven-women-6-900x675

Read more @ Ecouterre