Ep. 102: Creating clothing with purpose

This transcription has been AI generated and therefore may have some inaccuracies.

Ep. 102: Creating clothing with purpose

The Textile Innovation Podcast speaks to Gillian Ridley Whittle, founder and CEO of ethical underwear and clothing brand Peachaus.

WTiN: Hi Gilly, thank you for joining me today on the WTiN podcast. It's great to reconnect with you. For our listeners Please, could you tell us about your background in the fashion industry and about your work in lingerie?

Ridley-Whittle: Well, I've had a long, and lengthy career in the fashion industry. I started off doing a fashion design and marketing degree, and then I've worked for lots of household names, more recently, Marks and Spencer. I was head of their underwear. Then I ran it and I launched their beauty.

I moved to Australia in 2014, and I ran the women's wear businesses for target, and then the beauty, laundry and kids business for a department store called Maya, before returning to the UK as Topshop’s fashion director. And I took Topshop through covid to eventually their sale to ASOS. And at that point, I transitioned my life into being an entrepreneur, and I started my journey to launch Peachaus so I can tell you about some of my experiences.

So, I got into the underwear business when I was actually at Marks and Spencer. So I had my first child, and when I came back, I was moved from their clothing division into their underwear division, which was an amazing job. M&S has market share, like 30% market share in some categories, over 50% market share. So they're the biggest player in the UK. And at that point, I really fell in love with underwear.

I was then given the opportunity to launch their beauty, which I also fell in love with. And they're two really powerful categories. But that was where my absolute passion for running an underwear business or setting up a brand in underwear came from. But I was also from there on in and from my experiences in Australia, I was getting a bit disillusioned with the industry, in totality, because I was noticing that the beauty and the creativity that went into the making of garments was being eroded by discounting, by therefore, to protect your margin, going to cheaper sources, taking some of the detail out of products, maybe cheapening the fabrics.

And I I started to feel this, this didn't feel right to me, and then going to cheaper sources which weren't always ethical and didn't necessarily have the right compliance in place and the right support for team and staff that worked in those places. I started to feel that the industry was cruel, and actually I didn't sit with me, and so I was getting a really strong sense that the industry I'd fell in love with and wanted to be in forever was something that didn't align with my own value system. And that was where really I started to think about it was the time start thinking about my own brand. And this was around 2016 when I was really starting to formulate the idea that it was the right time, because I really believed that the clothing industry, and I tend to try not to use the word fashion too much, because I don't think fashion is what's damaged the planet, that fast fashion, that throw away, whereas the clothing industry, I think is, is a great industry when it's when it's treated in the right way. And I felt that I could create something which could put humans at the forefront kindness, goodness, care and creativity, and I could create something with value and something with longevity, which actually gave back to people and planet.

WTiN: That all sounds amazing, and you've answered part of my next question. But could you tell me how you got the brand off the ground?

Ridley-Whittle: I wish I knew three years ago, what I know now. Starting a brand, on the one hand, is very exciting, because you can bring to life something which is in your heart. And I've always had a great sense of style. I've I've obviously had a strong fashion career from a commercial point of view as a buyer, working my way up to running, running parts of an M & S division and other companies, but and therefore, I've always had people around me. I've always had that corporate cushion. I've always had a department and someone I could just ring up to do things. But starting your own brand, it's you, and you're having to get involved in pretty much everything. So yes, the passion, the excitement, but then actually, the reality that this is you maybe don't have all the skills to do this, you are having to work incredibly hard and be very resourceful, but I I love that.

I actually love the fact that I had created something. Was creating something from scratch. It was truly so dear to my heart, because everything we could do from day one was about building something which was. Responsible and sustainable, and we could curate it, curate it in such a way that it was the value system was, was really important, rather than retrospect, retro fit, which is a lot of what a lot a lot of business is having to do now, and but I feel like I've made so many mistakes i and but those lessons have are what shaped me now into the person that I am, and actually have given me so many learnings about myself and also about what the customer wants and what the customer is actually what resonates with them.

But I've made you make a lot of mistakes. You just have to be prepared for that. You have to keep going if you really believe this is the right path for you, which I did, because I just didn't want to go back to a corporate job again. And so that's what's just driven me, that absolute determination. It gets me out of bed every morning. I love what I do. I love what I've created. I love the customers that I serve and meet. I love how I can touch them and their lives with my product and with the experiences that I'm giving, and I firmly believe that I'm on the right path to create something which is, as I talked about, sets a new precedent for our industry. That's

WTiN: You’ve mentioned this previously, but like, why was finding sustainable suppliers so important to you, and how did you source those suppliers that you work with?

Ridley-Whittle: Yeah, so sadly, and I do think this is really sad, the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in our world, and I didn't realize this when I was in my 25 plus year career that I was creating so much damage, we weren't educated. We didn't even consider what we were doing with the natural resources we were using. So we were blind as consumers that have been blind, and I therefore was fanatical about the fact that if I was going to continue being part of this problem, I was just continuing doing what I doing so creating a value system, a supply chain, which was already pioneering sustainable practice.

So they were leaving less of an imprint. If no imprint on the planet was a non negotiable for me. And so I  looked hard in terms of where I was going to create my products, and I wanted to leave the lowest carbon footprint I could. So we went to Portugal, which was obviously close to the UK, which is our primary first market. And we've worked with suppliers in Portugal who have pioneered practices, and are pioneering practices so they're highly accredited. They're gold star. They treat their workers incredibly well. They pay them fairly. The quality of their products is so beautiful that their garments are made to last. They feel good, they look good. And and that was really important to me.

I also went to India, which has a lovely manufacturing industry. They have a different style and a different feel of for their products. But again, the factory I'm using out there has, again, gold standard accreditations and are leading the way. So that was really important. And then the other side of it was just all the fabrics and the fabrics and components trying to make a sustainable underwear. You know, the it has been hard because the number of components in a bra, etc, but we've, we've done our best, and we've got probably about 70% of our components in our bras. Are we? Well, they're sustainable. So our lace, for instance, is using an Italian lace collection, which is actually recycled yarns, which obviously makes up the large, most large part of the garment. And we're looking at where, how we can repurpose bras, so that when the life of the bra has actually It's fulfilled its life. How can it be repurposed? So sent out in another country, repaired whatever, sent out to another country. And all our cottons are organic cotton, which is less chemicals, less water use. But you know, all the while, we are trying to improve on what we're doing, and we're working, actually on a government sponsored initiative at the moment with the British Fashion Council, which is called their low carbon Transition Plan, in order to lower our carbon emissions and then obviously help our suppliers lower their emissions, so thereby taking responsibility and hopefully driving more change. So this is all. This is all just has to happen. It's just not a negotiable. This is every business that starts in the in the fashion industry should be doing all of this stuff and more.

WTiN: That's really interesting to hear. Thank you. And you mentioned the materials that you use, such as the recycled Italian lace. You also use bamboo as well. But what have been some of the challenges you have faced while you have been experimenting and using these materials, and how do they perform in terms of durability and support, when compared to traditional synthetic virgin materials?

Ridley-Whittle: When we looked at what we thought was the white space, so what was the demand in the or what do we think where the demand was going to come in terms of the industry? We we felt that in the in underwear, there was you get quite basic products which go from low price to high price, so there's no frills and fanciness. And at the other end of this underwear scale, you've got glamor, sexy going, you know, right up the scale, and we felt there was an opportunity for something which was feminine and light. We also acknowledged that the it's not a very sustainable industry, the underwear industry.

So we, we felt that there was an opportunity to be that player which who which is feminine and sensual, and using sustainable materials and factories, but also sustainable from the way we treat the people and we behave, which is a really big part of sustainability, because it's, you know, it hasn't always been the most caring industry. And then we also thought there was an opportunity for not only the femininity and the lightness and the sustainability, but the comfort was really important. So that's what we felt, was the sweet spot. And a lot of products which are sustainable were actually not very appealing. So to sell a product, first and foremost, has to be appealing. Otherwise, doesn't really matter. If it's a hunt and a sustainable customer doesn't love it, she's not going to buy it. So that was where we set out. And so we had to work hard to find those raw material suppliers that were able to provide us with the fabrics which provided the lightness, the softness, the femininity, and then build in the engineering and the comfort into our bras with the elastics, the soft elastics and the soft wires.

We have had to innovate and create and work hard to find the manufacturers who had the materials in order to support this innovation. So we do bras, for instance, which start at a 30 2b they go up to a 30 6g but they are at every single size level. They are soft, light, feminine, delicate and supportive, even at the 30 6g and that's what that magic is, what we've managed to capture, which is what our customers are loving, and conversely, on our sleepwear, exactly the same. We've got the area soft as lightest gorgeous cottons in our pyjamas with beautiful detail, but our customers are just overwhelmed with how they feel and the beauty of their finish and quality. So we talk about sustainability is also about longevity. It's not, you know, that whole performance piece. So, you know, we have got French seams, which means they're all beautifully clean and on the inside of our garments, and all our hems are properly bagged and finished, so they're made to last forever. They're like heirlooms, or, as I say to my team, they're works of art, and our and where is delicate, but actually it's very beautifully made with that quality. But we also sell it with an and a launch a lingerie wash bag, so you wash it in that, and we tell our consumers and our customers how they how they should care for it. So sustainability isn't just the start, it's the whole way through.

WTiN: Looking at the lingerie industry as a whole, what do you believe are the major challenges that face it today? But also how has the industry changed over, say, the past 20 years?

Ridley-Whittle: Yeah, the underwear market has been quite traditional, I would say. I mean, I was, I was in M&S underwear from 2000 and about five through to two or maybe slightly later, actually about 2008 to 2014 and the industry has loads of very traditional suppliers, a lot from Europe, who produce all the laces and the embroideries which used To make up hot garments. And there's a lot of old companies like triumph, like trying to think of no completely gone blank. So there's, there's a lot of tradition like fantasy, like triumph, old underwear.

Companies that have, you know, big manufacturing, they've got big market share globally, and they've still got some of those bras which they've been producing for 30 years, like the Triumph during bra, for instance, the fabric still comes from the same lace in, I think it's a spike or shanty, it's still the same block. It's, so it's, it's, it's, it's like a quarter and it's, and it's still kind of there. But now, conversely, over the years, you know, fashion has changed in underwear and what people wear, you know, in 2000 it was all about the wonder bra and the push up.

Now it's much more around very much comfort and things being very natural and not having wires. And particularly since covid, a lot of women now don't even want to wear a bra. They want to just, you know, wear something, a little crop top. So there's, there's a huge shift happening in the underwear industry. And then, if you think about it, technology needs to, therefore, keep up with that fabric development needs to keep up with that as well as then all the work that we need to do to save the planet and protect the planet. So I think we're in a really interesting time of change. So there's a societal shift, there's a planetary shift, and then there's an industry which is quite traditional, and another example of that being very traditional is sizing. The bra sizing was introduced probably 100 years ago when women's bodies were very different. What they wore was very different, what they ate was different, and how they dressed was different, and what they did was different.

But that sizing is still in place, and it doesn't really have any relationship with women's bodies and lifestyles today. So we actually looked at that and we said, Well, I think that needs simplifying. We think that needs simplifying. So we've actually said, well, a woman knows her body frame. She says an extra smaller, smaller, medium, a large, extra large, upwards. So we say, well, let's go with their body frame size, SML for us, that's all we do. And then their cup sizes going from a one to eight, rather than A, B, A, C, A, D, a double D. You know, how confusing. So our sizing is s1, to l8, and it's that simple, B to G. So I think what I'm what I'm kind of concluding here, is it's a real time of change.

It's a time for the industry. This is some of the challenges to actually put the consumer at the forefront, the consumers lifestyles, how people are living, how people are dressing, what they actually want, and actually create products which actually are relevant for their lifestyles today, whilst also making sure that the materials can perform and they are kind to the planet. So there is a lot of there's a lot of challenges, but there's a lot of people working towards the solutions too.

WTiN: So that sounds amazing, and it sounds like you have some really interesting solutions underway. It's going to be really exciting to see how that expands going forward. Could you tell me more about how you are supporting communities and mentoring rising talents?

Ridley-Whittle: There's a lot we want to do. I mean, we're two and a half years into our launch, and I am someone that just cares incredibly deeply about people, about people's welfare and about ensuring that people live their let their best lives, and probably a little bit about myself, which might actually give some clues as to why I started the brand, and actually who I am and where I'm actually heading with the brand. Is I did I have had a long career in the industry, probably over 12 over 25 years, and I, as well as getting disillusioned, I found that I was also becoming burnt out by my roles and my job.

I've always been ambitious. I've always wanted to run big teams and, you know, get to the top of whatever I was doing. And what I found out, probably around about 2016 is that actually what I thought I wanted when I got there, the huge job in Australia, I found when I got there, I was, I was find it very, very challenging. I was working ridiculous hours. I was putting myself under so much pressure, and I was under so much pressure to deliver. It was a turnaround that I actually was. I was becoming probably burnt out and not in a great place. And that was the really, the time that I realized that I needed to think about changing my life, which is pretty hard because you build up a life style around you. And, you know, with my children and everything I was was really unsure as to how I was going to re engineer that. And so I I then read a book about how to change my life by planting seeds. And it was actually in Australia that I came up with the first concept for peach house, peace house. And. Um, which I will talk about the name in a minute, because I think it's really relevant.

But I I realized it's taken me six years to change my life, but actually I have, and as a result of that, I actually want to help other people, because what I see particularly when I'm doing bra fitting, and that's a really intimate moment when you actually a woman stretched down to her vulnerability. I see a lot of women who have without knowingly, over time, because we're givers, have given up of themselves. So they give to their family, they give to their jobs, they give to their home, they give to their everything, and then suddenly, just little by little. And it happens very gradually. You get to point, you think, hang on, I'm resenting this. What's it? And for me, I'm stressed, I'm anxious, I'm not happy. So caring is, is fundamental to who I am and what I'm about. And Peachaus is here to ignite the power of you.

So coming back to your question, what do we do for mentoring and community? I peach house is, is there just to help and support. So we brought in new talent. So the industry, for me, I've seen as a new graduate from a new person coming through, you are maybe made to make the tea at the beginning, even though you may have got a two one degree in doing fashion. And actually for me, I wanted to make sure that you use those skills and you use that talent from day one. An example of that would be Lucy, would be Lucy. She came into us as a graduate, and she designed our first sleep fight collection, and they're now our best sellers. And she, we credit her. She's She's been the person that's done that. I also recognize there's a lot of people who don't have the opportunities that I've had, or even Lucy has. So I joined two years ago, the creative mentor network, and I supported a young girl, Abida, who didn't have the careers advice or came from the right background to give her the opportunity. So I mentored her, I guided her, got her on a fashion course. So that's very much at the heart of what we want to do. And then in terms of supporting communities we are we're working out exactly who we want to support and how we want to support, but very much, giving back is part of the DNA of what we do, and it should be of any brand, you know, making profit first. And for me, it's kind of unconditional care and then making money after that, which I think if you do the first the second happens along the lines.

WTiN: Can you tell me how you think education, whether that be in universities or other fashion design courses, could be doing more for advocating sustainable and ethical lingerie manufacturing, not even just lingerie, but the whole clothing industry.

Ridley-Whittle: Yeah, I mean, I'm I was at Northumbria University, and I did a fashion degree, and I've actually recently gone back up there as an alumni, and I have been shown around the fashion school. And I know from the students I've met and the lectures that I've met that sustainable design and production is very much in their DNA and part of what they're all about. I can't speak for every other fashion school or university, but I would suggest that it has to be part of now any designers course structure.

The course structure, because it's it's fundamental. So to make change happen, it has to, obviously happen with the new generation of people moving through I was fortunate enough actually to give a lecture or a talk at the university, and I very much talked about that, firstly, that they are the new generation, and they're the ones we created the damage they're getting, the ones that you know have to be part of undoing the damage and designing responsibly and being clever about how they design, using and repurposing and using old designs to kind of repurpose them into new things, not just always creating new but also within their tech packs and their designs To have a full, traceable, circular end use for their products.

So it's very, very different from the world that I grew up in. And I think education is key, whether it's in schools and we're educating pupils to buy less, buy better, buy second hand, recycle, upcycle, understanding the absolute cruelty of the industry and how it's damaged it, that's one part of it, and also the universities. But it's not just about that. It's actually educating consumers as well. So the education is absolutely critical, and it's not happening fast enough.

WTiN: Recently you took part in a panel discussion regarding the challenges of driving the scale of change required in the fashion industry to prevent this continuing damage. Could you tell me a couple of key takeaways from that event?

Ridley-Whittle: Well, firstly, I was delighted to be invited. It was event held up in Newcastle, actually, and I was invited to be part of it by the Northumbria University, and it was called Impact plus. And there was four of us sitting on the panel, and we all had different backgrounds and therefore a different perspective on the industry, and we had probably only 60 people from different backgrounds listening and observing. And I think for me, it is very challenging. One of the takeouts for me is that as a business, a legacy built business, and by that I mean a brand that has been around for a number of years. I know how difficult it is to re-engineer your business whilst you're trying to drive your sales with shareholders return value to them.

Re-engineer to a supply base which is or get your supply base to re-engineer to one which is more sustainable that cost that that means investment and money. We're in an industry where volume has gone down. There isn't as much. People aren't buying as much. Or certainly in this country, we know that the cost of living has meant people have rained back their spending. There were all sorts of challenges to doing this, culturally changing people's minds, aligning the different parts of the business so that the KPI that is the same, you know, some people are bonused or, you know, on one thing and another metric for another team, whereas the alignment of every single business now has to be, you know, almost like, pause the profit and let's focus on saving the planet. Um, it's very, very difficult. It's, it's, that was one of my take outs, how challenging it is. And it's very easy, relatively, for a newcomer like me to start off in the right way.

I also think another challenge is that we have created a monster with fast fashion, and that there is still a demand by the consumer to be buying 10 dresses at 10 pounds each and selling sending back nine of them. So what's the carbon footprint of those 10 dresses that came to my house and then I sent back nine of them, you know, that's just, it's just not right. And there's also, we've educated that consumer that they can have things cheaply. And again, that's just not right, because that is again, continuing the cycle of the damage to the planet and that throwaway fashion mentality, which has come from the social media generation of always want, you know, the selfies, the needing to look good, the so it's very complex.

It isn't simple. There isn't a quick fix. But we all did a line at this panel that if we could educate consumers, it comes back to that point again, to take responsibility for themselves about how much they're buying and where they're buying it from, and to buy more sensibly, only with sustainable bands, look after things better cherish things. Then that will drive the change in itself.

WTiN: That's all really interesting, and really great to hear that these discussions are taking place and looking at global legislation coming into place in the fashion textile industry, such as the EU Green Deal. And I know this is quite a broad question, and things are still very open the air with it all. But how do you think these legislation into place could benefit the clothing sector and the lingerie sector?

Ridley-Whittle: So any legislation is forcing change. It's forcing the manufacturers and the retailers to have to have to implement like passports, product passports, for instance, so that everything, and ultimately, because they're doing this and they're having to do it, you can't get away from it anymore. So we can hide behind this greenwashing and this ticking these boxes of I've got a little sustainable range, but actually, the legislation is forcing, demanding that we make the changes that have to happen. So because the the Paris Agreement, which said that by 2030 our carbon emissions would have reduced by one and a half percent. At the moment where it's going the other way for the fashion industry. So radical change needs to happen. The legislation forces people retailers to make those changes, and if they don't, the consumer will very quickly see who is not.

WTiN: And looking and looking at your Peachaus journey again, you have opened a store in Covent Garden in London, and you've received investment. Are you still looking for further investment? And if so, how would you plan to use it?

Ridley-Whittle: That's a really good question. As a small brand who has launched at a really challenging time for retail and economically, we have, you had to have investment in order for us to stay afloat and to keep going. And so I have, I have investors. And yes, I absolutely am looking for further investors. So my plan is to now, I've, I've almost, I've done two years of testing and learning, and my plan now is to accelerate my growth. So the shopping cart garden has given me a showroom for the consumer to visit for I'm over trying to open up new channels, wholesale channels. It's a place to showcase our products. It's a place for me to bring experiences to life with our bra fits, and also to collaborate with other brands.

So I'm doing a series of pop ups with other female founders sustainable brands to showcase their brands too. So that's all about their collaboration and the connection, and we can all win together. And that helps me. It grows my community. We connect their communities. So you talked about community before. This is very much a new thing for fashion. It was always kill and compete at any cost to anyone, whereas now this is what we're trying to say, the new precedent is actually we can all win. If we all work together. We can show that it's a can be a very caring, caring world, more feminine energy.

So yes, I am looking for investment. I'm just opening an investment round right now. It's in and that is so that I can accelerate my growth, so I can help more people. I can do more good for the planet, and I can really get the energy of this brand, which is here to ignite the power of you further and further out there.

And in terms of what we're spending it on, we will spend it on marketing so that we can grow. We'll be spending some one product, because we need to, obviously fuel the sales with our beautiful pyjamas and bras and knickers, and we will be spending some also on our tech, our digital our digital development, developing an app again to bring a better customer experience to our consumers.

WTiN: And my final question is, and I think you probably have just answered part of it, but what is the vision for peach house, moving forward? And do you have a vision for the wider lingerie sector? And is this achievable?

Ridley-Whittle: I love that question. So my vision for Peachaus is to create a peach house life. So our Instagram is actually called Peachaus, underscore life. Our website is peachhouse.com but peach has actually, I'm going to talk about the name, because I said I was going to do that later. So when I lived in Australia, we first came up with the concept for peach house. And we live by the sea, and we're going to call it beach house, because I love the outside, freeze spirited Australian vibe. And I thought, well, that's not going to travel if it's in London or city around the world. So I thought, why don't we call it peach? Because peach is soft and tactile and feminine, and that's just what I wanted us to be. And I house as in H, A, U, S, house community, as us as a collective, a US Australia, because that's got the free-spirited vibe, peach piece and each so it's very much about peace house, free spirited, a community of people working together and working as individuals to improve everything that we do.

I've got to come back to the question and think about what the question was, my vision. So the Peachaus life is a life where I see it as a lifestyle. So this, for me, is building out a model which is about multiple revenue streams. So as I've just talked about, we will need to produce less product, or need we'll consume less product. This is where it's going to go. Second hand, market is getting bigger.

Fortunately, people do need new underwear. So as a responsible retailer, you can't just rely on those product sales. So we're building out this whole lifestyle of experiences and things, which is like the power of you. So my vision is we have our products and we have other brands products, but very much in the curator sustainable space, and it's a very edited, beautiful offering of products. We do amazing experiences, like our bra fit, like Pilates, yoga, things that ignite the power of you and and help you connect to who you are and give you freedom. Then we create experiences so bringing beauty, sustainable beauty brands, into the space, and combining that with the laundry experience, having hen do, experience, pampered experiences, bringing out this lifestyle, and then food and drink as part of that, and just creating an ecosystem, which is a peach house, life That sounds amazing. And then people go, Oh, where are you? What do you? Do you? And you, they just it. Instead of saying, Oh, I'm, you know, I'm going to so and so is this, so I'm having a peach as life today. You know, that's that's almost like a term for an amazing, great day.

WTiN: That sounds brilliant. Thank you so much, Gilly. Thank you for joining me on the podcast today, and I'm really excited to hear what's next.

Ridley-Whittle:  Thank you very much. I've really enjoyed, really enjoyed being here, and I think it was a very worthwhile discussion. Actually, I think it's an opportunity for people to really understand that everyone has a part to play in the solution for the for the planet, and we can be a force of good.