Quince... the new breakout star in sustainable fashion

Quince, a rising star in the fashion industry, is making waves for all the right reasons. This clothing brand has quickly gained traction not just for its chic designs and quality apparel but also for its commitment to sustainability and affordability.

Ethical Fashion for All

At its core, Quince embodies the ethos of ethical fashion. By bypassing traditional retail markups and streamlining their production process, they provide luxury-grade clothing at a fraction of the typical cost. Their direct-to-consumer model ensures that everyone can access premium clothing without breaking the bank.

Quality Meets Sustainability Meets Accessibility

One of the things I have fallen in love with, with Quince is the quality of their pieces, especially their cashmere and linen. Historically these fabrics have been reserved for the rich, but they have such great qualities, like heat retention for cashmere and the cooling effect of linen. Frequently if people wanted to buy these products they would have had to settle for awful quality that didn’t last long. By offering these products at a higher quality they ensure the reduction of clothing ending up in the landfill.

My Favorites

Three Blockchain companies to follow which aren't around Cryptocurrency

Shedding some more light on blockchain and that its not just cryptocurrency trading.

1. Voatz https://voatz.com

   • This company is redefining how we vote. Utah, Denver CO, and West Virginia all have agreed to leverage their voting app for voters with disabilities or voters overseas. This ultimately can help ensure more people have accessibility to vote and are able to do so in a secure fashion.

2. Provenance https://www.provenance.org

   • This company provides corporations with a method for tracking their supply chain. Which provides transparency to the consumer and the power to choose products which align with their values.

3. Propy https://propy.com/browse/

   • Propy has demystified transferring land titles. They streamline the entire process and provides transparency. They document the purchase agreement and ultimately execute the smart contract on the Etherhium blockchain. Cutting down the processing time and costs.

Unicorn Alert - Rent The Runway

Last year some time in the fall I got tired of constantly buying new clothing for work - unfortutnalty women’s workwear isn’t just suits and dress shirts. I signed up for Rent the Runway, at first I was hesitant sharing clothing… but then I was blown away at the connivence of this service.

1. They dry clean the clothing so I don’t have to do laundry

2. It is so easy to return clothing and pick out new pieces, either through their flagship store, Wework Drop Offs, or UPS

3. It is affordable, for 175 you have access to all of their pieces, personally I know I can spend that at Jcrew and get a pair of pants and one button down

4. Its good for the environment, since the rise of fast fashion we have created so much textile waste which is very toxic and harmful to countries where we ship our old clothes

What Jennifer did was address the most common complaint women have “I have nothing to wear” “I hate spending so much on a dress I’ll only wear once”.

Now to the fun stuff… the funding!

Jennifer launched RTR in 2009 with 1.8 in seed money. In one year she raised 15M for her Series A round, by Series C she was raising 44.4M. Which is a lot, so the next question is how much equity did she give away. While the world may never know, her Series C and Series D rounds both had 6 investors (e.g., either the OG investors got more equity or new investors got some).

Lets assess why investors are willing to give her so much funding

Source: https://stocksnewsfeed.com

1) Subscription Growth: as the article mentions RTR rapidly scaled in a market worth 2.4 trillion

2) Other markets to tap into: RTR recently announced they will start offering children’s clothes as well as a partnership with West Elm for furniture, I wouldn’t be shocked if they moved into the mens space

3) infrastructure: RTR has fulfillment centers which they use for sorting and dry cleaning. They also have partnerships with WeWork to act as return centers

Overall, RTR is changing how we view fashion it is taking the taboo out of sharing clothing. Personally I am super excited to see a female founder join the Unicorn Club… I’ll save my views on VC funding and female founders for another post!

You can see some of my looks from Rent the Runway on Insta linked below!

Is there really competition?

I love makeup and I truly believe that there is a difference between brands. Dior kills the mascara game, while NARS kills the concealer game, and Anastasia is the queen of brows. But you would be shocked to learn that most brands have the same owners. This doesn't mean they are made with the same stuff or with the same formula but it is an interesting insight.

LVMH: Guerlain, Givenchy, Benefit, Makeup Forever, Fresh, and did I forget to mention SEPHORA and Duty Free Store (they also own a lot of perfumes as well)

Estee Lauder: BECCA,  Bobbie Brown, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Glam Glow, Jo Malone, La Mer, Lab Series, M.A.C, Origins, Smashbox, Tom Ford, and Too Faced 

L'Oreal: Lancome, Giorgio Armani, YSL, Biotherm, Kiehls, Shu Uemura, Clarisonic, Urban Decay, it Cosmetics 

This list just shows some of the biggest names in the more luxury makeup area. But what you can clearly see is that all of these brands are owned by a corporate giant. Which leads me to believe two things that 1) this industry is very tough so you want to be acquired like a start-up. 2) That there is very little competition in this space and even though the brands individually compete they still generate revenue for the same owner.  

Sephora Play! Is Giving Brichbox a Reason to be Scared

PROS:

• Affordable 
• Luxury Brands from Sephora
• Great Packaging 

CONS:

• Less Indie Brands 
• Waitlist 
• Less Deals

PROS:

• Recyclable Box 
• Affordable 
• Indie Products

CONS:

• Less Luxury Products
• Smaller Samples 
• Lacks Variety... Same Brands

Overall I believe the Sephora Play! Box is a much better box. Both boxes are 10 dollars but you get way better products from Sephora. Just because Sephora has so many connections to on-trend luxury brands that are really relevant now. Overall for me Sephora Wins. 

As a side note, I will mention that all of the Chief officers at Sephora are male, the only female mentioned on Bloomberg is the VP of Retail&Education. I am slightly disappointed just due to the fact that you would think that a company that is targeted towards women would be run by women. Women are very underrepresented in management and this is just another example of this. 

The Truth Behind Fast Fashion

First, let us break down what modern slavery is. Modern slavery is when your employer controls you through either mental or physical abuse. It is estimated that there are around 29.8 million slaves in the world. In a variety of industries.

This hits close to home for me because I am from Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan was ranked by the US as a tier 3 country for human rights. In fact, the Global Slavery Index ranks Uzbekistan second after North Korea. Where they stated around 3.97% of the population is in modern slavery. The major violation happening in Uzbekistan is the forcing of citizens as young as 7 to pick cotton during the harvest time.

This is mandatory, during the USSR my parents participated in this while they were growing up. I never knew it was slavery. When they talked about it, they obviously complained about the conditions and quotas, but always made it seem like a summer camp where you hung out with friends. Since the fall of the USSR the conditions have gotten worse in the country, thus the country has become even more dependent on cotton.

Uzbekistan is the 5th largest exporter of cotton in the world. Last year they signed a 1 billion dollar contract to export cotton all over the world. The major consumer of Uzbek cotton is Daewoo. Daewoo is a South Korean company who produces a variety of products ranging from refrigerators to textile. Prior to signing a petition to stop using this cotton major brands like Macy’s, Target, and Zara all sourced their cotton from Uzbekistan.

What has been done in order to end this. 

From the international community putting pressure on the Uzbek government, rules have been in place to limit the amount of children who are forced to work. Unfortunately, not much has happened since. This topic isn’t presented in the media because Uzbekistan is a closed off country. Plus, no one knows where this place is. In fact, when I say I am from Uzbekistan people say Pakistan to which I say no it’s the country next to Kazakhstan or Borat.

The fashion industry has been taking responsibility. They pledged to not only stop using Uzbek cotton but other resources from around the world that were sourced from slave labor. I would ask all of you to think twice before buying something. There are lists online which show companies that source their products from places that use slavery.

The End of Lululemon

The rise of athleisure has led to companies such as Lululemon to be very profitable. The problem is that athleisure is a bubble. Lululemon is in an industry that is a fad. How much longer will people want to keep wearing leggings outside of the gym. Furthermore, people are now focused on how their clothing enhances their workout rather than the looks. The CEO of Lululemon , Potdevin, is optimistic. He believes that as long as they keep adding new varieties they will survive the pop.

If I can be blatantly honest I don’t believe Lululemon has changed at all. I used to hoard Lululemon during my figure skating days. Now when I walk in I see the same styles of sports bras and leggings.

Furthermore, the market is saturated with Nike, Under Armour, and Addidas. Potdevin believes that the solution is through cultivating the “emotionally charged” image they have. I am skeptical since shoppers these days have the attention span of a goldfish. I don’t see Kylie Jenner rocking Lululemon in the near future. In fact, this is clearly seen with how well Addidas is doing this quarter, a 21 percent revenue increase. This is in part to Kanye working with Addidas.  Now I know I am pessimistic, but the company has grown. With the launch of their male wear, their sales have increased by 6 percent. So maybe this isn't the end, but brands like Lululemon are feeling the heat and I am not talking about hot yoga.