Fashion, PR, and Circularity with The R Collective's Christina Dean

10/30/23 • 35 min

Christina Dean is the founder and CEO of The R Collective, an upcycled fashion brand and social impact business that rescues luxury brands’ excess materials and collaborates with award-winning sustainable designers to create circular fashion.

Founded in 2017 they are selling via their Shopify store and wholesale.

They have rescued 238,000 yards of fabric and 8,100 square feet of leather.

In this episode we discuss:

Why excessive textile materials pose a challenge for charities and businesses
The issue of excess and waste materials in the fashion industry
Repurposing and reusing fabric and clothing protected by intellectual property
How do partnerships with luxury brands help in creating circular fashion?
Why is getting control of inventory crucial in becoming more sustainable?

Time stamps:

[03:57] From dentist to journalist to sustainable fashion.

[06:31] Businesses donate excess materials to nonprofits.

[11:19] Complexity of using luxury brands' excess stock.

[14:55] Recycling luxury brand materials into new products.

[17:16] Supply chain analysis proves recycling is environmentally beneficial.

[21:48] Inventory control is crucial for sustainable businesses.

[24:04] Press involvement is crucial for business success.

[28:07] Fashion waste creates opportunities for sustainability.

Free 1 Hour Consultation with Connected Sourcing >> https://ecmp.info/sourcing

Save 15% with Zitec >> https://ecmp.info/zitec

Download our ebook >> https://ecmp.info/ebook "500 Top Tips to Make Your eCommerce Business More Profitable"

Download our new ebook... https://ecmp.info/ebook 500 Tips to Increase Your Profits

Get all the links and resources we mention & join our email list at https://ecmp.info

Love the show? Chloe would love your feedback - leave a review here: https://ecmp.info/review or reply to the episode Q&A on Spotify.

Interested in being a Sponsor? go here: https://ecmp.info/sponsor

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/

Founded in 2017 they are selling via their Shopify store and wholesale.

They have rescued 238,000 yards of fabric and 8,100 square feet of leather.

In this episode we discuss:

Why excessive textile materials pose a challenge for charities and businesses
The issue of excess and waste materials in the fashion industry
Repurposing and reusing fabric and clothing protected by intellectual property
How do partnerships with luxury brands help in creating circular fashion?
Why is getting control of inventory crucial in becoming more sustainable?

Time stamps:

[03:57] From dentist to journalist to sustainable fashion.

[06:31] Businesses donate excess materials to nonprofits.

[11:19] Complexity of using luxury brands' excess stock.

[14:55] Recycling luxury brand materials into new products.

[17:16] Supply chain analysis proves recycling is environmentally beneficial.

[21:48] Inventory control is crucial for sustainable businesses.

[24:04] Press involvement is crucial for business success.

[28:07] Fashion waste creates opportunities for sustainability.

Free 1 Hour Consultation with Connected Sourcing >> https://ecmp.info/sourcing

Save 15% with Zitec >> https://ecmp.info/zitec

Download our ebook >> https://ecmp.info/ebook "500 Top Tips to Make Your eCommerce Business More Profitable"

Download our new ebook... https://ecmp.info/ebook 500 Tips to Increase Your Profits

Get all the links and resources we mention & join our email list at https://ecmp.info

Love the show? Chloe would love your feedback - leave a review here: https://ecmp.info/review or reply to the episode Q&A on Spotify.

Interested in being a Sponsor? go here: https://ecmp.info/sponsor

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/

Previous Episode

Generating €5 Million in Online Sales selling Sustainable Fashion with Dedicated's Kalle Sjöholm

Kalle Sjöholm is the eCommerce manager at Swedish fashion brand Dedicated. Founded as an environmental retail chain in 2006, Dedicated is now selling from 3 stores in Sweden, various retailers around the world, and globally via its Centra eCommerce store.

In total they did sales of just under 10 million euros in 2022 about half via the eCommerce store.

In this episode we discuss:

How does Dedicated communicate their sustainability efforts?
What is the significance of their "Plant Friday" initiative?
What role does the wholesale aspect of business play in the overall sales strategy?
New areas of sustainability
... and how to not sound like your greenwashing

Time stamps:

[04:27] Selling clothes with sustainability focus.

[06:44] Action over talk, prioritise sustainability in practice.

[09:36] Office team with production, design, eCommerce, and sustainability.

[13:34] Understanding the team and questioning the choice of platform.

[16:59] Season is important despite world instability.

[19:47] Collaboration key.

[23:08] Insights on brand structure and collaborations.

Free 1 Hour Consultation with Connected Sourcing >> https://ecmp.info/sourcing

Save 15% with Zitec >> https://ecmp.info/zitec

Download our ebook >> https://ecmp.info/ebook "500 Top Tips to Make Your eCommerce Business More Profitable"

Download our new ebook... https://ecmp.info/ebook 500 Tips to Increase Your Profits

Get all the links and resources we mention & join our email list at https://ecmp.info

Love the show? Chloe would love your feedback - leave a review here: https://ecmp.info/review or reply to the episode Q&A on Spotify.

Interested in being a Sponsor? go here: https://ecmp.info/sponsor

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/

Next Episode

How do you do a great Re-platform? Our 6 Expert guests share their best tips

We’re in a fascinating time in the world of eCommerce websites. We’ve left the era of “just use Shopify”, and getting back into the world where which platform you choose to be the basis of your tech stack can have a fundamental impact on your success over the next 5-10 years.

A replatforming project isn’t one to be taken lightly. It can have a huge impact on your future success – screwing it up, or enabling it It can have a huge impact on your team and their effectiveness. And during the project, it can have a huge impact on day-to-day workloads. A little (well, a lot) of thinking and planning can go a long way.

We've asked our 6 experts to answer this question

"What does a merchant planning a replatform need to know about right now?"

Our experts:

Lee Frankland, DWS
James Gurd, Re:platform Podcast / Digital Juggler
Montserrat Cano, International Consultant
Simon Wharton, PushON
Sandra Markey, Loqate
Gabe Macaluso, Omnisend

Time stamps:

[01:40] Thinking and planning saves time, money, and sanity.

[05:41] Clear destination crucial for efficient replatforming journey.

[08:35] Communicate platform change, integrate apps, and inform customers.

[10:22] Optimise website with planning and collaboration

[13:58] Change management: mapping operational impact and training needs.

[17:55] Content migration

[23:36] Ignoring buzzwords

Download our ebook >> https://ecmp.info/ebook "500 Top Tips to Make Your eCommerce Business More Profitable"

Find the tech to solve your challenges at eCommerce Tech >> https://ecmp.info/tech

Download our new ebook... https://ecmp.info/ebook 500 Tips to Increase Your Profits

Get all the links and resources we mention & join our email list at https://ecmp.info

Love the show? Chloe would love your feedback - leave a review here: https://ecmp.info/review or reply to the episode Q&A on Spotify.

Interested in being a Sponsor? go here: https://ecmp.info/sponsor

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/