Hi! Thank you so much for visiting our Renewabilitee page. We’ve only just launched, so it really does mean the world to us that you’ve come to check us out.
My name’s Russ, I’m the Founder of Renewabilitee. I thought it makes sense to tell you our story and how we came to be.
I’ve always been outdoorsy, with a love for wildlife and the natural world around us. I’ve never understood how someone can’t be fascinated by trees, the ocean, biodiversity… life in general. Our planet really is as weird and wonderful as they come. (As far as we know.)
In the last nine years, I’ve made a career out of working in sustainability-related fields, primarily as a marketer for sustainability-focused businesses. My journey started in 2010 when I joined an ocean conservation charity.
Fast forward eight years, and in spring 2018 I left the security of full-time employment to set up my own marketing and business growth consultancy specialising in supporting sustainability-focused organisations.
Just over one year on, I’m delighted to report that business is thriving and I’m working with 15 amazing clients. This business remains my core focus. (More on that later.)
So, how on Earth have I ended up getting into the fashion industry?
A Trip in Amsterdam
Oops, that should read ‘A Trip to Amsterdam’. Sorry, Mum.
(That's me in Amsterdam with my German clients, EnviroSustain, and Mahesh Ramanujam, CEO of the US Green Building Council).
Back in March 2019 (only two months ago at the time of writing this post!) I visited Amsterdam for the first time on a business trip. I found a place near my hotel called Fashion for Good, which is a sort of educational, interactive museum all about the fashion industry. I had time to spare before my train home, so I decided to pop in.
I already knew a little bit about the environmental impacts of fast fashion, but… wow.
I had no idea just how bad the industry is.
Fashion is the world’s second biggest polluter after the oil and gas industry. And it’s ridden with slave labour and unethical practices in factories and the wider supply chain.
In short, fast fashion is a total disaster for the planet and many of its people.
I left Fashion for Good with one main question:
What could I do to help?
Changing My Own Habits
Not being particularly fashion conscious, I didn’t think my own clothes consumption was too bad. For example, I have never bought an item, worn it for one season, and then thrown it out. The thought of doing that is pretty alien to me.
So, although I wouldn’t say my clothes buying habits were awful, it’s fair to say that I had never really given much thought to where my clothes had come from, or who made them. (Fashion Revolution Week ran a great campaign this year called #WhoMadeMyClothes – you should check it out.)
Thinking more about my clothes was the easy part. I did more research and started making a list of sustainable clothes brands, so that I could shop more consciously as and when I needed a new pair of jeans, T-shirt, pair of shoes… whatever.
But how could I take things to the next level, and provide a solution to the problem?
Enter the Teemill
Isn’t it funny when the Universe sends you a sign that’s as clear as crystal?
Within a few days of thinking about all of this, I stumbled across Teemill. Teemill is the unbelievably awesome platform by the guys behind Rapanui, and it’s the whole reason that creating Renewabilitee and getting it live so quickly has been possible.
I’d known about Rapanui for years, and have been a customer of theirs since the early days. But I had no idea that they’d unlocked their whole supply chain and intellectual property, allowing literally anyone to be able to set up their own T-shirt business… their own highly sustainable and ethical T-shirt business, that is!
I actually read about Teemill as much as I could to try and find some holes in it, because, well, it all just sounded too good to be true.
“What, so I won’t have to worry about my supply chain? And I won’t need to get a loan to buy myself loads of stock? And they provide loads of excellent resources on how to get going and make sure your store is a success? Surely not…” (There you go, hope you enjoyed that little flashback monologue of mine!)
But yes. That’s exactly what Teemill provides.
Team Teemill, I hope you read this: you guys are all amazing and what you’ve created here is beyond epic. Please keep up the incredible work to help brands like Renewabilitee succeed and thrive.
From Idea to Reality in 8 Weeks
Don’t get me wrong, though. Everything you can see on this site still took a lot of work…
Logo design. Coming up with straplines. Visual identity. Teaching myself graphic design. Lots of reading. Loads of reading. Creating the designs and coming up with a wide variety for launch to see what sells, so we have data to learn from. Making mistakes. Loads of them. Learning. Tweaking. Ordering samples. Trying to arrange photo shoots (I’ve only done one very quick one so far, which is why you’ll see the stock models used across the site and only a small handful of photos that look more real (of me and my three kids!). Creating social media channels. Buying domain names. Overcoming multiple issues and roadblocks. Persevering. Making more mistakes. Learning from them. Analytics. Reading. More reading. Uploading designs. Writing product descriptions. Re-writing product descriptions a hundred times. Coming up with product names. Dropbox files randomly disappearing. All my designs being deleted from my store due to a bug. Uploading everything again. Frantically racing to hit my ridiculous self-imposed deadline of Friday 31st May…
You get the picture.
And all of this is just a “side hustle” for me. So, it’s all been evening and weekend work while I focused on client delivery for my core marketing consultancy business during the days. And you know... busy family life, three kids, etc.
In short, I’m absolutely cream crackered, but here we are.
We. Are. Live!
From Launch to… Successful T-Shirt Business?
As Teemill themselves will tell you (and believe me, I’ve read all their blog posts) the success of Renewabilitee really only depends on two main factors:
1. The quality and popularity of our designs themselves (people obviously won’t by crap designs they don’t like, no matter how good the sustainability and ethical credentials)
2. How much effort we put into our marketing and getting our brand out there
Now, both of these factors present quite significant challenges for me when this is just a side hustle.
But I can make some promises to you...
I’m determined to make a success of this, so we’ll listen to any and all feedback you give us on our designs. Want to see the same design but in a different colour, or with a print on the back, or without the print on the back, or a men’s item to be made available as a women’s item too, or a design put on a different garment? Whatever it is, please let us know (by following us on Instagram @renewabilitee) and we will do our best to make it happen!
As for point 2… We’ll do what we can! I obviously know first-hand that how well you market a business determines its success. But there are only so many hours in a day, and this whole process is a learning experience for us. It's basically a really elaborate experiment at this stage.
Join the Slow Fashion Revolution Today
I guess that’s it for now, guys.
Thanks so much if you’ve read this whole post – it shows that you’re already bought into our story a little bit, and that honestly means the world to me.
Now go! Browse the site. Look at our range of launch items. Buy something for you or a loved one. Support the slow fashion movement and the transition towards a circular economy…
And join the Renewabilitee family today.
Russ x
