NEWSLETTER - BOSS WITH ME #3

There's an exercise I like to do by myself on hot days.

The days when I'm overwhelmed by my 3 mailboxes, the days when I'm fed up with people's humanity and lack of resourcefulness, the days when my supplier cashes a check he shouldn't have, the days when there's water damage above the cashier's computers, the days when we get our asses handed to us on the RS because our bags still aren't made of vegan leather, or that we're Satan's minions for not having better anticipated the number of sizes on a swimsuit, the days when all my appointments cancel... 

On those days, I do this exercise. I stop and like Arya Stark I make a list of people I want to eliminate. Just kidding. I stop and ask myself why am I doing this again? I'd rather not lie to you, bad days happen and since I've become a company director, I've unfortunately taken EVERYTHING to heart. 

This simple question is a good way of keeping me on track, I take a step back... I do it often and I realize that my answers have evolved over time, but the idea is always more or less the same. 

• In 2015: I'm not sure why I'm doing this but it feels like THE thing to do, I want to offer a different kind of fashion and then I do it because it makes me happy.
• In 2016: I'm doing this because I'm living my best life, I'm wearing the clothes I dream of wearing and on top of that I'm working with some really great people and that makes me happy.
•  In 2017: I do this because it's so cool to imagine clothes that make you happy, I learn lots of stuff, I give people work and together we write a story that's so cool, inspiring for others and that makes me happy.
• In 2018: I do this because I think we have a place in the fashion landscape and that in our own small way we can make things happen. Because our story can inspire people, and when I see women accomplishing crazy things with our clothes, that makes me happy.
• In 2019 See you at the end of this newsletter 

When in doubt, I like to remind myself of this constant, which is to make original, cheerful clothes that make you feel beautiful, ready to conquer anything, and above all to offer you "affordable" clothes. 

I put maxi quotation marks to affordableFor me, the meaning is: reasonably priced. Yes, that doesn't mean much either. Affordable for whom? A reasonable price compared to what? I'm well aware that our clothes can't be worn by everyone. So I'd rather say that I want our clothes to be as fairly priced as possible, and with meaning. Clothes we're proud to wear. 

I'm telling you this because some mornings when I'm flipping through the news, I tell myself that it's complicated to continue making fashion, knowing that this industry is the second most polluting in the world... I get up and if I've had a rotten day the old (cf above) I tell myself my poor Lisa you're just a capitalist scumbag who wants to sell things to people who already have everything. 

I've just broken the mood. 

I'm unfiltered but it's a daily question for me. I'm not thinking of stopping Make My Lemonade, but I am thinking about how I can continue to do fashion differently while staying true to my basic ideals, while being proud of the products and making people happy, without anyone feeling bad about consuming. A big program, but I accept the challenge.

I realized that when I bought something at Zara, I felt ashamed, which is the same feeling I get when I go to McDonald's. I used to go in secret and then I sold almost all my stuff on the internet. I used to sneak in and then I sold almost all my stuff on the internet... Because I felt like such a loser when people asked me where I'd bought my dress. No pleasure at all. For me, getting dressed in the morning is just the opposite: it should be light and a moment of joy. 

These are questions I've been asking myself since the start of Make My Lemonade, but as soon as you put your finger on these environmental issues, it's like putting a drop of ink in a glass of water. When you ask yourself questions about manufacturing, you open infinite doors, from the treatment of water in your printing plant to the method of extracting cotton thread, everything can be perfected. 5 years ago, when I launched my brand, I had the impression that it was easy to do much better than everyone else, that we produced our clothes in Europe and that it was already a revolution. When I think of myself 5 years ago, I feel like hugging myself! I've come a long way since then. I've educated myself over the last few years and I'm learning every day, but I still find it complicated to get information. But the good news is that things are changing, and everything is a lot less opaque than it used to be. 5 years ago, if I asked to see organic or recycled textiles, it was almost a marginal request. That's changing very fast, and it's a good thing, but there's still a long way to go. 

And doing better and better also costs more, so I see all my convictions on price and my issue of fairness taking a beating. Because choosing recycled, natural and organically sourced materials whose traceability could make a carrot from Alain Passard's kitchen garden blush is not as easy as it sounds. 

If you set up your own business tomorrow, you won't be able to ignore these issues; they have to be part of your specifications. Today, the market for "clean" textiles is a little less opaque than it was a few years ago, but making your way through it can sometimes be like a treasure hunt with an often thankless outcome. I'm firmly convinced that doing better is no longer an option: it has to be the norm, and under no circumstances a marketing argument.  

Every step of the way, we have to think about how to make sense of our production, and every little action is important. I'm thinking of :

•  Working only with Öko-Tex-certified textile manufacturers*. 
•  Going as often as possible to our workshops in Europe to meet the people who make our clothes, and setting up an audit***. 
•  Systematize and require our manufacturers to pack our collections in plant-based plastic polybags, 
•  Continue to manufacture our cardboard and recycled paper packaging in France, 
•  Ensure that our service providers, spinners, manufacturers and logisticians handle our waste correctly. 
•  etc ... 

And I think there are a thousand other actions to be taken, all more or less exciting and glamorous I grant you, but this submerged part of the iceberg is just as essential if we are to continue to be proud to offer you joyful fashion with meaning, so that you too can feel proud to wear our brand. If you have any ideas to add to this list, I'd love to hear from you!  

In parallel with this newsletter, we're working on an ethical charter that will be visible online on our Make My Lemonade website, where we'll report on where we are and where we need to improve, as well as future actions to take - but I have no intention of making it the focus of our communication. It will be visible on our site, and I'm telling you about it here because it's a question that keeps me up at night... This almost impossible equation. 

So why am I doing this again?

I'm doing this because I'm convinced that we can offer original, cheerful fashion at a fair price, as cleanly as possible, produced as locally as possible. Making sense is what makes me happy. 

Lisa

* Öko-Tex is the first label to guarantee the human-ecological qualities of textiles: free of toxic products for the body and the environment.

** audit An audit is a procedure for controlling the management of a company.