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Talking Sustainability, Suits, And Slow Fashion With Batch LDN
157 Plays8 months ago
For her first episode as host, Emma talks to Julian Osborne, co-founder of Batch LDN about redefining suits with their “Batch Model,” the foundations of slow fashion, and how they are working to change consumers' attitudes towards the consumption of fashion.
This episode is supported by our friends at SOURCING at MAGIC.
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Transcript
The Origin of Fashion Waste
00:00:02
Speaker
70% of fashion waste comes from upstream production, which means that the clothes are going to waste before they've even reached the shops or the consumer's hands for the most part. So we're really trying to tackle that as best as we can.
Interline Podcast 2024: New Focus
00:00:17
Speaker
After going on hiatus for the second half of last year, our busiest six months to date, the Interline podcast is back for 2024.
00:00:25
Speaker
revitalized and ready to look at fashion's biggest challenges and opportunities through a technology lens.
Meet Emma: The New Host
00:00:30
Speaker
I'm your new host, Emma. I've been the Interlines News and Features Editor for the past year. And now I'm going to be taking over interview duties from Ben, who's off hosting the technology content program at events in Europe and the US, as well as taking the lead on our three deep dive reports for this year. AI in the spring, sustainability in the summer, and 3D and digital product creation in the winter. He's got a lot going on,
00:00:55
Speaker
but he'll still be popping back in here and there from time
Julian Osborne on Batch London
00:00:58
Speaker
to time. For our first guest of my 10 years host, we're lucky to have Julian Osborne, who is the co-founder at Batch London, a UK brand that's aiming to build a community of forward-thinking and conscious shoppers through its signature casual smart men's and women's suits, made to order from a tightly curated range of materials and sustainable batches. That batch model means that the brand produces exactly what is needed for its audience while continuing to cut out waste with every design.
00:01:25
Speaker
This was a large part of why Julian and his co-founder, Sam, started Vash to begin with. First and foremost, they couldn't find a decent casual suit. They saw an opportunity to design an outfit that was hyper versatile and could be worn every day, especially post pandemic, when smart casual has become the norm in offices and for events.
Overproduction in Fashion
00:01:43
Speaker
When doing their due diligence, they soon learned about fashion's massive overproduction problem, and this drove them to incorporate sustainability into the core of the company, aiming to be a part of the solution of changing how we consume fashion.
00:01:55
Speaker
I wanted to start off these new shows by speaking to Julian because sustainability should be at the top of the priority list for every fashion company. It isn't a 2024 trend. It's a critical, multifaceted, humanitarian, environmental and economic crisis that affects every single person on this planet. Despite this being well known in the fashion industry and beyond, overproduction continues. With the latest eye watering statistics being that of the roughly 100 billion items clothing produced every year, around 65% of these still end up in landfill.
00:02:25
Speaker
within 12 months. Landfill sites release equal parts carbon dioxide and methane, the latter greenhouse gas being 28 times more potent than the former over a 100-year period. The fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions.
00:02:41
Speaker
according to the UN. Batch London is playing their part to be part of a better future for fashion.
00:02:57
Speaker
that the Interline has partnered with for several seasons already. Their events in Las Vegas and New York connect businesses, brands, and sourcing professionals while facilitating collaboration with an established community of international and domestic manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers. Since its inception, Sourcing at Magic has been an advocate for sustainability and working to change how stakeholders operate to help minimize fashion's impact on the environment.
00:03:21
Speaker
Across its fast-growing sustainability verification program in education sessions, Sourcing at Magic is actively driving fashion forward and empowering entrepreneurs, brands, suppliers, and manufacturers to take collective environmental and ethical action. So don't miss the fusion of fashion and innovation at Sourcing at Magic. Explore with style intertwined with technology, offering a glimpse into the future of sourcing.
The Journey of Batch London
00:03:43
Speaker
Over now to my chat with Julian of Batch London. Good morning, Julian. Could you begin by introducing yourself
00:03:49
Speaker
and how you found yourself as the co-founder at Batch London and what the company is all about. I'd be delighted to, Emma. So I'm Julian, the co-founder of Batch London. Before I dive into that a little bit about myself, I'm 29. My co-founder and I founded Batch. Well, we launched Batch around 20 months ago now, but we founded it 10 months prior to that. It took us about 10 months to build the brand, the product,
00:04:18
Speaker
and everything else that goes into building a business in the background before we launch to the public. Previously to Batch, I worked for an underwear company called Oddballs, which is the based in the northeast of England where I'm from, despite not having a particularly strong Geordie accent. I am from Newcastle.
00:04:37
Speaker
where I spent six years with the business. I worked for two years up in Newcastle and then moved independently down to London to manage a part of the business which I could do from from down south essentially and I had a really good
00:04:51
Speaker
grounding about how direct consumer brands work had really great exposure to a rapidly scaling start-up i was the fourth member of staff there and when i left there was over sixty so i really got to experience how startups grow what the do's and don'ts are and then
00:05:11
Speaker
circling back around to the Batch London bit.
Versatile Casual Suits for Today
00:05:14
Speaker
My co-founder Sam approached me whilst I was still working for Oddballs. My co-founder Sam worked for a drink startup called Punchy and he approached me with a problem or potentially an opportunity which he saw to recreate the traditional suit as he personally was struggling to find a decent casual suit to buy. He quickly realised that he'd spent a load of time working for startups.
00:05:42
Speaker
Understood the value of having a decent co-founder on the journey of setting up a business and reached out to me Seeing what I thought of the idea and admittedly I thought it was a great idea. I've got a personal passion for clothing I've always loved buying my own clothes love curating an interesting wardrobe. So I
00:06:02
Speaker
and then paired with the fact that I've just spent six years, well at the time it was circa four, four and a half years, at oddballs learning I felt that I could add a lot of value to what Sam was trying to achieve. Absolutely and this isn't one of the questions but I was going to add that you told me before that you weren't the typical
00:06:26
Speaker
guy who was into sustainability, which I thought was very interesting because your business is so centered around that. And I thought it was just interesting how it shows that just an ordinary person with a passion for clothes, a consumer, how you ended up here and how there's actually hope, I think, for a lot of people who may not realize that they can get involved.
00:06:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think that forms a nice question actually and leads on to nicely about what batch is all about.
Redefining the Traditional Suit
00:07:01
Speaker
So as I mentioned, we took Sam's initial idea of creating this casual suit, something that you can style with all of your clothes and therefore have an outfit for all occasions. The traditional suit has become overly formal. The opportunities to wear it are becoming few and far between and
00:07:19
Speaker
in a lot of workplaces, the traditional suit isn't worn anymore, especially post COVID. We'd all got used to working from home in whatever clothes that we wanted to and quickly realized that wearing a suit every day to work doesn't exactly make a great deal of sense. And as a consequence, after the return back to the workplace, we saw something that has been coined wardrobe casualization. That being said, there's still a
00:07:46
Speaker
significant need to have a decent smart casual outfit in your wardrobe, just something that can be styled with all of your clothes and therefore you've got an outfit for all occasions. So that was the initial premise for Starting Batch. Then when you set up a fashion brand, especially or any business for that matter, you need to work out how you can be sustainable. Sam and I were aware of
00:08:10
Speaker
how unsustainable the fashion industry was but we hadn't necessarily come or found back from a place of sustainability so to speak so quickly realized that there was a massive issue with regards to the amount of waste that's created in the industry six and ten items that are made every single year end up in landfill within 12 months so there's a really big issue when it comes to fashion waste so we felt
00:08:35
Speaker
Could we set back up in a way to oppose the waste and potentially facilitate an opportunity for people to try shopping more sustainably and I use the word try because. Despite what a lot of people say sustainability certainly is not the top of people's.
00:08:52
Speaker
list when it comes to how they purchase clothes so we wanted to present batch as an opportunity for people to try shopping a little bit more consciously we believe that it's okay to be a consumer but we should all consume a little bit more consciously and if we did.
00:09:06
Speaker
the fashion industry as a consequence would become a lot more sustainable and we would eliminate a lot of the waste from the production cycle. So long story short, we make all of our garments to order. So if we only produce exactly what's already been ordered, we don't create any clothes that are going to get unsold and end up in landfill, which is obviously the issue that we're trying to avoid.
00:09:29
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And that's really so important, I think, for every business. So you touched on it slightly. We know that consumers don't necessarily put sustainability first, which is a pity. Things like fit style, speed of delivery, price points, all these things actually come before sustainability. I believe sustainability is fourth or fifth.
00:09:52
Speaker
when somebody is considering what to buy. With Batch London, are you trying to change this behaviour, this inherent consumer kind of preference, the priorities of the consumer? Or do you think it's about coming up with a different strategy to incorporate sustainability while accommodating all of the factors that I've mentioned?
00:10:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's a great question. I think if you'd have asked me this two years ago when we started out, and still to this day to a certain extent, it was certainly to change the culture on the way that we can see in clothes. Can we enact positive change on an industry that's crying out for what isn't far off a radical overhaul? I always find it interesting that I think something like 70 to 75% of people say that they would prefer to shop at a brand that they know is sustainable. However, after
00:10:45
Speaker
launching batch and successfully selling these batches of suits for the last two years or so now, we've come to realise that for most people, sustainability is not a motivating factor to make a purchase. It is certainly for some, and I think trends would suggest that more and more people will
00:11:05
Speaker
put sustainability higher on their priority list. But as you've just read out some of the key other reasons that people choose to buy something, unfortunately sustainability does fall way down the pecking order. So in recent months, we've had that realization that in order for batch to be a success, we shouldn't put sustainability at the forefront of our messaging.
00:11:29
Speaker
However sad that might be because ultimately for the brand to scale and grow, it's not going to reach the numbers that we want it to or we aspire to with sustainability as a leading message. So let me explain how we've kind of spun it.
00:11:44
Speaker
The made-to-order element of Batch is great for lots of reasons. It's sustainable operationally for our business because we take cash first and then make the product, which is brilliant for business. It's sustainable as we previously discussed because we eliminate the waste. We only produce exactly what has been ordered, which for a lot of people is a brilliant way to support Batch and try shopping sustainably.
Sustainability in Fashion: A Model
00:12:08
Speaker
What we've realized recently, which we've always known but not necessarily marketed, particularly coherently, is that making to order means that we can charge significantly less for essentially a luxury garment. So our suits should retail between £800 and £1,000 on a typical fashion markup.
00:12:27
Speaker
Because we made to order, it means that we can charge 3.95 for a suit that's handmade to order in London with beautiful Italian cotton. The suit should cost a lot more, and as a consequence, as I said, we're able to charge a lot less.
00:12:42
Speaker
We are currently working with a fantastic branding agency called Andrize and to reposition our messaging. So as I said, it's always come fantastic product that you can wear at all occasions and it's sustainable. So you're doing a bit for the planet. However, now it's a fantastic product. It's accessible luxury because you get charged three nine five for a suit that should really cost a thousand therein lies the motivating factor
00:13:06
Speaker
to shop on a made-to-order model because you're making a significant saving on the product then you find out that sustainable which for most people is a brilliant tick box yet i'm happy that i've been more sustainable but i'm more happy that i've got a really good deal so to kind of circle back around your question it's.
00:13:23
Speaker
the overarching mission for us and what we're passionate about is certainly enacting change on culture however in order to do so we need to be smart about what's really motivating people and price unfortunately will always be a significant factor.
00:13:37
Speaker
That makes a lot of sense. It's really clever to work that way. You lead with the product, you do lead with the pricing. I mean, especially in the climate that the UK is in, a lot of people are worried about their rent. So it makes sense that they're not willing to spend 800 on a suit, but they'll spend, you know, 395, and they're getting this incredible product. And like you said, they're checking the tick box with sustainability, which I do believe, especially people our age,
00:14:07
Speaker
You know, and Gen Z certainly, I think sustainability is going to become more and more of a factor, but I think that's much down the line. And like you said, price, especially in these conditions is going to be what?
00:14:22
Speaker
is the driving factor for buying something. So now you touched on a point that you make everything locally. I want to ask you a little bit about your process, but also on the macro scale.
00:14:37
Speaker
Do you think that this is something that most fashion companies should be doing? We know that it's good for reducing carbon emissions associated with long-distance transportation. We know it supports the local economy. It's better for quality control because you can track things a lot better. It's good for flexibility and agility in the supply chain.
00:15:02
Speaker
So my question is, do you think that this kind of model focusing on domestic production is scalable? And is it for everybody? It's a good question. We launched Batch in Portugal, as it stands. Batches one to three were manufactured not too far away from Porto. As you would suspect, the closer that you're able to manufacture from home to home,
00:15:31
Speaker
means that you're going to be ultimately more sustainable because you're not worrying about air miles and constantly shipping goods to and from destinations too far afield. An ambition of ours was always to manufacture in London. We were kind of pushed over the edges on
00:15:47
Speaker
A couple of older batches, batches two and three, we had some production issues, which probably could have been avoided if we were closer to home. So that was a motivating factor to move production back to London. As it's turned out, it's been one of the best decisions that we've ever made, really, as a new startup.
00:16:09
Speaker
It's incredibly important to be as close to the product as possible. The product needs to be sacred and well looked after. And if it's a two and a half hour flight away, where you have to spend a few days, a factory in Portugal, if any issues do arise, they're very difficult to deal with. And we were kind of burned because of that. So moving back to London's been excellent. We're 45 minutes away from our shop, which is based in Spitalfield.
00:16:38
Speaker
There haven't actually been any issues, which has been the beauty of this move. But it's been fantastic to see and be able to support British craftsmanship. The diversity in British factories relative to European factories and further afield in Asia and in the Middle East.
00:16:59
Speaker
is excellent to see. I was taken aback by the diverse workforce at our factory. So many technically skilled people from all over the world who have settled in the UK, and a lot of men, previously in Portugal, they're all seamstresses, all women working in the factory who have worked there through, their mothers have worked there, their sisters work there, their aunties have worked there, it's a community of fantastically gifted women in the UK.
00:17:26
Speaker
It's totally not like that, it's more like 50-50, so that was really interesting to see. In terms of answering your question on scalability and should other brands do it, I think if you're running a small scale production like we currently are, the UK certainly works and there are factories that can create more in terms of quantities than our current manufacturer can, so it is achievable. I think the second that your business truly scales and
00:17:53
Speaker
you're taking into account stuff like profit margin, the cost of your goods, when the detail and the small numbers really start to count.
00:18:04
Speaker
my experience so far is that the UK will become too expensive to do that, unfortunately. What I'm delighted at is that we've been able to initially establish a really good relationship with a few Portuguese manufacturers, which is as close to home as you can get at the quality of production that we want to achieve for Batch. So, I would suspect as and when the time comes, we'll be looking to scale back to Portugal, but I think
00:18:31
Speaker
There are brands far bigger than us that are making a lot of stuff in the UK and I think the UK manufacturing industry is sometimes forgotten about but there's still thankfully a lot of very skillful people in the UK that shouldn't be forgotten about.
00:18:48
Speaker
Absolutely. I think in recent news, I won't mention the brands, but there's been some negative press around UK factories and, well, it's more actually to do with the brands and how they're operating locally.
Challenges of Domestic Production
00:19:04
Speaker
So I think Batch London is really showcasing what it means to have excellent domestic production and how you can make it work, even though, like you said, perhaps down the line, it will become more expensive. It's still
00:19:18
Speaker
really important thing to at least try or aim towards doing and like you said Portugal is not too far away so that's that's really fantastic.
00:19:28
Speaker
Okay, my next question is around the actual batch suits and how they're made. So I know that it takes four to eight weeks for a suit to be made. And in this time, you take your customers on what's called an experiential journey. So you document how their suit is made and who is actually making it.
00:19:50
Speaker
Can you tell us a little bit about the technical steps of how you achieve this and also why you decided to take your customers on this journey? Why are you offering this kind of service that takes them along the making of a batch suit? Yeah, it would be my pleasure.
00:20:10
Speaker
Experience in retail is something that's certainly overlooked a lot of the time. When Sam and I created Batch, as you would suspect, this whole idea of customers buying something and waiting for it was something that we thought could be the biggest roadblock for Batch being a success. Made to order clothing for the most part is totally unusual for most people.
00:20:34
Speaker
So we were like, how can we turn the waiting element of your suit to arrive into a positive for batch? A lot of people don't know how clothes are made. And by showing people that process, it's going to ensure that they have a greater appreciation for the garments and they're going to ultimately look after them more. So we call it the batch model.
00:20:57
Speaker
Technically how it works is we go into our factory and film each step of the production process. So over the four to eight weeks in which you're waiting, you get a weekly video from the factory seeing your suit being made, just to quickly explain the four to eight weeks. So we collate our orders monthly and place the order at the end of each month, at which point they take four weeks. So if you place your order at the start of the month, you'll wait eight weeks. If you place your order at the end of the month,
00:21:25
Speaker
you'll wait four weeks and the production updates start after we've placed the order with our manufacturer. So we hope that in seeing the exact people who are making your clothes, the amount of craft and expertise and skill that goes into making them, seeing that entire process means as a consumer you're going to really buy into this idea of
00:21:47
Speaker
the slow fashion model and ultimately you're going to care for your clothes a lot more because as I said you've seen the craft and the hard work that's gone into making the clothes and it's something that our consumers really appreciate in something but as a consequence sees them coming back for more it's really powerful that they you know can
00:22:07
Speaker
tell their friends about this really unique experience that they've got shopping at Batch and as I said it makes the the waiting element of buying your clothes actually very enjoyable because you get an experience in return for it. Definitely I think that's such an important part of sustainable fashion and slow fashion going forward is that people really value what they've bought because it'll make them
00:22:31
Speaker
look after it, less likely to discard it. And I think when you wait for something, it just becomes so much more special. We're in this kind of generation where everything is so immediate. Now, I mean, Netflix introduced this concept of releasing a whole series. Instead, I'm sure you remember kind of growing up, you had to wait a whole week for a new episode for something. So it's the same kind of concept where if you wait, you make it last longer, you enjoy the process.
00:23:02
Speaker
creating a story for yourself when you do anything. Yeah. So my next question is around technology. So as you know, the Interline is a technology publication for the fashion industry. And we've touched on it briefly before and, you know,
00:23:21
Speaker
Technology can really be used to streamline a bunch of things from inventory management with real-time tracking capabilities. It can empower creative designs with 3D and digital product creation, DPC. It can be used for product authentication. Digital product passports are going to be mandatory at some stage.
00:23:44
Speaker
soon, I think, especially in the EU. So that's where customers can access additional product information. So there are a lot of things going on with technology in the fashion space. Are you planning to use any technology beyond what you've already described to me already?
Innovation with NFC Technology
00:24:02
Speaker
Is there anything upcoming in the pipeline for batch and technology?
00:24:06
Speaker
Yeah, there is actually. Tech's always something you have to keep one eye on, isn't it? It moves so quickly and there's always fantastic opportunities. And if you're at the forefront of them, it's always going to be beneficial for your brand. The stuff that you've just mentioned there, government passports, government information,
00:24:25
Speaker
is something that we've kept a close eye on through NFC pucks. I'm sure a lot of your listeners will understand what NFC is, but it stands for near field communication. We have small NFC pucks placed into both the jacket and the trousers that people buy. Essentially, what this does is it acts as a garment passport.
00:24:51
Speaker
If you scan it with your phone, you can see where the garment was made, when it was made, the composition of the garment, how to care for it, simple instructions to get it dry cleaned, how to press it, how to fold it, stuff that means that the clothes are going to have a better longevity, they're going to last longer.
00:25:13
Speaker
Long term, what we hope to aspire to take this to is that these NFC pucks can act as a portal back to our consumer. What I mean by that is we can change the information or the landing page that they land on when they scan their pucks. For example, we've discussed internally what an integrated loyalty scheme is like.
00:25:35
Speaker
How can we reward people for being a batch customer? What benefits can they receive as a customer for shopping at batch? Let's say, for example, we could do a partnership with Grind Coffee. Other coffee things are available.
00:25:56
Speaker
whereby our customers could receive 20% off grind for the next month. So I think using tech and integrating it into fashion is certainly something we're keeping an eye on. One thing that you have to be careful about though is that you don't overcomplicate your product, you don't overcomplicate your brand messaging, and as a consequence, turn people off. So I think as and when you do it, and as and when it's integrated, it needs to be done.
00:26:22
Speaker
with a lot of strategy because for a lot of people, tech is overwhelming. And at the end of the day, they just want to buy clothes to look good. So managing the relationship between them both is a paramount importance. Yeah. And I think it's interesting because you're going back to this concept of slow fashion and instilling patience as a virtue in your customers. And it's kind of going back to the old school way of thinking. But at the same time, you have to pair it with all these very new technological concepts.
00:26:52
Speaker
Customers do sometimes want to keep in contact that way. They do want information fast. So I think you're at a really interesting intersection of how to combine the old school world of fashion plus the new worlds that we're living in right now. So it seems like you're doing a great job.
Collaboration for Circular Fashion
00:27:11
Speaker
Now Batch has partnered with Sojo. I hope I'm saying that right.
00:27:15
Speaker
which is a great clothing alterations and repairs platform. We've heard so much about circularity lately, you know, across the media, across fashion. And it's great because it's indicative of the shift towards a more sustainable and environmentally responsible model of production and consumption. So we know that this can minimize waste, it reduces the consumption of finite resources,
00:27:41
Speaker
and it mitigates the environmental impacts associated with traditional linear production processes. So it also places emphasis, as we've discussed, on extending the life of products because people will take care of them better, less likely to discard them. I'm guessing this was kind of your thinking around the collaboration with Sojo. And how do you think that batch alongside this collaboration, how are you contributing to a movement towards a more circular fashion industry?
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's an interesting one, the circular economy, and it's something that we've always set our stall out to be as circular as possible, where possible. And what I mean by that is when you set yourself out to be a sustainable brand, what you'll quickly realize is a lot of the time,
00:28:32
Speaker
especially if you want to grow, you know, to be a successful business. There are compromises that you have to make along the way and those were what we quickly realized and to a certain extent, a business is better off pinpointing a certain point of how they can be sustainable. And so what I mean by that is
00:28:51
Speaker
and what we touched on earlier, we quickly realised there was a huge issue with waste and ultimately the circular fashion movement is all about reducing and eliminating the waste within the fashion industry. By making our clothes to order, we totally eliminate waste.
00:29:08
Speaker
One fact that I always remember is that 70% of fashion waste comes from upstream production, which means that the clothes are going to waste before they've even reached the shops or the consumers' hands for the most part. So we're really trying to tackle that as best as we can.
00:29:27
Speaker
longevity and durability is something that's really important when it comes to circularity and creating a circular fashion economy. Making clothes that last a lifetime is what we set out to do. We actually opted at the moment to add 2% elastane into our cotton, which admittedly makes the clothes more difficult to recycle, but we made a decision early doors that
00:29:52
Speaker
Why should we be making clothes that need to be recycled? We should be making clothes that last the test of time and are far more durable. So this was something that was a compromise, as I was talking about earlier.
00:30:06
Speaker
you have to kind of pick your battles to a certain extent as a small brand when it comes to sustainability, because if you don't, your product becomes infinitely more difficult to create, infinitely more expensive for people to purchase. So that was a small compromise that we made. That being said,
00:30:23
Speaker
We are now excited to be working with more recycled fabrics and got cotton fabrics moving forward in our new products. So it was an initial compromise that we made, but we're excited to be building towards more sustainable fabrics. Yeah, I think that's really powerful because like you said, even though you've made this compromise, it's actually
00:30:46
Speaker
what your brand stands for is for keeping clothes through the test of time. You know, you don't need to buy another suit year on year. You can keep this one. Hopefully if your body doesn't change too much, you can keep it for the next 10 to 20 years. I mean, yeah.
00:31:01
Speaker
I realised that I didn't answer the Sojo part of the question, which has just come back to me now. So I'd be happy to. So we're delighted to be working with Sojo. I think repairs and making sure that if your clothing doesn't quite fit you right or there is an issue with it, that we change the culture on just leaving it in the wardrobe or throwing it out.
00:31:22
Speaker
it's ever so easy to get clothes repaired these days. And Sojo might facilitate that by coming to the house, collecting your garments, fixing them and bringing them back to the consumer. So we're delighted to be able to offer 50% off to our customers for those alterations in a bid to be more circular and make sure that people are looking after their clothes more and ultimately changing the culture on how we look after our clothes and when we do that. For sure. And I think that's something that consumers can easily get behind.
00:31:50
Speaker
especially if it's something of such high quality, like the kind of thing that Batch produces. So happily for me, Batch has set out to be a brand for both men and women. So the batches are confident color and material wise across both men's and women's products. This is really great for all the things we've discussed, as well as for inclusivity. What were you thinking, what you and your co-founder, what were you thinking when
00:32:19
Speaker
you decided to implement this strategy? I think it came from a place of being, Sam and I are essentially feminists. We wanted to create a brand for both men and women. Sam's sister is our third employee, Imo. I think when we just set out to make Batch, the suit is biased towards men. It always has been.
00:32:44
Speaker
a sad fact, to be honest. So we wanted to create a suit that empowered women and made women feel great and equal to men in the workplace when it comes to suiting. I think, admittedly, the women's range relative to our men's range doesn't sell as well as we want it to yet, but it's something that we're very strong on keeping because it makes our brand far more refreshing, far more interesting. Ultimately,
00:33:12
Speaker
if you just make suits for men you're turning away for fifty percent of your potential market as well so there's lots of reasons as to why that we've decided to keep or create a women's range alongside the men's we also as a consequence open our doors up to conversations with so many fantastic women who
00:33:31
Speaker
Ultimately, we wouldn't be speaking to if it was just a suit brand for men. So there's lots of different reasons why we absolutely love the women's range. Some of our female customers are some of our best customers and look best in the suit. So, yeah, long, long may the women's range last.
00:33:49
Speaker
It's been fascinating talking to you, and I want to know what's next for Batch? What's your long-term vision? And also, what's your vision for the slow fashion industry in general?
Future of Batch London
00:34:02
Speaker
Where do we go from here? Yeah, our long-term vision for Batch is to be the go-to, smart, casual, made-to-order brand in the world.
00:34:11
Speaker
It's a bit of a mouthful, but what I mean by that is that we've started off our journey creating these redefined versatile comfortable suits. Once we continue to prove concept that people are willing to pay for their clothes and wait for them for the betterment of the planet, and because it means that they get an expensive piece of clothing for a lot less than it should cost,
00:34:35
Speaker
we in theory should be able to launch new products on our batch model so I'm excited to say that we'll be launching our linen collection soon so the summer collection that's coming up will be linen suits a couple of cotton suits and a linen shirt and trouser for both men and women different cuts for each so the shirt and trouser will be our first exploration into what it means to be
00:35:01
Speaker
a made-to-order clothing brand rather than just a suit brand and it's going to be really interesting to see one our customers perspectives but also potential customers on
00:35:13
Speaker
is a shirt, a product that somebody wants to pay and wait for. I think suits as a product, it's much more easy to get your head around that you would wait for a suit to be made for you, but will the same be the same for shirts? So that's the long-term vision for Batch and the net will grow out into other versatile, smart, casual pieces from there.
00:35:35
Speaker
I think Sam and I truly believe in slow fashion movement. I think that's the way that the industry has to go. The industry is broken. The amount of waste and systemic issues that are there are undeniable.
00:35:50
Speaker
For most of us, it's far too easy to turn a blind eye to it. However, as you kind of touched on, I think Gen Z and younger people and more and more people of our age and older are becoming quickly aware that something needs to change. And we are excited to be at the forefront of that change. And if made-to-order clothing becomes the norm, which it well should,
00:36:10
Speaker
We are really well positioned to have set up a really sustainable and successful business, which hopefully we can check in, Emma, in a few years' time and we can say, you know, well, that was right. And ultimately, the fashion industry and the way we consume fashion will have changed for the better. Oh, absolutely. I have no doubt, from what I've seen and now
00:36:34
Speaker
after speaking to you, I think that slow fashion and certainly batch has a really bright future. So thank you so much for your time, Julian. It's been an absolute delight talking to you. My absolute pleasure. Thank you very much.
00:36:48
Speaker
Before we finish, I'd like to thank today's sponsor again, Our Friends at Sourcing at Magic, for supporting this episode of the show. The Interline came back from the most recent Las Vegas event just a few weeks ago, and the commitment to addressing sustainability, waste, and ethical sourcing was stronger than ever. Beyond the insights and education you'll find at their live event, you can find out more year round by visiting www.sourcingatmagic.com and look out for more collaborations between the Interline and the team at Sourcing at Magic soon.
00:37:17
Speaker
And that's our episode for today. I'd encourage you to follow Batch London across their social media platforms to hear about their latest updates and new collections. And if you're in London, maybe pay a visit to their store at the old Spitalfields Market and join the Batch community. Lastly, thanks for listening to my first show. I've got a lot more guests already lined up across a lot of different fashion technology topics. So to make sure you don't miss an episode, subscribe to the Interline podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts.
00:37:42
Speaker
and give us a follow on LinkedIn and Instagram. We also write a weekly newsletter where you can get our team's deep dive analysis into the biggest stories of the week in the world of fashion tech. And sustainability is often a big part of that. You can subscribe on our website by clicking the newsletter icon at the top right corner of the screen. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.