INTERVIEW #63 COLIECO

Based in: Sagres, Portugal

Founded in: 2011 in Leeds, United Kingdom

Founded by: Nicole Neaber

Shop at: coliecolingerie.com - shipping worldwide

Price range: 20 to 102 EUR

Why did you start ColieCo Lingerie?

As an undergraduate I studied fashion design, and was drawn to lingerie in particular. Through my studies it quickly became clear to me that the fashion industry had serious issues both with working conditions and with its environmental impact. Although ethical brands were already appearing at that time, in the lingerie and underwear markets the options for ethical consumers were limited, relatively expensive and very uninspiring. ColieCo was born to demonstrate that ethical and sustainable underwear could still be fun, adventurous and affordable.

Can you tell us more about your choice of design and the products you sell?

Our designs are led by our aesthetic, the fabrics we’re inspired by, and our commitment to producing garments with an exceptional lifespan. Above all, we aim to produce bold, outgoing designs offering an alternative to the largely grey and brown sustainable fashion paradigm, because we believe that ethical fashion needs to be able to inspire and excite. If it can’t do that, it is only ever going to attract a small proportion of those people who might be interested in exploring ethical alternatives to fast fashion. The ethical fashion market is still a tiny proportion of the global fashion market – less than half of one percent –.and we need to do better. We need as many people on board as possible. We’re also dedicated to actively exploring new best-in-class fabrics to work with, and feeding in design ideas to help extend garment wear. Beyond choosing quality fabrics and elastics, this means we also focus on delivering comfortable, and where practical, highly adjustable garments.

Can you tell us more about your sustainability profile, where are the clothes produced, by whom? What material are you using and what other measures have you taken to reduce your environmental and climate footprint?

We describe ourselves as an eco-centric brand, because we aim to put the environment at the heart of every business decision. We work exclusively with very carefully selected reclaimed, recycled, and low carbon footprint natural fabrics, and strive to minimise the wider environmental impact of our products by working with local suppliers and by continually improving our processes. All of our garments are made to order in our own in-house studio in Sagres, Portugal. This way we can both reduce garment overproduction to zero and get much more out of each roll of fabric than mass-producing brands can with their bulk cutting processes. The industry standard sees roughly 35% of all fabric go to waste. Our model sees much less than 10%. Producing in our own studio also means that we’ll always be able to guarantee that every person involved in the construction of every single ColieCo garment will have done so in safe and comfortable working conditions, and been paid a full living wage.

How do you work with your social sustainability in terms of body images, representation and diversity?

With respect to diversity, it’s really important to us that we keep working harder to ensure that the brand represents and supports racial and ethnic, sexual, gender and ability diversity. We’ve tried to focus in on this in our collaborations with minority-led and minority-championing organisations, and with our support for those working to provide a voice for people suffering with disabilities which impact their ability to fin comfortable clothes to wear. From the start, I’ve always wanted ColieCo to be able to offer solutions for people of all shapes and sizes, and we offer custom sizing outside of our standard size range across our whole collection. In terms of social sustainability, I think it’s very easy for us in Europe to forget that beyond the direct exploitation of Asia’s garment workers, the impact of fast fashion on the environment is going to punish the most vulnerable people in the developing world the hardest. So in terms of social impacts, it’s critically important that we aren’t purely focussed inwards, and that we remember that first and foremost the industry has a responsibility to those it places at most risk.

What do you think needs to change now in the fashion industry to make it more sustainable? 

Where do you start? I think we all want to try to be constructive, but there is so much that is fundamentally broken with the global industry’s model that I don’t believe it can be fixed through a process of gradual continuous improvement. The legacy model needs to be dismantled and rebuilt, with the consideration of end-workers and sustainability at the heart of the system. I also believe that consumers are going to have to drive this change through our choices – it would be an historical mistake for us to leave it to governments to legislate or big business to sacrifice its profits.

What is “greenwashing” according to you and what can producers and consumers do to avoid it?

Like everything, there are degrees of greenwashing, and I think the term is used so widely and liberally now that we’re in danger of distracting ourselves. More and more often I see truly great small businesses – brands which are working really, really hard to make a difference, and being successful in doing so – accused of greenwashing, maybe because they are deemed to have chosen the ‘wrong’ sustainable alternative to cotton or polyester. We need to make sure that the focus stays on the really serious side of the issue, which is fast fashion megabrands attempting to distract from the environmental devastation they’re causing. Instead changing their business models, they’re releasing one ‘sustainable’ mini-collection, or they’re making a pledge to switch one fabric they use for a more sustainable alternative by 2030, for example, when this is a change they could make immediately. In doing so, they grab newspaper headlines, and their investors and customers allow themselves to feel a little better about thei choices. That’s real greenwashing, and that’s where the real damage is done. The best ways to avoid supporting greenwashing are firstly, to dump the high street names and shop instead with small brands with business models built around sustainability. Overwhelmingly, small businesses will offer you an authenticity, honesty and transparency that you simply will not get from any multinational. And secondly, do just a little bit of research before you buy. It doesn’t take much time, and it shouldn’t be difficult to do. If you are finding it difficult to get straight answers from a brand you’re researching, or find that they have little or no information about their fabrics or its processes, it’s likely that there is a reason why and that should be a signal to avoid their products.

What would you advise consumers to do who seek to create a sustainable closet and lifestyle?

I think in Europe, the first thing we have to look at is the size of our wardrobes. Simply, we are buying far, far too many items of clothing; and this applies not only in fashion, but across our spending habits. We change our cars too often, we throw food away. There’s a wholesale change in mindset required to shift from what we *think we want* to buy, much closer to what we *need* to buy. That’s the first stage: a reduction in material consumption. Yes, we need to start making thoughts about reuse, circularity, upcycling, etc. automatic, but that reduction must lead.

What’s the best thing about having your own brand?

For me, it’s collaboration. Whether it starts out creative or otherwise, I think it almost always ends up developing a creative element. We’ve learned so much from and shared so much with our fabric suppliers, photographer, pattern designers, industry writers and bloggers, and particularly our customers. They’ve done so much over the last decade to help guide and inspire us with their ideas and feedback.