JN: Objects can be a reflection of what we care about and help us to find ourselves. It’s really fun creating objects through Oddli that feel like there is an extra step of care and uniqueness. Like with the Oddli name shirt: I think, partially, why they took off is that we’ve done tens of thousands of these shirts now, and not one of them is the same. Every single one is hand-sewn, so there are slight changes in each one, but also every single fabric combination of the shirts is different.
Scaling that process took a lot of care and work behind it. We’ve been seeing that the shirt has naturally become something that customers wear on their most important days — whether it be birthdays, first dates, graduation days, or bachelorette parties, there’s this feeling of fun and a sense of celebration in the piece because of the uniqueness.
TV: When you were starting out, what are some things you were shocked to learn about how sustainability works in the fashion industry?
JN: When we started, we were just naive and optimistic, as a classroom setting can allow for, because you are working in outer space, basically. It gave us enough hope to try with a really ambitious mission of building Oddli. I think we stopped using the word “sustainability” pretty much a year into building the brand.
EC: There was not a definition that resonated with us. I came in thinking that we were going to track the exact amount of carbon we put off with each shirt. As we got into the weeds of downtown LA, in the fabric district at manufacturers’, what we ended up being drawn to was more the quality of the pieces and who we are working with. It was different, like Jensen said; things are just hypothetical in the classroom, rather than being on the ground working with people.
I wish there was more of a strict governing body, but I think at the moment it’s up to brands and brand leaders to define what [sustainability] means to them. It’s honestly in their own consciences. For us, maybe we are deciding between a recycled poly or non-recycled poly, or an organic cotton made with the best yarn ever versus a normal cotton, and the labor is more ethical — these are all situations that come up daily.
The way we think about it is, it doesn’t affect how much people buy. You see that in the fashion industry. The biggest companies are fast fashion. People ultimately just want to buy clothes that are at a good price and that they feel good about. So, for us, when we make those decisions, it’s what do we feel good about and how will we sleep at night. Knowing that at the moment we’re in, if you are bringing new stuff into the world, it should be done in as ethical a way as possible.
I think sustainability did translate into an ethics framework for us that we are continuously evaluating. We are trying to balance price points, because if we do things in an ethical way, you also have to price it in a way people will buy or else you can’t even continue making a business. For us, we want to keep growing Oddli, but at every point make sure we’re doing it in the most right way we can.
