can a sweater stitch together the world
those were increasingly aware of just
how removed we are from how wear our
clothes are made maybe a better question
is could a sweater become a symbol of
how the world could be stitched together
in the effort to create a more ethical
and sustainable production model
according to the global fashion agenda
and the Boston Consulting Group 2017
pulse of the fashion industry report the
fashion industry as a whole
rates just 32 out of a hundred on
sustainability as our production
container population continues to grow
and it’s more evident just how stretched
our resources are we think it’s
important as a brand to look at the
impact we’re having and to make sure
that that impact isn’t a negative one
and just really see how we can behave
responsibly both environmentally and
also socially socially a little about me
I’m my name is Julie Conroy I grew up
just outside of London I learned how to
knit and sew as a child as most girls of
my generation did I’m actually pretty
bad at it so I’m not the one that does
the knitting I am much more visual than
hands-on I studied photography and
design in Western Australia at the
Institute of Technology there and I came
to New York in 95 so I’ve been working
in music mostly the photography and
design industries since I’ve lived here
to know a little about our company its
first important that you know about the
woman behind in Anya Kohl grew who is
actually in the audience here tonight
I’m Nicole grew up in communist Poland
her mother’s mantra was if you need it
you make it and that mindset took Anya
through her career as a ballet dancer to
when she was living in West Germany
after she defected from Poland she was a
single mother she was knitting to
financially support herself and that
mindset took her through to when she
started her company here
in New York City so our news first
collection was in fall 2012 I came on
boards for 2014 initially as her image
director I was becoming more aware of
the environmental and social impact that
the fashion industry was having so I
decided that we should look closer at
what our company was doing in these
areas being part of the industry I felt
really it’s my responsibility to make
sure our impact isn’t a negative one and
what I found
just by looking was that unintentionally
Anya had actually created a company that
was built on a socially ethical
production model our sweaters are handed
here in New York City and Anya insisted
that that’s what we would do as a
company because really being hands-on
was the only way she knew how to work
our knitters actually live in the five
boroughs of the city and when we have
orders they come to us to pick up their
sweaters to go over the piece they’re
going to knit
get their yarn they then take that home
bring it back to us when the piece is
finished so most of these women are
mothers or grandmothers who are raising
children and being able to work from
home really gives them the freedom to be
able to put work around their home life
their family and also just not having to
worry about the high cost of childcare
so every piece that we know contains the
signature of the woman who knit the
piece this is an example of their it’s
wonderful lines of colored thread it’s a
small symbol it’s just a small piece of
thread but it’s listed humanizes a
production chain it’s this unique
signature that represents the woman who
was responsible for crafting this piece
that we sent out from the studio
and it’s this symbol that connects her
to you of the person who may end up
wearing this sweater even in the luxury
industry supply chains are complex and
difficult to navigate and they can often
scan multiple regions by keeping our
production local we’re able to
personally know who’s making all of our
clothing and also we’re able to set the
price that’s paid directly to each
knitter another step on our journey to
becoming a more sustainable company
happened about two years ago when we
were introduced to a company called June
cashmere who are ethically sourcing yarn
from small family farms in the alive
valley of Kyrgyzstan so we decided it
was important to journey to this region
I actually went to see firsthand the
initiatives that they said they were
putting forward to help people stay on
the villages that they grew up in so it
was also a really good opportunity for
us to be able to put a face on the
people that were producing the fibers
from this cashmere that we were going to
be using so I took five days traveling
around with people from the company and
I met the men and women who heard the
goats coordinate the villages and buy
the fibers and I discovered a close-knit
community who were being given an
opportunity to earn money from the goats
that they keep on their family farms
whether that’s one or hundred I was
there during combing season and I got to
travel around with local employees from
village to village while they were
buying the fibers from these people no
matter how small the amount and I saw
people with little bags of 20 grams of
fibers right through to people who had
multiple kilos this companies also
putting initiatives into place to train
them onto how better manage their herd
and collect their fibers and their
reenergize industry that was basically
lost after the collapse of the Soviet
Union
and it was just incredible for us in the
modern age when production chains are
automated and anonymous to be able to
put a face on every step of the supply
chain from the person who was herding
the goats in Central Asia right through
to the woman in New York City who was
knitting the final piece so what is the
cost of an ethically responsible
production model in the luxury sector
spending $2,000 and up on a sweater is
not unusual and that’s where our price
point sets so how do we justify that as
being the cost of a sweater in the 2017
post of the fashion industry report they
stated that in general production
accounts for 28% of the cost of a
garment and 65% of that goes to wages in
our production model 40 to 50 percent of
the total cost of a sweater actually
goes directly to labor directly to our
knitters so then what I want to ask is
shouldn’t true luxury being able to know
who made your clothing and that that
person was paid a fair price for their
work and that traditional skills and
craftsmanship sar being kept alive right
now
Hanyu is just a small company but we
have about a hundred knitters on our
books about forty five of them work for
us regularly and right now
we really don’t have that much work to
be more than supplemental income for
these women but wouldn’t it be amazing
if making production a significant part
of the cost of goods sold became a
widespread business model what would
that world look like it could be the
difference in a developing nation
between someone living below the poverty
line and someone earning a living wage
how about if we put a premium on skills
and craftsmanship what if we take a
cottage industry methods
and apply it to a contemporary business
we could expand opportunities for women
who would be able to work from home
which are just unrealistic for them
because of the high cost of childcare
especially in this country our model of
local production is obviously not going
to work for everybody but how about we
hire local representatives or make sure
that fair wages and not just submit
minimum wages are paid to factory
workers and we don’t have all the
answers and I know we’re not the only
company asking these questions but we
owe it as global citizens to take a look
at ways to make a change to make our
industry more sustainable and to make
sure that human suffering is not a part
of the production process
maybe the sustainability of the future
of fashion might require looking forward
by looking back to how clothing was made
by re-energizing traditional regional
industries giving a new lease of life to
factories in regions that used to be
thriving to supply stable jobs for the
next generation maybe it’s giving
artisans in India or Africa or here in
the u.s. new markets for their skills
it’s giving women a chance to work from
home or even goat herders in a remote
part of the world an opportunity for a
sustainable business that they can pass
down to their families by taking all
these elements as a company looking at
people around the globe who make this
one sweater being conscious of the
decisions we make in materials and where
and how we produce have repercussions
both good and bad globally by investing
in people teaching new skills valuing
traditional skills developing a business
model that values and recognizes the
people who make up our supply chain by
passing that information on to you the
customer
maybe that’s how we stitch the world
together one sweater at a time thank you
those were increasingly aware of just
how removed we are from how wear our
clothes are made maybe a better question
is could a sweater become a symbol of
how the world could be stitched together
in the effort to create a more ethical
and sustainable production model
according to the global fashion agenda
and the Boston Consulting Group 2017
pulse of the fashion industry report the
fashion industry as a whole
rates just 32 out of a hundred on
sustainability as our production
container population continues to grow
and it’s more evident just how stretched
our resources are we think it’s
important as a brand to look at the
impact we’re having and to make sure
that that impact isn’t a negative one
and just really see how we can behave
responsibly both environmentally and
also socially socially a little about me
I’m my name is Julie Conroy I grew up
just outside of London I learned how to
knit and sew as a child as most girls of
my generation did I’m actually pretty
bad at it so I’m not the one that does
the knitting I am much more visual than
hands-on I studied photography and
design in Western Australia at the
Institute of Technology there and I came
to New York in 95 so I’ve been working
in music mostly the photography and
design industries since I’ve lived here
to know a little about our company its
first important that you know about the
woman behind in Anya Kohl grew who is
actually in the audience here tonight
I’m Nicole grew up in communist Poland
her mother’s mantra was if you need it
you make it and that mindset took Anya
through her career as a ballet dancer to
when she was living in West Germany
after she defected from Poland she was a
single mother she was knitting to
financially support herself and that
mindset took her through to when she
started her company here
in New York City so our news first
collection was in fall 2012 I came on
boards for 2014 initially as her image
director I was becoming more aware of
the environmental and social impact that
the fashion industry was having so I
decided that we should look closer at
what our company was doing in these
areas being part of the industry I felt
really it’s my responsibility to make
sure our impact isn’t a negative one and
what I found
just by looking was that unintentionally
Anya had actually created a company that
was built on a socially ethical
production model our sweaters are handed
here in New York City and Anya insisted
that that’s what we would do as a
company because really being hands-on
was the only way she knew how to work
our knitters actually live in the five
boroughs of the city and when we have
orders they come to us to pick up their
sweaters to go over the piece they’re
going to knit
get their yarn they then take that home
bring it back to us when the piece is
finished so most of these women are
mothers or grandmothers who are raising
children and being able to work from
home really gives them the freedom to be
able to put work around their home life
their family and also just not having to
worry about the high cost of childcare
so every piece that we know contains the
signature of the woman who knit the
piece this is an example of their it’s
wonderful lines of colored thread it’s a
small symbol it’s just a small piece of
thread but it’s listed humanizes a
production chain it’s this unique
signature that represents the woman who
was responsible for crafting this piece
that we sent out from the studio
and it’s this symbol that connects her
to you of the person who may end up
wearing this sweater even in the luxury
industry supply chains are complex and
difficult to navigate and they can often
scan multiple regions by keeping our
production local we’re able to
personally know who’s making all of our
clothing and also we’re able to set the
price that’s paid directly to each
knitter another step on our journey to
becoming a more sustainable company
happened about two years ago when we
were introduced to a company called June
cashmere who are ethically sourcing yarn
from small family farms in the alive
valley of Kyrgyzstan so we decided it
was important to journey to this region
I actually went to see firsthand the
initiatives that they said they were
putting forward to help people stay on
the villages that they grew up in so it
was also a really good opportunity for
us to be able to put a face on the
people that were producing the fibers
from this cashmere that we were going to
be using so I took five days traveling
around with people from the company and
I met the men and women who heard the
goats coordinate the villages and buy
the fibers and I discovered a close-knit
community who were being given an
opportunity to earn money from the goats
that they keep on their family farms
whether that’s one or hundred I was
there during combing season and I got to
travel around with local employees from
village to village while they were
buying the fibers from these people no
matter how small the amount and I saw
people with little bags of 20 grams of
fibers right through to people who had
multiple kilos this companies also
putting initiatives into place to train
them onto how better manage their herd
and collect their fibers and their
reenergize industry that was basically
lost after the collapse of the Soviet
Union
and it was just incredible for us in the
modern age when production chains are
automated and anonymous to be able to
put a face on every step of the supply
chain from the person who was herding
the goats in Central Asia right through
to the woman in New York City who was
knitting the final piece so what is the
cost of an ethically responsible
production model in the luxury sector
spending $2,000 and up on a sweater is
not unusual and that’s where our price
point sets so how do we justify that as
being the cost of a sweater in the 2017
post of the fashion industry report they
stated that in general production
accounts for 28% of the cost of a
garment and 65% of that goes to wages in
our production model 40 to 50 percent of
the total cost of a sweater actually
goes directly to labor directly to our
knitters so then what I want to ask is
shouldn’t true luxury being able to know
who made your clothing and that that
person was paid a fair price for their
work and that traditional skills and
craftsmanship sar being kept alive right
now
Hanyu is just a small company but we
have about a hundred knitters on our
books about forty five of them work for
us regularly and right now
we really don’t have that much work to
be more than supplemental income for
these women but wouldn’t it be amazing
if making production a significant part
of the cost of goods sold became a
widespread business model what would
that world look like it could be the
difference in a developing nation
between someone living below the poverty
line and someone earning a living wage
how about if we put a premium on skills
and craftsmanship what if we take a
cottage industry methods
and apply it to a contemporary business
we could expand opportunities for women
who would be able to work from home
which are just unrealistic for them
because of the high cost of childcare
especially in this country our model of
local production is obviously not going
to work for everybody but how about we
hire local representatives or make sure
that fair wages and not just submit
minimum wages are paid to factory
workers and we don’t have all the
answers and I know we’re not the only
company asking these questions but we
owe it as global citizens to take a look
at ways to make a change to make our
industry more sustainable and to make
sure that human suffering is not a part
of the production process
maybe the sustainability of the future
of fashion might require looking forward
by looking back to how clothing was made
by re-energizing traditional regional
industries giving a new lease of life to
factories in regions that used to be
thriving to supply stable jobs for the
next generation maybe it’s giving
artisans in India or Africa or here in
the u.s. new markets for their skills
it’s giving women a chance to work from
home or even goat herders in a remote
part of the world an opportunity for a
sustainable business that they can pass
down to their families by taking all
these elements as a company looking at
people around the globe who make this
one sweater being conscious of the
decisions we make in materials and where
and how we produce have repercussions
both good and bad globally by investing
in people teaching new skills valuing
traditional skills developing a business
model that values and recognizes the
people who make up our supply chain by
passing that information on to you the
customer
maybe that’s how we stitch the world
together one sweater at a time thank you
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