Our Story - The Why Behind This All

What was a mission to fix the fashion industry’s fit problem quickly grew to be so much more than just ‘finding the right size’.

Hello Wonderful,

If you’re reading this, I want to thank you. I know you landed here because you believe in something bigger than yourself.

Whatever stage you may be in your life - whether you’re just starting adulthood and entering college or a well established professional living in the bustling city. Perhaps you’re a recent newlywed or maybe just recently separated. Maybe you’re an aspiring artist living in the shackles of corporate America. It’s possible you yearn for feeding the wanderlust within you. Or maybe, you’re just going with the motion and trying to figure this silly little thing called life out.

I feel you.

I may not know you personally, but you’ve already inspired me. Life is a clusterfuck of journeys - we have are good days, we have our toilet days. We feel invincible at times, and complete failures at others. We make mistakes, yet still survive the storm. We have our beliefs, we have our doubts. But, there isn’t really any challenge we can’t overcome. It’s human nature to adapt. Everything that we’ve ever aspired to do or become starts from a powerful feeling within you. It’s an innate feeling - you didn’t plan it, you didn’t expect it, you may have not even wanted it. But it consumes you.

I know this has happened to you.

I’m not necessarily talking about the misfits and dreamers that strive to build a Forbes 500 company. I’m not necessarily talking about the athletes that know no limits to possibilities. I’m not necessarily talking about the doctors on a mission to cure cancer. I’m talking about the ones that refuse to accept their current situation as their lasting situation. I’m talking about the ones that refuse to accept the norm for what it is. I’m talking about the ones that ask the questions and pushes the status quo.

The ones that know themselves.

The ones that know their values and what they stand for. The ones that have a sound belief system and wear it on their sleeves. Literally and metaphorically. Everyone expresses themselves differently but the one thing that’s consistent with all of us: we wear clothes. Even if you wish you didn’t, there’s really no way around it. And what we choose to wear says a lot about us. You might be one of the most fashion-forward, designer-driven “fashionistas” out there with a creative style. We know it, because we see it, because you wear it. Or you might be a chill, laid back, California-sun loving hippie who rocks an airy tank top and jean shorts with flip-flops. We know it, because we see it, because you wear it.

We’re all unique, but we’re not that much different.

‍I’ve said before how unique our human genome is from everyone else. The life stages we’re in are different. The hobbies we pursue are different. The values and belief systems we stand by are different. But I guarantee you, the clothes we wear, make us all the same.

As I was going through this journey, what I discovered changed my life forever.

What was a mission to fix the fashion industry’s fit problem quickly grew to be so much more than just ‘finding the right size’. I started this journey in 2012 aimed at solving a problem I saw - people wanting to purchase clothes online but never knew what size to select. Every brand has a different sizing structure and even within a brand, you could easily be two different sizes. Shopping online was a challenge. Returns were a hassle. And the problem consumed me.

I had no idea what to expect. And I most certainly did not expect to be here.

I was never really “into” fashion. I actually never really even felt like I fit in. But when I started getting more exposure to the rapacious industry, my heart broke.

Up until the 1960’s about 95% of the clothes consumed in America were made in America. Things started changing.

Over the centuries, clothing brands stopped making the clothes and instead focused on designing and marketing while outsourcing the production for cheaper. Before you knew it, these brands morphed into great possessors of power in the supply chain. In fact, factory owners were at the mercy of these brands because without them, they’re livelihood would perish. And knowing they had such power, they kept demanding production at a lower cost and threatened to move business if they did not accept. Something had to give - either the price of the product had to go up or the manufacturers had to shut down or manufacturers had to cut corners to make it work.

And cutting corners became a norm.

It’s these corners that led to the death of over 1,000 garment workers in the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013. It’s these corners that have forced 250 million children ages 5 to 14 to work in sweatshops in developing countries for up to 16 hours a day. It’s these corners that a $60 shirt in the US only costs 10 cents to make. And these corners exist in the US as well. The Department of Labor found that 50% of garment factories in the US violate two or more basic labor laws, labelling them as sweatshops.

Enough is enough.

The mass shift in consumerism has shifted too far. We have frivolously over consumed so much we've made the fashion industry the 2nd most polluting industry after oil. The average American discards about 82 lbs of clothing and textiles each year yet most communities don’t even have textile recycling programs.

Nearly 30% of apparel purchased online is returned and 70% is fit related. A high 84% of ALL returned clothes end up in a landfill or incinerator. And 36 million tons of packaging waste ends up in landfills. When things end up in a landfill, they sit there for 200 years. During those years, they emit harmful gases. We’re so unnecessarily wasteful that we’ve had to produce 1.6 times more than the amount the earth can absorb in the same time frame.

But, why?

So I set out to find out. And as expected, when I presented the question of whether they ever wondered where their clothes came from, the typical answer was “not really”. It makes sense - that was my answer too before I learned about all of this. And when asked why they or in general, consumers, don’t shop more sustainable, the answer: “it’s too much effort”. Yeah, that makes total sense too. The big players in mainstream fashion make it all too easy to NOT go anywhere else. In a world of information overload, knowing what to know, where to go, how to begin and why it matters just isn’t on everyone’s radars. And rightfully so.

But it also doesn’t mean it has to be this difficult.

How is it, that such an industry that generates so much profit for a handful of people, can’t solve some of its core problems. It’s the “economic system” that has been justifying the means and it’s this system that needs to be challenged.

So I set out to do so. Everything we’ve done and everything we sought out to do, is because we refuse to accept the norm. We believe that just because this is the way things are, does not mean this is the way things need to be. We believe that changing the world isn’t some esoteric illusion and and that steps to take there are not as arduous and overwhelming as it may feel.

We believe, that if we can tackle at least one element of the industry while others tackle different elements, we’ll leave the world a better place than how we found it. We believe that everyone can make an impact with absolute zero effort. By purchasing the right size, the FIRST time around, we can get one step closer to the projected $190 billion dollars at stake.

Trule Yours,
Stacy - The dreamer behind the vision, the voice behind the cause, the misfit behind the mission.