Interview with Erin Houston, CEO & Co-Founder , Wearwell , United States

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CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS:

Watch, listen, or read, and you will learn:

• How to attract and keep consumers by aligning with their values
• How to evaluate sustainable trends – this goes beyond the environment.
• How to make an impact through the supply chain
• How to assess brand partners and make it a light lift.
• What is greenwashing, and how does a small business or consumer identify it?
• How to bake a social initiative into your revenue model while engaging the consumer?
• How do you create a lower carbon footprint while being an online business that ships products?… and so much more!

I hope you feel empowered to make your contribution count!

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Interview with Erin Houston, CEO & Co-Founder , Wearwell ; United States

Erin brings over 10 years of experience prior to Wearwell, initially cutting her teeth in sales and retention of online subscription service MRR for a media company that serves the international development community (Devex), where she eventually built and led a team of 40 to create the company's Partnerships division. She developed and managed relationships with Fortune 500s, NGOs, and social enterprises in this role. Erin also has consulted for Kate Spade's on purpose, their social impact product division. She holds a Masters in Social Enterprise focused on sustainable apparel supply chains. B.A., College of William & Mary, 2009 M.A., American University School of International Service, 2015. Awarded SheEO, Retail TouchPoints 40 Under 40, SustainPHL Most Innovative New Business, Look Forward Retail

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#1. No Poverty, #8. Decent Work and Economic Growth, #10. Reduced Inequalities, #12. Responsible Consumption and Production, #13. Climate Action

Social impact:
Wearwell is the one-stop shop for sustainable clothing, accessories, shoes, secondhand, home goods, and more. We have the highest impact standards in the industry and work with over 45 brands that meet the very highest criteria for fair wages and sustainable production practices. They make it easy and accessible for people to build a sustainable wardrobe and support the growth of emerging brands that prioritize people and planet across their entire supply chain. Wearwell is also a proud member of 1% for the Planet. They donate an additional 1% of every order to nonprofits focused on reproductive rights, racial justice, clean water, and fabric recycling. Wearwell chooses to partner with brands making a positive impact in two distinct areas: workers’ rights and the environment. https://www.shopwearwell.com/pages/impact

Website: https://www.shopwearwell.com

Resources:  https://tsef.ca/resources

Emissions calculator: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10ki2NXLkZIgCUFw4NGOCIPZ-j_MApjVp/edit#gid=1995263545

Project Drawdown: https://drawdown.org/

Interview with Erin Houston, Co-Founder, Wearwell, United States

Note: This interview is transcribed using AI software, which means, the transcription is not perfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!

If you have ever considered incorporating a social initiative into your business, listen to this podcast. Whether you are a consumer small business or entrepreneur. You can take a wealth of information from my conversation with Erin Houston, the co-founder of Wearwell. This is a master class on creating a sustainable social impact for you, your business and the community. Erin cut her teeth at a media company that serves the international development community. Was she eventually built and led a team of 40 to create a company’s partnership division. She developed and managed to relationships with fortune five hundreds, NGOs and social entrepreneurs. Erin also had consulted for Kate Spade’s On Purpose, their social impact product division. She holds a Masters in social enterprise, focused on sustainable apparel, supply chains. So, thank you. You’re going to learn something? I sure did. The list is long, but watch your listen and you’ll learn: How to attract and keep consumers by aligning with their values. How to elevate sustainable trends. This goes beyond the environment. How do you make an impact through the supply chain? How to assist brand partners and make it a light lift? What is greenwashing and how does a small business or consumer identify it? How to bake a social initiative into your revenue model, while, engaging the consumer. And how to create a low carbon footprint, while being an online business that relies on shipping? And so much more. Dive in. This is one you don’t want to miss.

[00:02:10] Suzanne F. Stevens: Welcome to YouMeWe Amplified Podcast, where we have conversations with sheIMPACTpreneur addressing the United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals. These entrepreneurs are not only amazing human beings, but they’re transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions.

In each episode, we’ll have actionable insights into what, why, where, and how to make a social impact, to empower you, your organization. And most importantly, the community. Whether you are joining us live, first I want to welcome you, or listening to the podcast, it is a great opportunity to be empowered to make your contribution count.

I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, an international speaker, author, a sheIMPACTpreneur community builder, and a multi – award winning IMPACTpreneur. And yes, your host for YouMeWe Amplified. We’re in for another treat today because our guest is Erin Houston from Philadelphia. Great city and great name. With her Master’s in Social Enterprise, which focused on sustainable apparel supply chains, she co-founded WearWell, which is the one stop shop for sustainable clothing accessories, shoes, second hand home goods and so much more.

They work with over 45 brands that meet their very highest criteria, which we will find out today more about, and for fair wages as well and sustainable production practices. They make it easy and accessible for people to build a sustainable wardrobe via internet and support the growth of emerging brands that prioritize people and planet across the entire supply chain.

There is a phenomenal bio on Erin’s site. She’s done incredible work, but please check it out on her page. But for now, let’s just welcome Erin. It’s great to see you again.

[00:04:11] Erin Houston: Thank you, Suzanne. Great to be here.

[00:04:14] Suzanne F. Stevens: Now, let’s dive in for the inspiration of Wearwell, what was that?

[00:04:20] Erin Houston: Yeah, I love our backstory because we are… We, meaning my co founder Emily and I, are unlikely suspects in the fashion industry. We come from a global development background. So the two of us, we met in grad school at American University in the School of International Service. Prior to Wearwell, we both worked for about 10 years in the impact space.

My co founder Emily, she was living and working in India, in Cambodia, in Honduras. And, I was working for a media company that serves the global development industry. And my role was working with Fortune 500s, helping to communicate about the impact of their supply chains in developing communities. And we had stumbled across this great friendship together in grad school, studying international development.

And, we’re catching up over dinner one night and we said, you know what? We have both figured out how to live impactfully in so many ways in our lives from our careers. to the ways that we were shopping locally and sustainably for our food. But when it comes to our clothing and accessories, it was so difficult to do that.

It was difficult to do it because we couldn’t find things that fit our personal style, that fit the price point we could afford at the time, or that fit essentially what we were looking for, and which was not greenwashing. It was really hard to see, to really identify the companies that were truly making a positive impact.

and to be able to trust that with the information that was available. And we said, we’re two people with expertise in this, it shouldn’t be this hard. We decided to do something about it and create a for profit business that focuses specifically on making it easier for people to effectively vote with their dollar.

So to shop for ethically and sustainably made clothing, while also, as you mentioned in the intro, supporting the growth of emerging brands rather than promoting,unhealthy competition between them.

[00:06:06] Suzanne F. Stevens: Oh, yes, some collaboration, the power of collaboration. That’s a great story because, often you hear people meet their mates in grad school, but you met your business partner in grad school and it’s a fabulous story because through conversation it’s incredible what you can achieve. So congratulations on that.

Now, there are so many pieces of business that I absolutely love. And if I get any of this wrong, please, by all means, do correct me. But your social impact appears to be so comprehensive. At first you don’t see it and then you start diving in and not only are you sourcing your products, but you’re also committed to donating 1 percent to the planet and 1 percent of every order to nonprofits.

First of all, can you talk to us about how you’re donating 1 percent to the planet? I believe that’s a campaign.

[00:07:04] Erin Houston: Yes. It is a multi-brand campaign that’s been years in the running. We joined, I believe, in 2021. And essentially it’s a bunch of companies, all different sizes, shapes, et cetera, industries. And they’re just simply pledging to donate 1 percent of their revenue, not their profit, their revenue to, nonprofits that are doing some of the most impactful work.

Thank you. on sustainability issues today.

[00:07:30] Suzanne F. Stevens: And I was going to ask that very question. Is it revenue or profit? And it is actually on revenue. That’s not only brave for a small business, but truly remarkable. So kudos to both of you for committing to that, but you didn’t stop there. You said, okay, we’re doing our 1 percent of the planet, but we’re also going to do 1 percent of every order to nonprofits focused on reproductive rights, racial justice, clean water, and fabric recycling.

[00:08:02] Erin Houston: Yes, that’s correct. We’re partnered with this company called Beam Impact. And they help us really identify what are the most impactful nonprofits that we can be supporting. And they’re not the household brand, NGOs, or nonprofits that most people know. They tend to be the community organized groups that are really doing incredible things.

one of my favorite ones that we’re supporting right now is, Holler Health Initiative, and they’re providing travel accommodations for women in need of access to abortions, in States that don’t provide it here in the U S. And so it’s something that our customers can choose what they want to support with that cause.

And so it’s a great way to connect someone, not just with, the impact story behind the making of what they’re choosing to buy, but rather another layer of impact that they can make every time they make a purchase. And that’s also 1 percent of our revenue, not our profit.

[00:08:52] Suzanne F. Stevens: So let’s jump in there a little bit. so how is your consumer? I know there’s certain things that you support,you can purchase from women owned, black owned, vegan products, nonbinary. So you have a really quite a consortium of values, if you will, that people can actually say, this is what I value.

Therefore, I want to purchase from a woman owned, black owned vegan organization, which by the way, brilliant, Absolutely brilliant. I absolutely love it. And I would love to see more people connect values of the consumer to the values of the organization. I think that is an extremely smart marketing move.

How, though, does it connect to some of the nonprofits that you’re actually supporting? How did you just mentioned consumer to the nonprofits?

[00:09:47] Erin Houston: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a great question. and I’ve got a lot to say on shopping by values, so we can dive into that too, because I got really excited as we started talking about this. But when it comes to that, that, choice of which nonprofit you’re going to support, that’s actually separate from the items that you’re choosing to buy.

So you can shop by your values, add what you want to your cart, and then at checkout, You’re prompted with this choice of which type of impact you want to make, and you can choose that cause. And it’s really clear on our site. You can also read about the non profit that’s benefiting from that. You can do your own research on that non profit if you want to.

But it’s just a part of the checkout process, not actually what you’re choosing to buy. That said, some of our brand partners, they also are partnered with non profits, whether that is for their employment and the artisans they work with, or whether they have their own non profit that they’re also funding.

And that’s a part of those impact stories that we go into detail around, when you’re browsing products and browsing clothing and accessories on the site.

[00:10:46] Suzanne F. Stevens: One of the things I’m a big advocate for, is as an entrepreneur, if you’re going to support an organization, make sure it’s something that you actually care about so that it’s truly sustainable. I call this your compassion-connection™. So it’s truly something sustainable.

Now, it sounds like you’re interested in these non profits, but the ones you’ve chosen are more to give your consumer a choice rather than what you get necessarily really excited about. (SOCIAL – HOW TO ENGAGE CONSUMERS- **MAYBE USE AS THE MARKING VIDEO)

[00:11:19] Erin Houston:  We saw a couple of companies fail in trying to do exactly what we’ve tried to do. And one of the things that we noticed was that there wasn’t enough positivity and solutions oriented practices in the space of sustainable commerce.

What I mean by that is we kept seeing people, name and shame brands, or talk about all of the problems. And yes, there are many problems. I’m not trying to minimize them whatsoever. But when it comes to, the way that you can really engage a consumer and make them feel good about their purchase, especially when it is a really impactful purchase, is make it personal.

And so giving someone the option to choose which nonprofit they are going to support with their purchase, it’s just a really powerful engagement tool. So any of the impact entrepreneurs who are listening, I think that’s one of the most powerful things you can do. It’s, sharing that impact. Story, but it’s doing it in a way that deeply connects and brings someone into that community.

It doesn’t just speak to them, but speaks with them and creates a relationship.

[00:12:20] Suzanne F. Stevens: Oh, I love this. I’ve often said to people, if I were to speak for free, and you decide to give me a gift. Don’t give it to the foundation of your choice. Give it to the foundation of my choice. And I happen to have a foundation that could use some money, to, to empower women.

So, I love what you’re doing. I just absolutely love it.

[00:12:41] Erin Houston: Thank you.

 (SOCIAL – THIS IS COULD BE A LAUNCH VIDEO,)

[00:12:42] Suzanne F. Stevens: But let’s go back into the value choice because I know you said you’re getting excited about that and this too is incredible. So your social contribution primarily focuses on workers rights and the environment and it seems you have made several conscious choices to ensure Wearwell is truly a brand that is also focusing on inclusion and empowerment with some of those examples that I gave in regards to black owned and women owned and vegan and nonbinary with again other suggestions. Talk a little bit about why you did that, and anything you want to share about that strategy and the impact it has on your business.

[00:13:24] Erin Houston: Yeah. So when we were starting Wearwell, we wanted to make sure that anything we did as a business, we were thinking through our intentions behind it and making sure that we were building a business that simply by running, we were making a positive impact on the world. And so that’s really what informs everything we do from the brands that we source with, the balance of the equity of the brands that we source from, to the nonprofits that we work with, to even the packaging choices that we make. So it really goes top to bottom as we look at the decisions that my co founder Emily and I make day in and day out.

Really, when we started Wearwell, we were at this point in the fashion industry’s history where some people were talking about sustainability, not as many as today. And they were talking specifically about environmental sustainability. When I use sustainability, I’m also talking about workers rights, but I often have to explain that to people because it’s still not a part of the vernacular today when we talk about sustainability in an industry term.

And so what we decided early on was that we wouldn’t just source from a brand that was simply giving back product or doing a one for one model. We wouldn’t just source from a brand that was using sustainable materials, but didn’t have much visibility into how the garment workers within their supply chain were treated.

And vice versa, we weren’t going to work with a brand that said, here’s our fair trade certification, we can prove that we’re paying fair wages. But we’re making everything out of virgin polyester. What we decided to do was essentially create a process through which we make sure that a brand is, at minimum, paying a fair and or living wage.

I say fair and or living because there’s a few ways to categorize that, to certify that, and we look at the many different ways. And they’ve got to be able to show us that they prioritize workers rights. And what I mean by that is safe work environment. those are the two big criteria under workers rights.

We also consider a lot more as a part of that, but those are the basics. And then on the other side, on the sustainability piece, we’re looking at are they using sustainable manufacturing practices. That can look a lot of different ways. And, this is one of the reasons, again, why we started Wearwell.

It’s really difficult to navigate all of the details that go into assessing whether or not something is sustainably made. To get a little wonky on you, what we really look at are things like, is this… Is this shirt that we’re about to source made from organic cotton, meaning fewer pesticides were used, the growers were probably harmed less because of chemical reduction. Or is it made from dead stock material, meaning maybe the material itself isn’t sustainable, but it’s left over from a larger brand that was going to send it to landfill anyway.

And so a brand that we’re working with that employs women and creates economic opportunity for them could use that dead stock fabric and divert it from landfill for, the creation of another product that maybe is also then sold secondhand and gives that piece of fabric a lot more life.

Or it could be something like a production practice that is using low water. So if you look at denim, it uses tons and tons of clean water and typical processes. So most of our denim companies, all of our denim companies that we’re partnered with, use organic cotton and a clean water process where they’re reusing the water.

They are not using just brand new water every time they make a new pair of jeans. So there’s lots of different ways to categorize it. And I get wonky on this because I think it’s really important for people to understand going back to shopping by your values that there’s no silver bullet here. And that’s what makes this so complicated.

And that’s what makes these choices so complicated. So when we started going back to that initial question, we said, If we’re going to be intentional about this, we also have to be inclusive about it. And that means allowing brands to identify what is their impact. We don’t mandate for them. You have to do this or we’ll stop sourcing from you.

We allow them to identify what’s the impact you believe you can make, especially if they’re a more community focused organization. What’s the impact you can make and does it fit the type of impact that we know our customer base wants to make? And if it does, that’s a wonderful thing. It doesn’t have to be prescriptive.

It doesn’t have to be one specific certification. And then we’re also paying attention to things like the equity that we’re generating for brand owners. So most of the brands, I might get this number slightly wrong. You might need to fact check me on our website, but I believe it’s 89 percent of our brands are women owned, which is really unique in the fashion industry to have that ability.

And we also source from 15 percent black owned brands, and BIPOC owned brands as well. And so it’s something that we’re constantly looking at who’s benefiting from the type of business that we’re building and how do we make sure that we’re doing our best to balance, where we believe that, that dollar should go. (Social – who they support)

[00:18:19] Suzanne F. Stevens: Now you have six employees, there’s six of you, correct?

[00:18:23] Erin Houston: There’s, yes, there’s, I believe there’s seven.

[00:18:26] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay.

[00:18:27] Erin Houston: Yeah. What day

[00:18:29] Suzanne F. Stevens: Let’s not tell the person we forgot. We won’t let them know what happened. That being said, it would suggest that there’s a lot of time and effort on the supply chain side of things, not only picking who you will, put on your site. How much of the time does your organization spend on that part of it?

And what percentage of time servicing customers?

[00:19:01] Erin Houston: It is, shockingly, it is maybe 90 percent of the time on serving customers and 10 percent on sourcing brands, not working with brands. Working with the brands is a whole other story. But this is Emily’s Wheelhouse, and she’s got a phenomenal brain around systems thinking, and so I think one of the early lessons I can share is that when, again, when we started, part of our origin story was, no one had done this before.

And we said, we got to figure this out. People had tried, but had not succeeded. And we said, how are we going to create a process around the way that we evaluate brands and do it in true partnership with those brands? And so over the years, Emily has honed this operational process of evaluating that impact and onboarding a brand so that it’s a light lift for us, but it’s also a light lift for them.

And that’s a really important thing when it comes to success with the company is just making sure we’re aligned every step of the way. with our brand partners and making sure that they’ve got the support they need to be able to get on board and start growing along with us. But the process of evaluating is really something that we’ve developed an expertise and, and a criteria around that, that Emily’s just become phenomenal at.

[00:20:14] Suzanne F. Stevens: Can you give us maybe one or two examples of the system that,

[00:20:17] Erin Houston: yeah,

[00:20:18] Suzanne F. Stevens: been developed to help that process.

[00:20:19] Erin Houston: Absolutely. So it doesn’t sound complicated when I say it in layman’s terms, but it is, it’s really just a process of first looking at, the brand typically comes to us. So we’ll learn about a brand. We’ll first look at What is the information that they are publishing about themselves already publicly without us asking about it?

And so that’s really important to understand. How serious is this brand? Are they just going to smile and nod when we ask about workers rights or are they able to say… oh, yeah, we publish an annual report and here’s the information and here’s our certification and it’s already on our website. And so we look at that we take that into account And then we have a conversation with them.

And so that conversation is an opportunity for us to ask deeper questions. And also ask those questions a couple of different ways. So we can really make sure we’re getting to the heart of the matter. And then we go through the process of if we need to validate any certifications, we can do that. And then we onboard them.

So it’s a collaborative process and one that’s discussion based to make sure, again, we’re in deep partnership with those brands who choose to work with.

 ()

[00:21:22] Suzanne F. Stevens: And to your point, it’s not rocket science, but at the same time, as somebody who’s trained organizations on how to ask questions for years,it’s the way you said it is asking it a few different ways so you can get to the real heart. It’s that listening to really what they’re saying. People tell you things all the time.

they tell us, That’s everything we need to know if we’re actually paying attention, to make sure that they make a good partner. So yeah, I can definitely appreciate where you’re coming from there.

Let’s hit the pause button for these messages.

 (19:47 without intro) And we are back. Let’s delve in.

[00:22:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: You mentioned two things earlier on in our conversation. One was about greenwashing and also shaming of the brand and those two things really stuck out to me. Unfortunately, greenwashing is a common practice. Can you share with our audience first, what is greenwashing? And secondly, what measures do you, you take to ensure there is no greenwashing in your supply chain or with the brands that you source?

[00:22:36] Erin Houston: Greenwashing is a complicated thing to explain, but not identify if you’re used to it. So, what I mean by that is when a company is greenwashing, when a brand is greenwashing, they’ll talk about things as being sustainable. They might use the word… “Natural,” for example. That’s a great way to think about,the difference between natural and organic.

“Natural” is a marketing term. “Organic” is a certification, right? And that is usually a tip off in the food world, in particular. If it says natural, you got to understand what that actually means. When it comes to greenwashing in the fashion industry, it’s often companies using terms that are blanket terms that aren’t very specific, that have nothing to really back them up.

Another form of greenwashing that we see all the time is a company or a brand that creates a collection and then says that they are “Sustainable.” So there was a company very recently that partnered with an influencer and, they had done some, had some collaborative conversations and done a little bit of research with a nonprofit partner.

And they cited that nonprofit partner as a part of this brand collaboration. And that partner came out and said, we were not a part of this. Sure we’ve got a relationship with this brand. We’re helping them work on their sustainability goals, but we’re not a part of that collection. And so it’s just a good example of the ways that greenwashing can be used to improve a brand reputation without actually changing the way that the supply chain works and operates.

And so when it comes to our sourcing, the way that we think about greenwashing is, again, Are we partnering with brands that are doing this across their entire practice? So we won’t partner with a brand that has a conscious collection, if you will, or a specific line. And that’s their claim to be sustainable.

Instead, it has to be across everything that they produce. We know that they’re making an impact. And then again, we put them through that rigorous process of understanding, are they truly making a positive impact in workers rights and environmental sustainability that we can point to and specify that this is how they’re doing it.

They’re not just saying they’re doing it. This is the, not just the what, but the how behind it all.

[00:24:49] Suzanne F. Stevens: (GREENWASHING FOR CONSUMERS- GREAT SOCIAL)  Is there any advice that you would give to a consumer to try to avoid purchasing products that are greenwashed rather than people that are really in brands that are really committed to transforming society in a positive way in the environment, in a positive way.

[00:25:12] Erin Houston: Yeah, I think The easiest advice I can give is do your research. And that can be in the form of a conversation with an employee. It can be in the form of looking on a website, of asking on social media. There’s all sorts of different ways to do your research on whether or not a brand’s claim to sustainability or ethics is valid.

The worst thing that can happen is they aren’t able to tell you and that’s an answer for you. The best thing that can happen is… They’re able to answer very specifically. Yeah, we produce in Guatemala and we create fair wage jobs for women. And the really cool part about every purchase you make is that it supports our nonprofit, which provides their children with education.

And so the more specific a brand can get and the more available they make those details, the less likely it is you’re going to be supporting greenwashing.

[00:26:03] Suzanne F. Stevens: And this comes back to really educating your frontline people, making sure that they actually know what you’re supporting. And it also excites them and motivates them, as well. You obviously love what you do, not to put words in your mouth, but how fulfilling is the impact that you’re having on the environment and workforces, how fulfilling is that for you?

[00:26:32] Erin Houston: So when, again, when we started WearWell, one of the things that Emily and I identified that we both care deeply about is one of the things I know you care deeply about from our conversations, and that’s around women’s opportunity and women’s rights. When I think about the type of impact that we can make as a company, the thing that keeps me most engaged is the impact that we have on women who are garment workers.

That is something that is, I think, often missing from the conversation. And again, why we’re focused on making sure that wages and workers rights are included in the sustainability discussion. It surprises a lot of people. There are around 80 million garment workers around the world today that produce globally the clothing that we buy, and about 85 percent of them are women.

So if you can make a positive change in this industry, That’s actually working on a global women’s issue. And that’s the thing that motivates me every day. That’s what keeps me feeling fulfilled. Every time we onboard a new brand partner, every time we make a sale, we get excited. And so it’s really that, that bigger, deeper impact that,

for us isn’t super tangible. And I think that’s, if I’m really giving advice and getting people to think about, what it is that, that they feel, they could contribute when it comes to building a social impact focused business. What we saw was an opportunity to change the way that people shop.

We’re not the ones employing garment workers. It’s our brand partners who are doing that. So, we have to really work hard to stay attached to our true North. And I think we, we have done a really wonderful job of that over the past six years. But really at the end of the day, we’re in service to the brands that we choose to deeply partner with.

And that’s something that we can directly see that impactful. As you are thinking through starting a business, starting something that is impactful…

think through what it is that really motivates you and see if it ties enough to the business model that you’re creating for you to, hop out of bed every day and get excited about it.

[00:28:29] Suzanne F. Stevens: Which is great because that’s great small business advice is really connecting to it. And I love what you’re saying. 85% of our clothing is made by women.

[00:28:43] Erin Houston: And that does not even count artisans.

[00:28:46] Suzanne F. Stevens: So how do you measure your impact?

[00:28:51] Erin Houston: So we measure our impact because we have, if I get again, if I get wonky on this, we have an impact model that is essentially a pass through model. We again are not the ones who are directly employing garment workers. It’s our brand partners. And it’s impossible to effectively measure the impact of each one of those brands and roll all of that up into to top line impact metrics that aren’t, at the end of the day, ending up greenwashing.

So what we do instead is we again focus very specifically on are all of our brand partners doing what they can, and continuing to improve and trying to work on the ways that, that they’re improving their impact, whether that’s through growth or that’s through new initiatives internally. And then we measure who it is we’re sourcing from.

100 percent of our brand partners meet those ethical criteria. 100 percent meet the sustainability criteria. And then we also measure our impact by the number of brands that we partner with that do also give back on top of their production. I believe, again, I’m going to need to check these stats. I believe it’s 83 percent give back to their community in some way that they operate in, whether that’s through donations, through direct work, via nonprofit, through things like a one for one model.

And so we’re quantifying our impact as a pass through. We’ll never publish a report that says we’ve removed this many gallons of water from, the supply chains around denim. That’s not something we’ll ever be able to do because we, again, are in service to the brands. Not, creating something that, where we have a measurement of those gallons.

And that’s another thing I would make sure people keep an eye out for when it comes to greenwashing. Your one purchase doesn’t necessarily… Reduce water by the X amount that brand says, or, whatever that, that impact metric is that they’re saying.

[00:30:42] Suzanne F. Stevens: Does your website,do you have members or? Are people just, buying, go to your site and buy? Is there any sort of interesting things around your consumer engagement?

[00:30:54] Erin Houston: Yeah, so we built a membership as a way to engage people who were truly looking to build out a sustainable wardrobe for themselves. And you can come to our site and shop just as you would any other online marketplace. You can find what you want, browse what you want, add it to your cart, we’ll ship it to you.

But membership is really for those people who want to be purchasing sustainably for the long term. And so when you’re a member, you get all sorts of extra fun perks, like 10 percent off of every order, free shipping and returns. But the thing that we love to talk about most is the personal styling service that’s included in that.

And so one of the things, going back to, again, when we started Wearwell, that we were frustrated about is that it took just too much time and energy to discover the sustainably made items that we needed for our wardrobe or that we wanted for our style. And a personal styling service answered that direct need that was our reason for being in the first place.

It’s not a subscription box service the way that many people think when they hear personal styling. Instead, it’s entirely digital. And again, that goes back to the choices that we’ve made since the beginning. That digital personal styling service. doesn’t require excess inventory and it doesn’t require shipping back and forth until we’re pretty sure that customer wants to keep that product.

And so it’s a lower carbon footprint. It’s entirely something that is a personalized experience where the customer clicks a link in their email and they receive six picks from their stylist, along with a personalized note. And they are real human stylists who are choosing these items based off of insights that person is sharing about not just their sizing, and their personal style aesthetic, but their lifestyle needs.

Are they a mom running after young kids? Are they entering a corporate office again after COVID? What do they really truly need for their wardrobe? And then we become that, that special sidekick that helps them continue to shop sustainably and just make it all the more easy.

[00:32:46] Suzanne F. Stevens: Fabulous. I love that model. It’s just, again, there’s no, that’s why when we had our pre call, I was like, I was going through all the research. I was like, this company just seems to have crossed their T’s, dotted their I’s and every element. So again, once again, kudos.

Why is what, Wearwell and the social initiative particularly important now?

[00:33:13] Erin Houston: I deeply appreciate this question because I could answer it with statistics about how wasteful the fashion industry is. But I think the real thing that people need to be watching and paying attention to is the rise of fast fashion and how clothing has not just become something that we buy, it’s become something that we easily dispose of.

And it’s something that people are, they are talking about it, but a lot of people aren’t talking about the real root of that issue. And one of those reasons is the inclusivity around sustainable fashion. And what I mean by that is, not just things like sizing inclusivity, but also pricing inclusivity. A lot of people assume that sustainable fashion needs to be expensive. (Fast fashion and the real issue)

 () And really, when you look at it, if you are, an American consumer who shops Anthropology at J. Crew, they’re the same prices, if not sometimes more, much more expensive than some of the products that we offer that were sustainably and ethically made. And they are sometimes straight dupes for each other.

And so it’s something that people just aren’t quite talking about enough. And the reason why I’m linking that to fast fashion is because a lot of people choose to shop with Shein, with H& M, because they believe they can afford it. And instead, I’d love for people to be talking about the investment that they’re making in their clothes.

And I say that because you can think about it in so many different ways. You can think about it as a social investment that you’re making, you’re voting with your dollar. You can also think about it as, I’m going to spend 25 dollars on this sustainably made t-shirt that I know is well made, and is going to last me far more than 30 wears, compared to the…

2 t-shirt I’m going to buy that I can only wear maybe four times before it starts to look threadbare, and I can’t even donate it or pass it on second hand. And so that disposability and that mindset, I think behind fast fashion and where we’re seeing that take the industry is really, it’s really concerning.

And instead, if we start to get people to talk about the true inherent value of the clothing that they’re choosing to buy and the items that they’re choosing to buy and bring into their lives. I think we can make a really big shift and a really big difference.

[00:35:24] Suzanne F. Stevens: It’s so true. My husband and I were talking about this the other day. He was wearing a shirt and I said, how long have you had that shirt? And he said, 15 years. And I said, it looks brand new. And it’s that buying well. Years ago when I had an interview, it never occurred to me that if you buy quality, I know this seems so obvious that it’s an environmental issue, but I didn’t link it in my head that way.

And so when I was interviewing did, and it was one of my first interviews, I thought that makes complete sense. So I went back to my husband and said, I need to spend more on my clothes.

[00:36:03] Erin Houston: I need nicer things.

[00:36:06] Suzanne F. Stevens: But to your point, though, is there are sustainablemade products out there that are also affordable, but we don’t have the marketing budgets or we’re not aware of them. And often is the marketing budgets or everybody else is buying from this place. Not getting on the fashion shows, the daytime fashion shows that are saying, and they’re even often trying to be, more conscientious of including different brands in, but when I listened to them, I’m hearing, Oh, buy from this brand, this brand, and it is a lot of fast fashion.

Together we’ll amplify the reality that organizations like yours are available for that. One thing we didn’t cover. Where do you ship to?

[00:36:52] Erin Houston: So we ship across the U.S. We’re only in the U.S. so far.

[00:36:59] Suzanne F. Stevens: All right. I won’t be buying anything. I got it.

[00:37:04] Erin Houston: For you, maybe.

[00:37:05] Suzanne F. Stevens: I thought our audience should probably know that as well. But don’t worry, we have other listeners internationally. We’re all learning from you, which is fabulous. So what impact do you think your social initiatives have had on your business sustainability and growth. So we’ve talked about that sustainability, and I have different versions for it too, but even sustaining your business and making sure that you are able to pay fair wages to your team and at the same time grow.

So what do you think that impact has had on your ability to do that?

[00:37:40] Erin Houston: I think that’s a very challenging question to answer, especially in the landscape of the past few years. And I don’t mean to sound discouraging when I say that. What I actually mean by that is businesses that are smaller, that are under resourced, or maybe just even adequately resource, they have had to face so many headwinds from COVID, from, the fallout of COVID, from the economic headwinds we’ve been facing over the past year and a half here, a banking crisis in the startup community.

So many, many challenges over the past several years that so many people did not anticipate when they said, I want to start a social enterprise and I want to make it for profit. So what we’ve had to do from a really tactical perspective is look at how do we continue iterating and how do we grow incrementally?

And so for us, that’s been making sure we’re staying super wise about where we choose to spend our resources; resources meaning money, but also meaning our team’s time.

To make sure it’s supper impactful. And that impact has to be on the bottom line as well. It can’t just be on the social impact that we’re creating. And that’s because, again, every time we make a sale, that sale should be making an impact. So our revenue is linked to our impact in that way. And so when we think about making those tough choices that every company has had to make over the past few years, and they’ll continue to need to make them, especially in the e-commerce and the fashion space, it’s been so turned upside down in the past few years that so many leaders are talking about how unpredictable the market is right now in this industry that we’re not going to get visibility into how things will normalize for another about two years or so.

So there’s really a lot When it comes to those choices to make, and I think really coming back to what are we here for? What’s our mission? What’s our purpose? And how can we make sure that every activity and every piece of funding that we get we can spend on something that allows us to survive and not just allows us to survive, but hopefully allows us to grow is the most sustainable way that we’ve been able to run the business.

And I’m really proud of that. I think that is something that has been,we’ve seen, unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of peers, not make it through this time for many reasons. And I think one of the reasons why we’re still around is because we’ve been really smart. We didn’t, raise

millions of dollars and then have a, a ton of investor pressure to then have to spend it right away and go bust. Instead, we were able to say, we’re going to bring on investors who really understand what we’re about, really understand our mission, and we’re going to grow in a way that makes sense for us and is sustainable so that we stick around for our customers, but also for those brand partners, because that’s important to them too.

[00:40:35] Suzanne F. Stevens: This often happens, right? There’s been a lot of challenges through the last few years. Internationally, we all can appreciate what you’re talking about, particularly as a small business it’s been very challenging. With that being said, had, do you ever considered, let’s forget giving that 1 percent of revenue. So that’s 2 percent of revenue, not even profits, that you’ve committed to. Have you ever thought of getting rid of it?

[00:41:08] Erin Houston: No, in fact, we started it during those more challenging periods and we started it because it was even more important. And we knew that if it was important to us as a business and as founders to be participating in a global community, in those unique ways, it was going to be important to our customers.

And so we developed a ton of customer loyalty because we said, “You know what? Yeah, we could use that 2 percent that totals up to, but we think this is going to pay off a lot more in the long run if we do what we feel is right and what we feel is needed to be active participants in social enterprise, in nonprofit, in causes that we care about, and truly make a difference.

I say we did it in the thick of things that was in, we tested. We started donating in 2020 in June, I believe, and then in 2021, we joined, 1 percent for the planet and in 2022, we launched our donations in a more formalized, and an automatic way to be able to link ourselves to the right nonprofits and make that part of the entire checkout experience.

So I really mean it. We did double down in that time period.

[00:42:16] Suzanne F. Stevens: You do have investors as well though, right? Okay.

[00:42:19] Erin Houston: Yes.

[00:42:20] Suzanne F. Stevens: And as you were saying earlier before we got live, is that you’ve pitched for those investors and… Okay. Excellent. so what do you see as the three most important initiatives to make a social impact sustainable? And I know even with tough times, but what would you think? (this could BE THE MARKING EMAIL)

[00:42:40] Erin Houston: When I think about the three most important things that make a social impact initiative sustainable, I think about, one, are you not just giving people something to do in that moment, but are you changing mindsets? To give a clear example of this, we sell sustainably made dresses and jewelry and handbags.

But, what we’re really trying to do is make sure people understand, “Oh, I can choose to shop this way.” And it’s a mindset shift that has to happen. And I think if you are working on a social impact business, making sure that you’re tying yourself to a broader ideological shift that empowers people to make a change.

That’s one of the most important things you can do to not just build a sustainable business that builds customer loyalty. But to sustain the impact that you’re making for the long term, whether that’s with your business or not. And IMPACTpreneurs, we know this, we’re in it for the impact,where we want to make sure that even if we’ve built doesn’t survive, that the ideas that we worked on and the things that we built live on in some way, because we believe it’s really important for humans and for the planet.

I think the second piece is really just being intentional every step of the way with the choices that you’re making. So that is, as I mentioned, we think about everything from our packaging to, even details around where our headquarters office is located and making sure that we’re parts of communities that are like minded, and share similar values. To, again, of course, the way that we source and who we source from.

So I’d say, make sure you’re Super intentional about the decisions that you need to make and do it early on. Make sure that you identify what those values are before you, maybe before you incorporate. That’s what Emily and I did. I’ll never forget. We took over a room in our grad school and we whiteboarded for about three hours.

Here are the things we care about. Here’s what we want the company culture to be. And we didn’t even necessarily agree yet to start a company. We were just making sure that we really knew what our values were and made sure that we were aligned in that decision making from the very beginning. And then finally, I think the third that I’d say is,make sure it’s something that

that  (SOCIAL**) you truly care about, that’s again, what’s going to get you up and out of bed every day to work on it. But I don’t mean that from a, we can have so many things that we care about. We can have all sorts of passions, but make sure it’s something that, of course I care about, animal protection and animal rights.

I work on workers rights and environmental sustainability every single day because it’s something that I can continue to stay passionate about because I’m always learning about it. There’s always something there. So don’t just think about what it is. Think about why it keeps you engaged and make sure there’s enough meat there to stay focused on it so that you as leaders can sustain that energy to keep going.

[00:45:27] Suzanne F. Stevens: What has been the most significant benefit to your organization and your culture for baking a social initiative into your business strategy?

[00:45:37] Erin Houston: I think it’s a way that we can. quantify what we do to our team members. So we’re able to say we supported the growth of this brand in this way. We were able to source this many products from them. And this brand is writing us thank you notes and telling us that we’re a part of their growth journey.

But we can also point to, we donated X amount to FabScrap, our nonprofit partner that focuses on fabric recycling for fabric waste here in the US. through 1 percent for the planet. And then, we can also say our customer base through their choice of where we donate our revenue to those nonprofit causes chose to support this many women in need of travel accommodations, this many black female founders in need of a, an incubator program to get their businesses off the ground, or,

this many water bottles removed from the ocean. And it’s something that just building that in as an added layer beyond our sourcing standards that are, of course, critical to everything we do. It gives us an ability to really feel like as a team we’re doing something where we can point to not just what have we done, but what can we continue growing and what’s the thing that we want to amplify.

And so it gives us an anchor to keep moving forward from.

[00:46:56] Suzanne F. Stevens: Great. Thank you for that. So we’re going to dive into our 10 in 10, which is 10 questions and 10 seconds to answer each one or close as you can

[00:47:08] Erin Houston: I’m ready.

[00:47:09] Suzanne F. Stevens: I can shut you down. All right. Awesome. Let’s start off with the first one. What is the one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this contribution path?

[00:47:19] Erin Houston: That’s… It would take about four times as long as I thought.

[00:47:25] Suzanne F. Stevens: What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[00:47:28] Erin Houston: Oh, consumers don’t care about their impact. Just tell them it’s sustainable.

Pretty bad, right?

[00:47:41] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[00:47:44] Erin Houston: It’s going to take you twice as long to do it as you think. I wish I had heated that a little bit more.

[00:47:52] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yes, there are two times too short too, from the sounds of it.

[00:47:55] Erin Houston: Exactly.

[00:47:57] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact in their business?

[00:48:05] Erin Houston: Make sure that you are… So excited to be working on it by trying it out first in a small way before you quit your job and dive in. Do something that, whether it’s, starting a blog to make sure you can talk about that issue day in and day out, endlessly. Or it is reading every book that has ever been published again to make sure you can wrap your brain around that 24/7 because you’ll never be able to turn your brain off once you actually start because it’s something you care that deeply about.

[00:48:36] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah,

[00:48:37] Erin Houston: heh.

[00:48:37] Suzanne F. Stevens: I have. I actually have a coaching course on how to turn your brain off from it for that reason, because we do that. We live it. You breathe it. It’s not until I started turning my brain off as I actually free to actually achieve what I wanted to achieve.

[00:48:51] Erin Houston: Which is amazing advice to learn how to do that because that’s equally as important.

[00:48:56] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, because it’s hard. It’s hard when you’re committed.

it’s very difficult and it can be affect your mental

[00:49:04] Erin Houston: Yep. For sure.

[00:49:07] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is one recommendation you would suggest to promote a culture of contribution?

[00:49:14] Erin Houston: Think often about who is benefiting, and I don’t mean that from the traditional beneficiary perspective. Think about if you’re choosing… a partner. Think about who owns that partner. Think about, the community organization you’re about to partner with, who funds that organization. And make sure that you’re really choosing people who are values aligned, because it’s only going to amplify the type of impact that you want to make.

[00:49:39] Suzanne F. Stevens: If you had a daughter who was 10 years old today, what piece of advice would you give to her?

[00:49:46] Erin Houston: Raise your hand more in class.

[00:49:51] Suzanne F. Stevens: What advice do you wish you received at 10?

[00:49:54] Erin Houston: Don’t worry about what the boys or your male teachers think. You are smarter than most of them.

[00:50:04] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is one thing you had to do that made you uncomfortable, but if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have had the desired impact on your social initiative?

[00:50:16] Erin Houston: It truly, it’s starting the company. It took me years to take the leap. And I was a part of a program that was a five day intensive that really gave me that shove over the edge. I don’t feel like I, I feel like this is the most impactful thing I’ve been able to do in my life to date. Hopefully there’s much more. But it really was taking the leap to dive in full time on what I care about most.

[00:50:43] Suzanne F. Stevens: Who’s the greatest female influence in your life and why?

[00:50:46] Erin Houston: My grandmother, she passed away a couple of years ago. And the reason why I always say her, when I’m asked a question like this is because she raised Seven children, and she worked full time while doing that. And she managed to spend a lot of time traveling the world and living in other cultures and constantly gave back to her community.

So I really learned the balance of caring for the people around you and being an active participant in your community because of her.

[00:51:14] Suzanne F. Stevens: What three values do you live by?

[00:51:16] Erin Houston: I’m going to share three values I’m recently living by because I’m on a personal journey right now towards greater self care. So self care is one of them, making sure that I’m resting, I’m doing yoga almost every day. It’s a brief amount, but self care, integrity, and curiosity.

[00:51:38] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yes, love it. Beside yours, now this is a tough one. I’m going to suggest your beneficiary. you have several because you do have the environment as a beneficiary. You also have women empowerment as a beneficiary. Even though it comes around in a bunch of different ways. But let’s say besides those two, who do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money?

[00:52:06] Erin Houston: Garment workers, hands down.

[00:52:09] Suzanne F. Stevens: Thanks, Erin. Where can people reach and follow you?

[00:52:13] Erin Houston: can follow my journey through Wearwell’s channels. At Shop Wearwell on Instagram is the best place to find us. We’re also on TikTok at Shop Wearwell. And check out our website. It also surprises a lot of people to know that Emily and I read every single customer inquiry that comes in. So you can also email us at hello at shop wearwell dot com if you’ve got questions or want to connect.

So thank you.

[00:52:37] Suzanne F. Stevens: Oh, fabulous. Thanks for that. And do you have any words of wisdom for our audience regarding making a conscious contribution to society?

[00:52:45] Erin Houston: Keep at it. I think a lot of people can get discouraged, especially when we see headlines and when we see different challenges come up in our world today. And if we don’t try, nothing’s ever going to change. So keep at it. You’re not alone.

[00:52:58] Suzanne F. Stevens: Thank you, Erin, for sharing your insight, inspiration, and social impact with us today. It was fabulous. I think I could talk to you for another hour. to

[00:53:07] Erin Houston: Thank you.

[00:53:08] Suzanne F. Stevens: To discover more podcasts with Sheimpact Printers transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions, please visit podcast. YouMeWe. ca

ca . Each guest has a page where you can watch, read, listen, comment on their podcast. And of course you can watch on YouTube, but you also can listen to wherever you download your favorite podcasts like Spotify, Spreaker, Apple. We share the love with all the platforms. So please share, review, and subscribe.

Until next time, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, and I hope we inspired you and empowered you to make your contribution count for YouMeWe.

To read about changemaker international, check out Suzanne’s book Make Your Contribution Count for you, me, we. 

Visit bio for resources.