If you run an ethical, sustainable, circular or slow fashion label, you're in the right place. I live, love and breathe slow fashion and The Fashion Advocate is the slow fashion ‘business bible’ you need to run your business with purpose, ease and joy.
I know we can use fashion as a force for good, so I share strategies and solutions to increase your impact and increase your sales. We need to succeed as a collective of slow fashion businesses if we’re going to change the world and that means sharing knowledge, offering support, and growing as a community of like-minded labels, together.
It’s what my weekly Instagram LIVE sessions are all about. I speak with incredible guests doing amazing things in the industry and we talk all things fashion, business, sustainability, sales and growth strategies.
Last week's Instagram LIVE with Eva Cassis was the perfect example of slow fashion at its finest. It was such a beautiful conversation filled with so much powerful fashion wisdom and Eva was so generous with the knowledge she shared. Her self-titled label Eva Cassis has survived more than a decade in the fashion industry which is no easy feat considering more than 60% of fashion startups close down in their first three years.
You can watch the full interview on Instagram here and catch up on the three big takeaways from our chat below...
1. Stay true to your vision even if people think you’re crazy. Eva launched her sustainable fashion label in 2012, at a time when sustainability wasn’t a focus for the industry or even for shoppers. She could have manufactured offshore for a lot less and she could have used much cheaper synthetic fabrics, but Eva had a vision for a better industry and for better clothes. Now, 11 years later, her ethical and sustainable slow fashion label is thriving. Eva was ahead of the curve but because she stayed true to her vision, she's succeeded.
2. Connection is key when it comes to your customers.
There are strategic ways to grow your customer base, and then there’s simply being authentic and connecting with people in a real and human way. Eva is a big believer in authentic connection and it’s one of the driving forces behind her slow fashion business’ success. She treats her customers like real people, not numbers, and she spends time nurturing her customer relationships. Eva doesn’t want to sell as much as she can to as many customers as she can; she wants to authentically connect with the right people who share her slow fashion values - and that's where the real magic happens.
3. Community is everything.
Just as Eva values connection, she also values community, and it runs through her entire business from her customers to her team to her makers. Eva is passionate about empowering the women who wear her clothes, and she’s just as passionate about empowering the women who make them too. Eva visits her local makers and they’re part of her close-knit community, working together with a shared vision for a sustainable, empowered, ethical fashion future. Everything Eva chooses to do stems from a sense of belonging and togetherness, with community at its core.
Learn more about Eva Cassis and her work via her website here or watch our full Instagram live interview here to learn more about fashion, business, sustainability, sales and growth strategies that you can apply to your own label.
If you're running an ethical, sustainable, circular or slow fashion brand and you have a challenge you're trying to overcome, tune in every week on Instagram to watch my LIVE interviews with brands and businesses who have overcome their own challenges - proving that you can too.
You can also reach out to me here.
Claire x
