Speaking at Pure London x JATC this month very much showcased the work that we do in co-creation & In all of our initiatives and our boutique consultancy.
This work is not created, marketed or innovated in isolation and this event was no different to our every day at Circular Earth. Connecting, showcasing, collaborating and working on flow into the new economy.
Photocredit : MyMy Photography - Matt Mcconaghy
From left Rachel Sheila Kan Director of Circular Earth, Safiya Allaf Representing Sanja Stories & Stefan Mathys founder of Vyn Sneakers.
Photocredit : MyMy Photography - Matt Mcconaghy.
Rachel Sheila Kan - Ecosystem Architect
We Started with a trip into the world of Real Circularity - a co-created Education, coaching and systems for Circularity iniative. This is co-founded by our Partner in Circularity Ken Alston (The legend) and Rachel Sheila Kan. Rachel delivered the concepts and the application to the crowd at Pure mostly business owners, start ups or professionals inside the industry as well as some newbies to the industry as a whole.
Delved into some of the teachings of Real Circularity which focuses on the combination of Sustainability and Circularity knowing that there cannot be one without the other. Outlining the work on our unique Trend Radar where we find out key focus points for a business, a country, a start up to look at. Things in the middle such as EPR a business needs to address straight away, whereas you must watch out for new economics and work on new business models.
This theme carried on as we brought Stefan into the discussion and he showcased his work on the 'Long Luxe' Sneaker focusing on longevity and replaceable heels with customisation as a key engagement point. The journey towards Circularity is not final and Stefan has been working with localised Italian manufacturing focusing on quality over quantity. Creating a sustainable brand is not for the faint hearted as Stefan explains with the long luxe element the item had to be a certain price point, circular fashion does not operate on a fast or sometimes designed for planned obsolescence element that the main industry takes so you have to work with your customers think about take back, next use and the longevity needs to be baked in to the business financially.
Photocredit : MyMy Photography - Matt Mcconaghy
Stefan Mathys - Vyn
We then brought in Safiya to discuss the work on 'Collaborative' Co-created brand as the newest member of the collaborative but being the lead on PR and Marketing in the initiative.
Photocredit : MyMy Photography - Matt Mcconaghy.
Safiya Allaf - PR and Marketing lead - Collaborator Sanja Stories
Collaborators include: Jo Salter (Where Does it Come From), Kishore Shah (Khadi London) , Claudia Coveyduck (Claudias Sample Studio) and Abhishek Jain (Mishka Crafts) as well as Rachel Sheila Kan who worked on this as a first Bottom up Collaborative from The Ecosystem Incubator.
The Jeans themsleves Safiya explained are fully Regenerative - Rain fed with no pesticides and hand woven, created in a circular design with modularity where the wear and tear areas such as the knees and pocket bags can be replaced. A hit for the Pure professionals who took an interest. Being a mono material the jeans can be fully composed or taken back into a circular mechanical system. The fly front also boasts easily replaceable coconut buttons using materials found locally in India. The item comes 'naked' and is then customised by its 'users' where Sanja will create natural dye parties showing how to create beauty without toxins. The jean is genderless and adjustable width and length ways so that the jeans can easily be passed on and designed for comfort for the user.
Photocredit : MyMy Photography - Matt Mcconaghy.
We then discussed the unique new ways to work both in a community of co-creation inside Sanja Stories and in the way that we all market our work very much creating communites with our buyers. Stefan sharing that with a more circular brand you have to create a relatability with your buyer that is beyond a transaction it is one that lasts even past the end of use of the shoe as he intends to take responsibility for the item and its next repair and journey.
The same applies in the Sanja work where we operate a radical transparency on price and share that the customer joins a 'buying club' where they become a part of the stories and are only asked at first to place down a deposit which is incidentally the cost price of £35.00 - and then a subscription for 5 months whilst the items are being made.
Photocredit : MyMy Photography - Matt Mcconaghy.
Photocredit : MyMy Photography - Matt Mcconaghy.
All in all we proved that Circularity is something that everyone can start to take on in their lives and businesses, that it is creative yet it must come with much understanding and a dedication to go the distance in a whole systems mentality. This world is not to be go into lightly. However we can be fun and interesting as well as professional and professor like.
This is why we created our initiatives to aid the transition.
Circular Earth for Boutique Consultancy
Real Circularity for our Academy with Alumni community, Book, Coaching, summits and Systems in Circularity (which are used in the Consultancy)
The Ecosystem Incubator to work on Innovation in micro business.
This work is accessible to any level of business and especially with our summits we do not operate any pay to play model.. It helps if you are in our communities as we know your business under the bonnet.
Join us today and start your Journey to Real Circularity, Regenerative Business models and innovation.
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