True Tribe, a producer of handcrafted activewear using recycled plastic waste, and SUKU, a blockchain-based supply chain traceability solution, today announced the first batch of transparent True Tribe garments. The garments, whose lifecycle began as nylon waste such as discarded fishing nets and fabric scraps, were shipped to the iconic Browns Fashion in London on November 6th.
With consumers increasingly concerned about where the product they purchase comes from, the conscious consumer expects brands to be more transparent and products to be sourced ethically and sustainably. Conscious consumers who CARE more, SHARE more, and SPEND more than the average consumer, will now be able to have access to this information.
Sustainability
Stories sell, and more than ever, consumers want to know the stories behind their favorite products including who makes them and how the raw materials are sourced. In fact, sales of sustainability marketed products grew 5.6 times faster than conventionally marketed products over the past five years.
Setting the framework for the rest of the garment industry to follow, True Tribe announced in August 2020 that it would be adopting the SUKU Omni SaaS supply chain management platform to track and trace garments. Fragmentation and inefficiencies plague global supply chains and result in a lack of data flow and verifiability of claims about ethical and sustainable sourcing. By creating an immutable ledger of transactions throughout True Tribe’s supply chain, SUKU’s Omni allows stakeholders to prove their claims of authenticity, legality, and sustainability.
As raw materials travel through the True Tribe supply chain and are ultimately crafted into a finished good, every step is recorded to the blockchain and validated using the SUKU Omni platform. For the first time in the garment industry, this provides an added degree of visibility into the product’s supply chain, from (1) the initial plastic waste collection by Healthy Seas in the Mediterranean, Adriatic or the North Sea, to (2) the recycling of the nylon by ECONYL in Ajdoviscina, Slovenia, (3) regeneration into nylon fabric in Northern Lombardy, Italy, (4) luxury hardware manufacturing by RIRI in Mendrisio, Switzerland, (5) handcrafting in Pakistan by a single assigned artisan and finally (6) the shipment to the store or online.
Empowering consumers through transparency, each garment purchased has a QR code on the hangtag or affixed to the garment. Using the SUKU Scanner app available for iOS or Android devices, consumers can scan the QR code and view the journey of their product, allowing them to learn about its story (through videos and images) and about those who created it, all while knowing that the product is authentic.
“We aim to set a new standard in conscious fashion, without claiming to be truly “sustainable” because nobody is in fashion. That being said, we strive to be more conscious about our footprint and to minimize it as much as possible. Today, consumers increasingly support brands that identify better with their values. We believe that authenticity and transparency are the keys to create more meaningful connections. Thanks to SUKU, True Tribe benefits from the latest blockchain technology to provide full transparency for its products, while connecting on a deeper level with its conscious consumer by revealing its story.”
– Alexandre Sundberg, Founder & CEO
A Commitment to Sustainable Sourcing and Slow Fashion
Founded on the principle of ethical fashion, True Tribe aims to redefine the codes of conscious fashion with sustainably crafted swim shorts made from plastic waste, collected by HEALTHY SEAS, a non-governmental organization made up of diving professionals removing plastic waste from the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and the North Sea. The brand uses exclusively ECONYL(R) regenerated nylon fabric made from discarded fishing nets and other plastic waste. This reduces their water consumption and helps divert plastic waste from oceans and landfills while minimizing CO2 emissions. Each pair of swim shorts results in the recycling of 145g of fishing nets.
Additionally, as a pioneer in Slow Fashion, True Tribe aims to be a major contributor in helping garment businesses in developing countries such as Pakistan diversify their business models significantly from dependence on Fast Fashion brands. True Tribe aspires to achieve this by having all its production vertically integrated as to set its own quality standards and working environment. Local craftsmen utilize French luxury know-how and work in a peaceful environment under respectable working conditions.
