Show Notes:

As a small business owner what does it mean to run a sustainability brand? Is it true that sustainability brands rooted in demonstrable solutions are generally more successful than those that use vague or superficial eco-friendly messaging? And how useful are authenticity and a genuine commitment to addressing environmental and social problems to building consumer trust? What is their contribution to financial sustainability, long-term loyalty and profitability?

Ruchi Chawla, Founder of Cottsbury a GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified sustainable fashion brand was my guest on the 141st episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast. In the episode we attempted to answer some of the questions above while Ruchi shared her inspiring journey towards establishing a sustainable fashion brand rooted in organic cotton. We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

- Her journey from working in the fashion industry to taking a more conscious entrepreneurial path driven by the desire to bring meaningful change in the industry

- The fashion industry’s overreliance on harmful chemicals and environmental negligence that is responsible for significant pollution and resource depletion

- How Cottsbury distinguishes itself from conventional fashion brands through ethical sourcing, transparency, getting certified, including 100% traceable production and a zero-waste policy.

- How consumer behaviour is driven by levels of market maturity (UK/India) for sustainable products/brands. This in turn is driven by consumer awareness, economic factors and cultural contexts (amongst others)

o Consumer resistance and price sensitivity

- Ruchi emphasizes the importance of mentorship and support networks, attributing her perseverance and success to the guidance she has received throughout her entrepreneurial journey

The episode culminates in a thoughtful reflection on the future of sustainable fashion and the collective responsibility of consumers and entrepreneurs to advocate for more ethical practices. Ruchi emphasizes the need for ongoing education and engagement to shift perceptions about sustainable products, dispelling the notion that such choices are inherently elitist or inaccessible.

Episode Transcript:

Sudha: Good afternoon, Ruchi. Wonderful to have you as a guest on the Elephant in The Room podcast today.

Ruchi: Good Afternoon, Sudha. My pleasure to be here and talk to you.

Sudha: Brilliant. So just give us a quick introduction before we launch into the questions.

Ruchi: I'm Ruchi. I'm from India. I have studied and worked in India and also in Europe, in Amsterdam and Belgium.

I've been in the fashion industry since my post-graduation and in various functions in the fashion industry with various brands and companies. I've travelled all around the world for work and for leisure and that brings me to my current passion project, which is Cottsbury which I'm running now, for last two years plus

Sudha: Brilliant. So what inspired you to get on this journey into organic and sustainable fashion and launch your brand Cottsbury. Can you share the story behind discovering Pure Certified Cotton and why it became the foundation for Cottsbury?

Ruchi: So I was in the fashion industry. Wanted to do something of my own, questioning everything with the bigger companies, bigger brands, and my bosses always why, how, why we are doing this. So all this led to me be very aware and observant of surroundings around me.

And as I travelled in my sourcing roles to different countries, I realized that what a mess the fashion industry is in, what are we creating? And this entrepreneur spirit just kindled with the thing that I have to do something different. Not just launch another fashion brand or another clothing brand, something different in which I'm actually doing good to the world also, and to myself.

So that's how I started Cottsbury.

Sudha: And what's the story behind discovering Pure Certified Cotton

Ruchi: It is a foundation and it's how it started.

So when I used to work around different fabrics, I would realize that we are all loaded and surrounded only by chemicals. Even if you say I'm a very aware person, I'm very conscious. I mean, the world is such, you are consuming chemicals from your food to everything you're touching and using. And when my child was born, I was like, I am not making her wear polyester you know, onesies and blankets. Not at all. It has to be pure, pure, pure, and that's how my search as a consumer began and I found organic cotton baby wear, very limited availability even in Europe and some in India.

That's how I started hunting for organic cotton. When I was struggling to find it, I felt horrible that how will the average consumer ever find it?

Some of them are not even looking for it. And those were looking, find it very limited availability. I started then looking for manufacturers, this was while I was working with the big corporates, and this question was always at the back of my mind that there are people who are doing the good job. And in that inquisitiveness I found few farms and factories who are actually making pure organic cotton without chemicals `and fertilizers and pesticides. They're growing the cotton, the factories are buying it and making products out of it. And that's when I said I have to do something about this and baby wear or adult wear, whatever, I have to start that.

Sudha: Okay. That was the genesis.

Your brand Cottsbury is based out of the UK. You sell in the UK market.

Did you encounter any challenges when you introduced your brand in the UK market, and how do you compare the UK customers to those in India? Why are you not selling in India as yet?

Ruchi: See the reason I launched in the UK market was, I have lived in Europe, UK, India. I was not very confident of launching it in the Indian market, firstly because like I said, the consumer here is not as aware or as ready to pay for this, or is not asking as many questions as have been asked and answered in the western world, which is the US market or the UK Europe market. Because that's where I worked and lived so I understand that. It's not that Indian consumer is not aware at all and there are no people in India who'd buy my product.

I have loads of queries as of now as well from India market. But India is huge, I'm a bootstrapped entrepreneur. So to launch in India, it requires much, much more capital and teams and resources. So I thought, let me start with European market, and I want to become a global brand.

I don't want this for any country specifically, because what I'm trying to tell through my brand is that, let's live a chemical free life. And it is not possible that one country is chemical free and the other country is not. We are breathing the same air. We are doing this for our planet. The effects of environment are on all countries all together. So the idea was to start in the UK and become a global brand. Not immediately launch here, I will start with Uk, Europe, US, and India, something like that.

Sudha: Based on the volume, the awareness the insight and the ability and the desire to be able to have an organic and sustainable product. So how does Cottsbury differ from larger less sustainable companies in your industry? And are there brands that you admire.

Ruchi: Yes, there are brands that I admire definitely who've done such amazing job in sustainability, recycling. And overall, they are leaders, I mean, very clearly the brand called Patagonia, I admire them, the founders, the people who work there.

So, I would say we are sustainable, and by the word of it, I mean, we are not just making claims here we are a hundred percent sustainable, traceable, zero waste, no plastics. All the definitions we tick for sustainability, it’s not that it was a thought after project that we added in our brand. Oh, let's become sustainable. I'm a successful brand, let me become sustainable now. We are not that. we are a sustainable brand to start with. Most of the brands, even today, what they do is they have a small line in their collection, which is organic cotton line, rest is not sustainable, not organic, not traceable, nothing.

So they have a small line. So it's a project for them. It's like an afterthought. So let's do something sustainable. For us, it was not that, we are sustainable by birth. And that's the DNA, we only go by that and that's what we've been saying to our customers online always, that we aren't making false claims.

We are traceable, I know where this t-shirt is made, which you just bought, how much cotton you have used and how it's not harmed the environment. So I go by that.

Sudha: Do you have a process in place to ensure that your supply chain remains sustainable and transparent. Especially considering that you work across geographies and I mean, your suppliers must be sitting in different places.

Ruchi: Oh, yes, definitely. So that's how we go for worldwide certifications. We are GOTS certified and we are Fair Trade certified. And these are big organisations who have certified the whole process from seed to final finish, to the product, reaching in customers hands.

So everything is traceable. We pay for the certification. We abide by all the rules they laid. On books, we can prove that whatever we are saying is a hundred percent correct and has been done and that's why we have the certification of no toxic chemicals, sustainable farming, ethical labour throughout the supply chain.

Sudha: And where are your suppliers based?

Ruchi: So they're all in India as of now. It's a completely ethical, traceable supply chain and our factories are based in North India, and West India.

We buy from these limited factories, we don't go around buying from a hundred factories, four products here, four here, because we are strict with our rules, with our certifications. It's few suppliers who can meet our requirements, so we go with them only.

Sudha: And what about your customer base? What drives them to buy products that may be more expensive? How do you educate them about your sustainability efforts and encourage them to make these choices?

Ruchi: The price line of Cottsbury we are not expensive, we have kept fair pricing. I was not in here to just make money.

Of course I'm running a business. I have to pay people, I have to pay for the product and all the services I buy. But we are not price expensive. We are not luxury, We call ourselves luxurious by the feeling the product gives you. But we are fairly priced products, and our customer buys us for the ethical credentials. That's been said in most of our reviews as well.

For the ethical credentials, for the quality, for the positive social proof we give that this is where I got this from, this is the service I'm giving you. This is the quality I'm giving you. And I'm not overpriced here, I mean, you can compare our products with other so-called sustainable brands. We are not asking the same dollar as they are.

We are more authentic. authenticity is our first key and people see that.

Sudha: Do you as Cottsbury go about educating your customer base about what you are doing because not everybody is aware and not everybody may be conscious of the choices that they make.

Ruchi: I totally agree. I have a lot of work to do in that area. But from day one, we are not preachy, We are educating in our own silent way.

Like for example, we are only available online when a customer receives our product, we've got many comments, many reviews about them, they were shocked to see there was just no plastic in the packaging. Any online order you receive, you are prepared for lots of plastics coming, even your tape is plastic, everything. And we give products in a waste cotton bag, which is in a paper cardboard. We have no plastic, so we've reused the cotton in the factory and here while shipping, we are not using any poly bags, plastics. We are using paper cardboard bags, which are recycled. Other things, for example, like the buttons we use on our duvet covers, they are not plastic buttons, they're coconut shell buttons. Our bedding is soft and silky, not by a wash given to them because it's pure organic cotton. We do give it a wash, but it's not a chemical wash we give to make it soft.

So people do acknowledge all that in their reviews. That the quality, the packaging, the softness, everything is talking about your brand ethos. It's really in your DNA and we've heard that back from our customers. We get lovely emails and reviews from people who are seeing this kind of a thing for the first time.

Others who've seen with other brands talk about up prices that you are not priced...... I bought a similar thing at like one and a half or double the price from this brand and your quality is even better. So we like to hear that and we think that we are on the right way. We have a, long way to grow big, but I think the start is good.

Sudha: Amazing. So there's a wide spread perception and many cases that is the reality also that sustainable products are more expensive or inaccessible or not meant for everyone.

Ruchi: It is the perception. Very true. But if you actually compare our individual items, yes, of course there are options available.

But then read the labels. If they say we are sustainable, the label will say, 5% organic cotton, and will be loaded with plastics, or it will not have any certification. So how do you trust? I mean, you know a supply chain is, how many people involved, how many organisations involved at the back, how can they all be all sustainable and true in their claim. Certification throughout the chain just gives us that proof that yes, what we are saying is a fact. We are not just claiming it.

Sudha: So what have been some of the biggest challenges along your journey, and how important are mentors and support networks would you say for bootstrap small entrepreneurs?

Ruchi: Keeping our products mid to premium range has been a big challenge.

Because we do have to incur the same costs as everybody. And then it means that you know your pocket is empty many a times because you are living by your ethos by which you started. That I will not overcharge or everybody defines it differently what is overcharged for me. And that has been a very big challenge to keep up prices in control.

And online customer is very price sensitive and they look for offers and sales. So we do offer that, but that is a killer for us. So this has been a challenge. And another challenge of course has been in keeping the full supply chain always on guard that we are what we are. We every day are living by it. So my travels from the UK to India such frequent travels is killing. But I have to do that because I have to be at both the places. So it's just, keeping the sustainability and transparency promise, the pricing and value promise in our complete product range and satisfying our customer.

The whole story is of challenges and lots of challenges, yes. But as long as you're enjoying it, yeah, I'm there in it.

Sudha: And how important are mentors and support networks?

Ruchi: Most important. They've brought me back every time. There are times when I've like given up completely partially, that this cannot be done. Why am I into this? I've questioned myself honestly couple of times, but there are people my mentors who've really stood by me and reminded me why I started this from day one. So asking me to maintain my journal and read it on such occasions, why I started this and what is my end objective, and where am I today. I'm staying here because of them. Completely because of my mentors and because of my family completely supporting me. My brother in the UK and my family here in India.

I mean, without their support, this wouldn't have been possible at all. My daughter, my husband, my parents. My daughter is my biggest mentor. She's 16 now and she is really the mirror in front of me. She shows me the mirror very often.

Mama, why you are doing this? Do you realize that

Sudha: That's nice. What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to build an authentic and sustainable brand in today's competitive landscape?

Ruchi: Come and join me. I need more entrepreneur minded people around me, so come and join me, that'll be wonderful because it's still very rare. To find people with that mindset who are ready to plunge in with all their effort and their sacrifices. So I would say to them that it's still the beginning, this is where the future is, only think of sustainability as your principle, as your key feature.

Sudha: Yeah. And possibly keep a journal so that you can remember why you got on the journey.

Ruchi: Oh, yes. Oh yes. It's so important to remember why you started this, what were the words that made you start this?

Sudha: We've spoken about the challenges, et cetera. What are some of your proudest moments or achievements in this sustainability journey?

Ruchi: So it's both ends of my spectrum. When I receive positive customer reviews, that's like the best...