Interview: Slingfings Founder, Rachel Bending
CD: You’re very well traveled and have lots of experience doing lots of different things. What drew you to Australia? Why not start Slingfings in a major fashion city like London or Paris? I’m interested to know why you settled where you did making such fun, sexy, hip clothing.
RB: I first came to Australia eleven years ago, in 1994, and travelled for 18 months, driving and exploring the coastline and immediate coastal hinterland. I’d had a taste of what was here, loved what I saw, and earmarked Byron Bay at the time. Byron Bay is a small coastal seaside town, of approximately 10,000 inhabitants. But we see in the region of 1.5 million visitors a year. People are drawn to Byron Bay for many reasons, it’s a very beautiful place, and it was originally an Aboriginal meeting and healing place. It is also Australias most easterly point. Energetically, there is a lot going on in Byron. But what struck me most was there didn’t seem to be this gross consumer obsession with earning more in order to spend more. It was more about social responsibility, balanced lifestyle, the healing arts and an old fashioned sense of community.
So in 2001 I emigrated to Australia with that in the back of my mind. For me, after 10 years living in Glasgow and London, two major cosmopolitan cities, I was ready to take what I’d learned and create a lifestyle based around my passions. Make work my passion rather than just a job. My background is textile design, project management and marketing. My passion is the environment, and finding ways to reduce our impact on it. Bringing the two together pooled a skill base built up over 10 years, and put it to use for something more than just personal financial gain.
I design for real women. Women with curves and style and an understated sense of sexy. Women who appreciate quality and good design. My ideal customer knows herself, likes herself, has a natural sense of style. She has respect for the planet and her fellow human beings.
Has it been possible for you to equally weigh the eco- and fashion-related sides of Slingfings? Do you find yourself having to make more compromises one way or the other?
My training is in textile design (fabrics) rather than fashion design (garments) so it would have been as easy to move towards products for interiors and the home. In the end it was our customers who encouraged our decision to focus on fashion. With this in mind, I can confidently say that the eco-related side of the business has always been given priority over fashion.
There will always be compromises that need to be made in order for a business to move forward and grow. There have been times in the last three years where I have been advised to let go of the solar powered production, or the manufacturing in Australia, but I’ve held fast, and ultimately I think my decision to stay true to our vision has stood us in good stead.
You describe two distinct customer bases: the people that buy green things because they’re green, and people that buy beautiful things because they’re beautiful, and learn about the green advantages later. How do you successfully market and appeal the same product to such two distinct groups?
RB: I think you could break it down into our front door and back door approach.
Yes, there are people who understand what they’re buying...green consumers. These customers realize that they’re buying into something more than a bag or a garment, and understand why; they’re buying with ethical and sustainable consumerism in mind. Building brand awareness through green media, green shopping sites, and product placement in eco-stores around Australia has had a fast-moving domino affect, creating straightforward sales through ‘the front door’. The movement towards sustainability was originally motivated by function rather than aesthetic. Marrying strong aesthetic appeal with sustainable design has meant that the products don’t actually need much marketing from us.
And there are people who lives haven’t been touched by environmentalism. These people don’t really want to know about the greenhouse effect, water availability, salinity, soil loss, the decline in world oil and coal production. These guys are a bit more of a challenge. But these same people, like most of us, will always want to buy beautiful things. So this is where we take our 'back door' approach. I’m actually more excited about these customers, but they require more marketing savvy, using traditional fashion media channels. Here we have to compete with mass market. We are relying on our products being beautiful enough to stand their ground along side mainstream fashion brands. We have to work much harder for editorial space, and then follow through by subtly educating with messages on our swingtags, the website, and the products themselves. We have focused on the movers and shakers of the fashion industry, and are trying to influence both the industry and its consumers.
This year's fashion trend towards retro fabrics has helped opened quite a few doors for us, but there’s a lot of hard grafting when it comes to fashion media. It’s a notoriously fickle world but we’re definitely starting to impact.
RB: I travel all over Australia looking for old fabrics. It’s always an incredible feeling when I find something really rare or unusual out of the blue. In August I did a 4000km road trip from Byron down to Sydney, across to Melbourne and then inland all the way back up to northern New South Wales, and probably visited around 150 different sources along the way. Often I just follow my nose, and a random conversation in a small town can lead me to a long forgotten stash of fabrics in a dusty old cupboard. Now that we are becoming better known, I am frequently approached by customers or interested individuals with, perhaps, treasures from their grandma’s bottom drawer or many years working in the ragtrade. Many of my fabrics come from charity shops or old shops that are closing down. We source fabric from the 1950’s onwards. All bought in Australia, mainly Australian made, and predominately natural cotton and linens.
CD: Why and how did you choose climate change as the cause to support? How important is it that you are the first climate-neutral business in Australia?
Climate change, caused by carbon emissions from use of fossil fuels, is the most serious environmental issue facing the world. Fossil fuel use for factories, offices, homes and transport is the largest source of global warming pollution.
2005 has seen us making further significant steps towards sustainability by becoming Australia’s first climate neutral business, impacting on our entire Slingfings carbon debt and greening our carbon emissions by funding projects that slow global warming.
The non-sustainable power used in our shop, the fuel used in our vehicle, and those of our team, our air travel, freight of raw materials from the country of origin, freight of finished goods...tallied up, we realized that despite our efforts with solar power and recycling, we were still responsible for nearly 14 tons of CO2 in the last financial year.
Our shop, like the rest of our business, is now run using pure clean renewable energy. And the carbon debt incurred through transportation and travel is greened by funding further purchase of renewable energy, bringing us even closer to a zero footprint.
We’re taking positive action for our impact on the environment by looking at all aspects of our business, not just in our products. As the first Climate Neutral business in Australia, we are trailblazing a path for both small and multi-national business.
CD: As you continue to grow, how do you anticipate being able to keep up the sustainable aspects of your business?
RB: My gut feeling is that as long as we can think beyond the traditional business model, and stay true to our vision, then everything else will find a way. For example, we are in the process of adding solar panels to our shop and workspace in Byron Bay to enable us to manufacture internet orders more quickly and efficiently.
You have to remember that Slingfings started as a pioneer of sustainability in fashion, we are here to promote change in the industry. Diversifying the range to promote other aspects of sustainability is a way for us to grow but I don’t feel a great need to build a multi-national empire so I am confident that we can continue to manage and improve on all sustainable aspects of our business.
CD: You seem really in tune with walking the walk; if you were apparel, would you be a Slingfings bag or garment? Which one and why?
RB: It would have to be the Playsuit I think. It embodies all aspects of Slingfings. It’s comfy, funky and fun. A classic combination of vintage design and contemporary style.
In terms of walking the walk, two years ago I bought a piece of land in the hills behind Byron Bay, a beautiful two acres overlooking Whian Whian National Park, where the birds whistle up and down the valley and wallabies potter around on the edge of the forest. I am in the process of designing a 5 star energy rated, low impact home on this piece of land. This home will embody the Slingfings principles. We are using traditional low impact building techniques like strawbale, and stone and giving them a contemporary twist. Even the concrete which will be poured as a slab, is a new type of green concrete made from recycled asphalt. Passive solar principles and consideration of thermal mass will reduce energy use for heating and negate the need for air conditioning, it will have a compost toilet, reedbed greywater system, and roof catchment rainwater, and a solar hot water system.
CD: Where does Slingfings fit into the future of fashion? Fashion is notorious for not being very socially conscious or environmentally responsible. To what extent will the rest of the industry follow your lead? What needs to happen for that to occur?
RB: We are living in an age of throw-away fashion. Cheap mass produced garments, feeding a cycle based on fashion trend. Cheap price wars, mass production off shore in negligent working conditions, mono cropping and lots of waste are just some of the characteristics that spring to mind when describing the fashion industry.
Fashion is fashion and its ongoing reinvention isn’t going to change; that’s one of its key characteristics. But re-use, recycling, and renewable energy use can make a difference. I saw an opportunity to pioneer a sustainable approach to fashion. To challenge the fashion industry, shake things up a bit. Show designers that it is possible to create beautiful things in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way, without compromising on quality.
What it comes down to is corporate responsibility, the buying public is becoming more discerning. People are seeing sense in ethical and sustainable consumerism, and will buy with this in mind if we give them the choice.
CD: I know the green marketplace you describe is less than three percent of the marketplace here in the US. You mentioned Daryl Hannah has worn Slingfings, and that seems like it would be a great way to get more people into your clothes and bags, but how do you plan to continue to better reach the mainstream?
RB: If business is managed from the heart, great things can happen. It doesn’t matter how big or small our contribution is. Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, once said, "If you think you’re too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito."
Slingfings started with two old car batteries and a solar panel. Three years on, we are servicing a global market place, achieving sales and recognition around the world, but most importantly, we are continuing to educate and inform on issues relating to sustainability. Its less about me, me, me, now and more about building bridges for a future.
The sense of fulfillment that comes from taking a very big, brave step in the direction that I believed in and making it work is all that’s needed to make this business grow. That fulfilment is like organic fertiliser nurturing the Slingfings seed. As they say, from little acorns...big trees grow.
CD: What goals do you have for Slingfings in the future? I think I remember a new line in September? Where will you be in three years from now? Do you have plans for retailing outside Australia?
RB: The new clothing range has already launched and will be available internationally through the website. There are plans for a homewares range, as well as a new range of clothes and bags using vegetable-dyed organic cottons with our current fashion and bag designs. Retail continues to grow internationally through the website, and it is this tailor made Slingfings Original service that we will be focusing on in the future.
As far as three years from now...watch this space.