---- by Diane Tonge, London -----

One of the greatest challenges facing social business Worn Again is the widely-held public assumption that any product made from recycled materials must be cheaper than conventional merchandise on the market.

In fact, Worn Again, which makes bags, outerwear and accessories from decommissioned uniforms from the high-speed passenger railway, Eurostar, and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin hot air balloons, has discovered the process is very labour intensive which pushes up costs.

The company, in East London, was founded by American entrepreneur Cyndi Rhoades, a former producer and director of music videos and documentaries.

She became interested in global issues and approached the new economics foundation (nef), which describes itself as an independent ‘think-and-do tank’, with the idea of setting up her first venture, Anti-Apathy, in 2002.

Anti-Apathy started as a series of events and has now blossomed into a London-based organisation that promotes and supports people who take creative and innovative approaches to social and environmental issues.

Anti-Apathy has also recently re-launched its award-winning, light-hearted ‘The Nag’ - a tips and advice internet forum for the public.

The project encourages people to grasp how sustainability issues can be built into their everyday lives, rather than viewing them as something remote that can be left to charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to tackle.

For example, one of The Nag’s 8,000 members recently wrote to the forum to point out that jobs within Portugal’s cork sector and wildlife habitats for animals such as the lynx have been hit by the wine industry’s move towards aluminium and plastic stoppers.

The writer calls for people to buy wine with corks and to lobby wine producers.

Rhoades’ goal is to ensure that Anti-Apathy, a registered charity, is no longer reliant on grants. Already, a percentage of every sale made by Worn Again goes straight to Anti-Apathy so that the charity does not have to wait several years for the money to come through. Rhoades hopes that one day Worn Again, launched in 2005, will be able to fund Anti-Apathy entirely.

Rhoades, who describes herself as the company’s ‘Chief Upcycler’ says:

“There’s an assumption with products made from recycled materials that they are going to be cheaper, when actually they are more expensive.”

“There’s all the deconstruction, all the prep of the materials before they even get to the factory, and then you get to the factory. It’s not a roll of fabric where you just roll it out, stack it up, cut it, and mass produce.”

“It’s very, very difficult to mass produce when you are dealing with different-shaped materials, inconsistencies, different colours, different textures - all of those things to account for.”

“And when you are trying to compete with other brands who are making similar products out of new textiles it’s impossible. So you have to distinguish who you are.”

Rhoades is determined that Worn Again will reach beyond the market of ethical consumers.

Its strategy is to ensure that ordinary consumers are attracted to its products because of their good design. Once attracted, they will discover they are made from recycled materials. And so that they never forget, each of Worn Again’s products has a permanent, discreet label giving the story of the materials used to make it.

Over the years the company has found that the general public cares more about price and good design, than recycling.

"It's more about Worn Again as a business making the ethical and sustainable choices up front and as part of our business practices, rather than leaving it to consumers in their purchasing decisions. The aim is to make it simple for people and demistify the process," says Rhoades.

The company has also learnt in recent years that when people respond to surveys they will say they are ethical consumers and that they buy Fairtrade coffee over non-Fairtrade coffee. But, asserts Rhoades, when they go to the shops, their behaviour is different.

Rhoades’ approach is to avoid getting downhearted and accept this as the way the general public thinks and operates at the moment.

“It’s not depressing - it’s just realistic,” she says.

Pricing policy

Being realistic meant that Worn Again had to overhaul its pricing model. For the past few years, its products were available at various independent stores around the world.

It sold its goods using a conventional wholesale model, with retailers buying stock from the company at prices that included the cost of goods and profit margins for Worn Again. Retailers then added their own margin.

Today, Worn Again is available exclusively online.

Rhoades explains: “This way we can ensure affordable prices while not compromising on style or standards. For instance, a bag that we are now able to price online at 69 pounds ($108) would otherwise have cost 92 pounds ($145) based on the conventional retail model.”

The company's vision is to move its operations to the UK after previously producing its goods in China and Portugal.

“For us, if we are making products out of recycled materials sourced in the UK, it doesn’t make sense to send them to China and then send them back again. It makes sense to build a local manufacturing unit here. It cuts down on carbon, creates jobs here. I’m not against manufacturing in China at all. It’s just not what our company is about.”

The company began originally making footwear in collaboration with the recycled footwear company, Terra Plana, but it’s now operating almost as if it is a start-up. To fund its last phase, it’s bought four hundred bags off Terra Plana which it has sold itself through its website to generate some working capital.

In addition, Worn Again has just had a small loan and now, says Rhoades, it is working on getting itself investment-ready so that it can go out and scale up.

The downturn

And just as Rhoades appears to have taken public apathy towards the environment as a challenge, she sees the downturn as an opportunity, a time when innovative ideas and companies blossom.

“That’s opened up a lot of doors for us,” she says. “People are looking for alternatives, they are looking for new ways of doing things.”

For instance, the company now has not only a consumer range but a corporate strand too.

Previously it took waste, primarily from corporates, turned it into products and then sold these to consumers.

These days, Worn Again takes waste from corporates and then identifies products which the corporates can then buy back into their supply chain.

“They already use a bag,” Rhoades explains. “Let’s see if we can make a bag that you are already using, out of your own waste. We’ve already got one corporate deal where we are already doing that.”

The company is also talking to a supermarket about how it can make products for them out of their old uniforms.

She maintains that companies and corporates have moved beyond corporate social responsibility and are now striving to do better and are actually integrating CSR into their businesses.

Worn Again aims to provide solutions to corporates on how they can solve their waste problems or cut their CO2, and that’s what it is tapping into right now.

They’ve “got to do more than just tick their ‘We’re helping climate change box’. If you can show that they can ultimately make a profit from their old waste as well, not just good PR; then it does become a viable model.”

“So the recession is actually of benefit because of those alternatives that people are looking for; where as a few years ago we couldn’t get the door open.”

Cyndi Rhoades took part in the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Programme at the school's Europe campus in Fontainebleau in 2008.

First published: October 13, 2009

Last updated: January 3, 2011

DT/KC 10/09