The final initial interview for our #Otherfinds launch campaign is Yzyl from her self titled brand YZYL, she is going to give us an insight on her brand and her involvement in the streetwear community:
Hi, thanks for being involved in this platform highlighting ethical streetwear, can you tell us a bit about your brand?
Hi! So, my name is Yzyl Quintana and I am the founder of YZYL. A brand that focuses solely on crochet clothing and accessories. So far, I have released 3 items which include the Mai Top, Wide Headbands and my most popular, the Char Corset Top. As a start-up brand, I design and make all the products myself as well as all the admin side of things.
When/where would you say you realised that you wanted to create/ be involved in a brand that In some way moves towards more ethical involvement?
I’d have to say I came to this realisation around the beginning of 2020. I’ve always dreamed of having my own clothing brand for some time now but the importance of it being ethical and what ethical fashion means only occurred recently. This is because of more awareness across social media on why it’s so important for brands to be ethical because of its impact on the people and planet. There has also been a rise in demand for more transparency from big brands like Boohoo and H&M in regard to how their products are made and what they are made from as well as treatment of workers through working conditions and fair wages. And so brands like these that have been exposed for fast fashion and having unethical and unsustainable practices motivated me to research and educate myself on this area and how I can implement ethical practices for my brand.
What are some of the hardships that you feel you are potentially faced with when being involved in an ethically focused brand?
Definitely time, finances and sales! With my brand advocating for slow fashion by making products on demand and new releases being often seldom combined with being a one-woman team, the whole process is a lot slower. It takes me a while to design something original as well as the time it takes to make all the orders myself and so I feel the profits I get from my sales don’t really equate to all the time that I put into everything. This flows well with another hardship of being involved in an ethically focused brand which is pricing and sales. If you look at various ethical fashion brands focusing on sustainability particularly handmade products, prices of products are expensive! Your market audience becomes a lot smaller when you sell pricy products and so sales are a lot slower. I find it’s really hard to price things as ultimately the products become expensive because my products are handmade, and being a small business with a small following it becomes very difficult to make sales that can sustain my brand into being something I can do full-time. In the end I do undervalue myself as I try to price at an amount that is not too high so I can make a sale. Another hardship relating to making the products more expensive is material. As my brand grows and expands, I want to venture more into ethical, sustainable material such as recycled and upcycled yarn but this in turn will increase prices as these materials are more expensive.
What is the most rewarding thing about ethical streetwear to you?
That it’s positively impacting the people and planet. It’s never been so important to be conscious of brands and their ethical footprint so it’s great that we have more ethical streetwear around that have good values around fair labour, using sustainable materials and having small-scale productions.
If you could see into the future of the ethical streetwear market, what would you like it to look like?
For me, I would like to see the future of the ethical streetwear market to be one where there is ultimate transparency. Where consumers are able to feel, experience and go along the products journey from where it was made, who it was made by and what it is made from. I’d also like to see an expansion of brands experimenting with different sustainable, ethically sourced materials from recycled fabric, upcycling garments to using plant dyes and being creative with it. I dream for ethical practices around fashion to be a norm and I hope those looking to enter the streetwear market to consider these aspects when starting their brand.
Finally, the launch campaign of this brand is centred around ‘other finds’, which could be anything from a piece of streetwear purchased second hand, swapped with a friend, or even buying a new product that is focused around more ethical practises, what is your favourite ‘other find’? (You are allowed to pick your own brand aha)
Of course my brand! Haha jokes aside I’d have to say NU-IN is one of my favourite fashion brands that is sustainably driven and have great ethical practises. I love their transparency, values and obviously the beautiful clothing.
Keep up with Yzyl’s brand on IG:
Instagram: @yzyl.official