on cotton fields. “It had all the certifications you look for as a designer,” Mote says. “I thought I was doing all the right things—I was using organic cotton, I was making timeless pieces. But this process made me realize I need to look so much deeper.”marks the beginning of the “new” Shaina Mote, designed in lockdown and comprised of simple, vaguely utilitarian everyday pieces. She and Kim decided to eliminate all virgin polyester as well as recycled poly, citing its micro-plastic issues.
Importantly, there are no blends—a T-shirt is 100% organic cotton, a dress is 100% lyocell, and so on—so the garments can be easily recycled or will “gracefully decompose” if they make it to a landfill. “I used to think that surely these clothes would never end up getting thrown away,” Mote says. “But Kristine said no, we have to be accountable for our actions, all the way through. That was the biggest change we implemented.”Mote’s new end-of-life strategy also includes a free repair service.
All of those changes required adjusting Mote’s business model. Save for a few boutiques in Europe and Japan, the brand is now entirely, with small monthly drops that amount to a fraction of what she used to design in a year. “There’s really no fat in the offering anymore,” she says. “It’s what we stand for, what we love, made with materials we believe in and factories we’re proud to support. It’s really different, and I think everyone involved feels really good about it.
Mote’s experience reveals just how little we know about where our clothes come from and who made them—and raises significant doubts about how far other “sustainable brands” have gone to back up their claims. Not every designer can afford to hire Kim or someone like her, but as sustainability gets buzzier and harder to define, it’s also getting harder to separate real progress, like Mote’s, from exaggerated marketing .
“I love design, and I love style, but I had to make sure I wasn’t being detrimental,” Mote says. “It’s really hard in this business, and for so many years, I felt like my values were being skewed. But it feels so much better to say with honesty, ‘This is what you’re getting from me.’”The epicenter of runway news, street style, and emerging trends.The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com.
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