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At PACT we like to say that we're obsessed with this
big idea which is clothes that make the world a better place
from organic cotton socks to sweatshop-free undies Jeff denby the cofounder
and chief creative officer
of PACT are serious about using fashion as a tool for doing good
we consider ourselves a brand that's
seed to shelf we actually start in the cotton fields
we like to work with factories that really understand
what sustainability means
in the manufacturing process our major sock factory
is powered by wind our packaging factory also uses
wind energy we only use fsc-certified paper
for our packaging everything is certified all the way
through the value chain packed also supports and collaborates with various
non-profits
but instead of just giving them money the San Francisco-based company blends a
charity's mission
into its clothing lines. Our design actually comes from, is inspired
by
the impact that PACT and this non-profit are going to do together
what if we wanted to grow a really big garden
at your school? woa! each season we design a collection that's inspired by a great cause
this season we're teaming up with the Whole Kids Foundation to raise money
to build a hundred urban gardens at schools all across America our designs
are inspired kind of by that
heritage of farming. this is the
boxer brief from PACT and the print is inspired by that sort of classic work-shirt
that farmers used to wear
what kind of impact if you had so far? thousands and thousands of new
customers people who just
donated to a cause and got PACT product on the business side of things
our organic search shot up our web traffic
went up over 100 percent our conversion rates were like doubling and tripling
during that time in the program
and so not only were we out there raising money for good but we're also having
really positive effect on our business
and over 39 days we raise a hundred thousand dollars to plant
urban gardens all across the country tho getting consumers to snap at good for
the world clothing
hasn't always been an easy sell It's definitely a challenge where we have to be
clear in our communications it's about developing
the PACT brand overall from a high level so that consumers understand
that it's sustainable ethically made that the products and super soft
we use organic cotton. Can you talk a little bit about how that how the company's
grown
since when you started? Yeah absolutely so we started selling online
believing that like if you design a website and sell products they'll all
come
we quickly learned that the online space is horribly crowded so we started
going out to botiques in
San Francisco Bay Area and then got picked up by Nordstrom
which was suddenly we had national distribution through a department store
We're gonna be at over a thousand retailers and we have strong distribution in Japan
Canada and this fall we'll the expanding
distribution to the UK. The company also just launched a line a baby clothes and it's
working with the whole planet foundation to help support micro loans to women in
the developing world
This is enough for a woman to buy ago
or rent land. Buy a cart to start a little
fruit business it's the beginning of independence
for her. That is truly one of my most proud moments
as an entrepreneur to be able to know that the work that we've been doing has
this kind of amazing positive effect on the world