When you are just starting out creating your own fashion brand – there are lots of things to manage: creating your brand vision, designing, marketing… but perhaps the most important part is sourcing and production. Without a strong system of production – everything else almost doesn’t matter!
When I first met Sharon Tsang, she was just about to launch Anew Studios, a boutique sourcing & production consultancy catered to sustainable fashion brands based in Hong Kong. I was really impressed by her breadth of experience in the fashion industry, commitment to being a part moving the industry towards a better future, positive energy, and – fashion being a small circle – great words by others who have worked with her! I thought it’d be great to share our chat here so more of you can learn about her work. Anew Studios is actively open to working with startups and small brands to help them find the best and most sustainable production solutions, so if you’re interested, do reach out to Sharon for a chat!
What has been inspiring you lately? It could be visual inspiration, a person, a piece of news… anything?
Seeing things in my head manifest through other people’s quotes! No joke.
The first one is from GANNI founder Nicolak Reffstrup:”I’ve come to realize that staying in the industry and working to become more responsible is better than the alternative of opting out and doing nothing. Fashion is not going away. We need to solve the issues we are facing through growth and innovation”. This really echoes my own sentiments because despite this inherent contradiction that I consult with brands to create new products I would rather be involved in the conversation than run away. I’d rather be using my skills and expertise to help solve the hard problems the industry is facing.
Here is another quote from brand founder Mary Young: “As a slow brand being able to say ‘sold out’ is a sign of sustainability. We didn’t cut and produce more than we needed to. We won’t be wasting fabric and sitting on deadstock. We are able to listen and respond to our customers better”.
What were you up to before starting Anew Studios? I know you have worked at several well-known companies before – what have you done there?
Before starting Anew Studios, I had over 16 years of experience in fashion working for startups and high-growth companies, such as Aritzia and Kit & Ace in North America and Hong Kong until 2017. In those roles, I helped grow the brands through my network of suppliers all over Asia, Europe, and North America, and developed a collaborative approach when navigating the cultural nuances across a global supply chain. I also worked and managed teams in various departments within the brands’ product team such as material innovation, sourcing, product development, production, buying & merchandising, inventory & allocation, testing & quality assurance.
During my tenure at Aritzia, a Canadian women’s fashion brand founded in Vancouver in 1984, I worked as an Associate to a Senior Department Manager in a span of 9 years, as the business grew from 15 to 65 stores across North America and launched online. When I departed in 2014 due to my husband’s job in Hong Kong, I was working on the fastest growing private label brands which accounted for almost 50% of the business. Year over year I would also save the company money through identifying opportunities with new vendors and new manufacturing country of origins with strategic sourcing & negotiation tactics.
When I arrived in Hong Kong in 2014, I was the only employee on the ground for Kit and Ace, a new startup producing technical cashmere performance daywear founded by the family of Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon. I oversaw the Hong Kong Liaison Office operations while working in close partnership with the Vancouver Headquarters to support the growth of the business. I recruited, hired, and set the direction for the office that managed a team of 12 seasoned professionals in key departments such as raw material & vendor innovation, logistics & warehousing, and testing & quality assurance. There were definitely also some difficult moments – during my tenure at Kit + Ace, I saw a startup with fewer capital constrains that grew too fast, thus resulting in operations scaling back from a global brand to selling in Canada only.
I learned a lot through all of my experiences working at these companies, both things to do and not to do, which I believe could be of great value to the entrepreneurs I work with through Anew!
What inspired you to start Anew Studios?
Having seen firsthand the textile waste generated by fashion, I felt overwhelmed and took a break from fashion. Coming out of the break, I had an awakening & renewed sense of responsibility to the fashion industry. I had this gnawing feeling that I couldn’t continue working for brands repeating the same cycles of purchasing materials & products based on unfounded projections, which normally results in overproduced fabrics and leftover garments at the end of season despite markdowns at retail stores. As brands make quantity projections based on historical sales rather than based on ever-changing mindsets towards consumption, sales projections are often inaccurate, resulting in plenty of leftover waste.
Anew was my way of committing to be a part of the circular fashion solution, with a vision to work from the ground up with entrepreneurs and founders to scale their brands in a sustainable way, and to encourage manufacturers to explore more people and planet-friendly business models through consulting projects.
Despite working for brands for most of my fashion career, my role in manufacturing was positioned as the spokesperson for brands to manufacturers. Travelling to see mills and vendors seasonally, you see firsthand the unique situations and operations of different factories. Naturally, you have a different level of empathy for the suppliers who are on the receiving end of the brand’s demands, compared to people who are giving demands thousands of miles away from the brand’s head office. From these experiences I have learned to always maintain an objective stance and do my best to find win-win solution for both brands and manufacturers.
I think I have a sense of justice that I envision for the world, and starting Anew Studios was my way to empower that vision. I work in a different way from other consultancies in that I don’t base my fees on commission from purchase quantity, but instead as an extension of a brand or manufacturer’s in-house team.
I have learned to always maintain an objective stance and do my best to find win-win solution for both brands and manufacturers.
Sharon Tsang, Founder of Anew Studios
Who do you see Anew’s role is between brands and manufacturers?
When starting Anew, I noticed a gap in the market for supporting the sourcing and production of new emerging brands founded by people without supply chain expertise. At the same time, there is also an opportunity to help sustainably-minded manufacturers evolve their business operations to cater to smaller, disruptive brands. In a way, this is my way of giving back to the industry through providing brands with an initial foundation to flourish from and to put sustainability at the core of their business. The primary philosophy of Anew Studios is to give new startups and small to medium size brands the guidance on how to build a robust supply chain strategy that will set their brands up for the long term.
Through my work experience with small to medium size businesses, I always approach both brands and manufacturers with an entrepreneurial mindset and a positive can-do attitude. My way of negotiating these days is to encourage manufacturers to take a risk in producing smaller quantities and catering to smaller brands, as I believe this is a great way for them to be investing in long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships.
On a personal note as a female executive, a third culture kid, a lover of nature, my purpose is to use Anew Studio’s business platform to elevate the role of women in fashion and to be a true steward of the environment.
We hear more now about what goes on behind sustainable brands, but less about factories. What’s your favorite story of what goes on behind the walls of a sustainable manufacturer?
I would have to say Sanjeev Bahl from Saitex is one my favorite sustainable factory stories.
Located in Vietnam and founded by Sanjeev Bahl, Saitex is the denim partner of choice for world’s biggest jeans labels. It was founded in 2012 and has grown to accommodate five different facilities employing over 4.500 people. Saitex became the first certified B Corp factory in Asia and the only large scale manufacturer of denim to adopt the environmental and social standards set forth by B Lab. What I appreciate about Sanjeev is that he sees investment in sustainable technologies, although expensive in the short run, as worthwhile investments in the long term. For example, Saitex invested in a $2 million water filtration system that helps them recycle 98% of water used because they believe this investment is not only good for the environment, but will make their business more competitive in the long run.
Saitex also invests hugely in the wellbeing of workers in their factories. Not only do they pay 1.5x the industry average, they are also certified as a Fair Trade partner. Another initiative they do is to partner with an orphanage close by. Once children in the orphanage turn eighteen, unconditionally, no matter what their challenges may be, they’re given a job at Saitex with equal pay and equal respect.
Another one is Bombyx sustainable silk company. Bombyx creates sustainable textiles through best practices in the industry and they have a socially and environmentally responsible approach that benefits all stakeholders, including our farmers, as well as our environment. I love this video about them:
I think there is a lot to be learned from manufacturers who go out of their way to do better by the environment and people who make our clothes. Saitex is just one of those examples!
What are some key things you think needs to happen for the fashion industry to move towards a truly sustainable and circular future?
Change is always scary and requires time to right the wrongs in the industry, and to move outside the status quo. I think we can do this through:
- Collaborating over competing
- Having open-minded mentalities and to value sharing through open source technologies
- Allowing ourselves to be imperfect and share your journey so others can learn from it
- Having more brands commit to B Corp certification
If you could have a billboard in the middle of the busiest part of town, what would you have on it and why?
“There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere. Buy responsibly and consciously.” This is really inspired by Stella McCartney, who has been at the forefront of sustainable fashion before it became more mainstream and this was one of my favourite campaign images from her brand.
What are you hopeful for?
I’m hopeful for more sustainable and innovative solutions in fashion being democratized and accessible to all players. When I see industry competitors work to create real change together, it makes a statement that collaboration and coming together for the sake of the future will make fashion better. But above all, we all need to be willing to invest into the future. As brands, investing into the supply chain says you honor the manufacturer’s role in this whole orchestration.