WEBVTT

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Hi, I'm Lauren Taylor, and I'm
joined today by Kristian Hansen,

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the Founder and CEO of slø, and
Michelle Zhu, the Founder and

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CEO of Huue.

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And I'd love to hear a little bit
more when we talk about customer

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centric sustainability.

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Michelle, how are you making
Huue really meet your customers'

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needs?

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So our customers are of course
the mills that are the ones that

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are actually integrating the dye
product into the supply chain,

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into the fabrics, before it then
gets turned into a pair of jeans

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and ultimately sold to the
consumer.

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And for us a big thing in the
early days was just all about

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how do we, when we were
designing the product, how do we

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create it into a drop in
solution so that our mill

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customers didn't have to bend
over backwards in order to

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integrate our technology.

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And by creating something that
they could just use in the exact

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same way that they use with a
traditional indigo dye, for

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example.

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And because we are creating a
bio identical, we're able to

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replicate the exact same shades,
the exact same fabric specs that

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our customers know and love and
that are able to serve their own

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customers.

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And so by doing that we've been
able to create a solution that

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isn’t just sustainable in terms of
you know lower carbon, lower

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toxicity footprint, but also
doesn't compromise on the

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performance and the scalability
that is really what our

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customers are looking for.

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That's awesome.

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And I know Kristian too, you've
been talking about how do you

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actually drive that customer,
need that end consumer to be so

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excited about your products.

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It's really simple.

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We just ask them what they want.

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And you know the core of it for
us is just how do we make a

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product that people want and
what is it that they want.

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They'll tell you the problem.

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And so the core of what we've
really done and it's what

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allowed us to create this very
personal product that ultimately

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becomes a very sustainable
product because it's very

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purposeful.

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Everything that we do is based
on, "tell us what you'd like us

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to make."

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It started with pockets for
women's clothing and then it

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went into fit and sizing.

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And, you know, the running joke
in our office is everybody hates

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buying pants.

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And you know, it's true.

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If I just walked around a room
and ask people that question,

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"Do you enjoy buying pants?"

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You know, there's this
fundamentally, you know,

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incorrect theory that's like,
oh, you know, only people who

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wear plus sizes struggle buying
clothes.

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Everyone struggles buying
clothes because of the mass

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standardization of fast fashion.

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Everything is the same.

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Everyone's supposed to be the
same ratio, etc., etc., etc.

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So for us really being customer
centric starts with asking them,

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"What do you want us to make?
What would you like?" and then

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asking for follow up data
afterwards, "How did you like

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it?"

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Did we, you know, actually do
what, you know you asked us to

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do, and that's how we build our
brand is that feedback loop and

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that's the core of how we build
a sustainable product.

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And I think you're seeing it
play out, right?

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You're seeing that consumers are
actually adopting the product

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for a value for the design and
the style that they want without

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returns, from my understanding.

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Yeah, I mean, you know, our
return rates are less than 5%.

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And you know, even within that,
I think we'll continue to drive

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it lower and that just comes
from personal sizing.

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You know, people build the
product so they're getting the,

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you know, the style that they
actually want.

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They're getting a fit that they
actually want and they're

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getting an experience that is
unique to the market currently.

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And so, yeah, people, you know,
or they're coming back and

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they're buying a second pair and
they're not returning ones that

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they already had.

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And so we cut down on massive
amounts of waste and because

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we're not producing in large
batches, you know, I make you a

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pair of jeans, I don't need to
make a batch of a thousand and

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hope they sell in a store.

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And then, "Oh no, we've, you
know, we're sitting on thousands

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of extra pairs of jeans," which
happens to lots of the big

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brands.

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So for us being purposeful in
that initiative is what allows

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us to do, you know, exactly
that. That's great and I love

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the stories of customer centric
sustainability.

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Thank you so much for joining me
and sharing all the things

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you've accomplished.

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Thank you.