With the movement towards sustainable design in the fashion industry, social media is playing a key role for brands to tell their sustainability story; where and how products are made, what materials they are made of, and the life cycle of the product. Whether you are a boutique eco-fashion brand or a large retailer, sustainability is about being transparent, open and authentic. Social media provides a platform for brands to authentically tell their sustainability story. In this presentation, we will look at fashion brands that have successfully integrated social media into their sustainability initiatives, learn what engages and builds trust with eco-conscious consumers, and discuss best practices for using social media in sustainability campaigns.

1. April 22, 2010
Leveraging Social Media to Tell Your
Sustainable Fashion Story
Stacie Shepp

2. Who Are You?
• Student at FIT?
• Working in the
Fashion Industry?
• Working for a
Sustainable
Brand?
• Using Social
Media for
Business?

3. This Session
• My Story
• New Media Statistics
• Social Media Principles
• Case Studies
• A Look at the Future
• Discussion/ Q and A

4. My Story

5. Graduated 1992
AAS Degree in Fashion
Buying and
Merchandising

6. Moved to CA
Theatre and
Costume Design
SF Opera
Custom Corset and
Bridal Shop in SF

7. FIT 2000
Corset:
Fashioning the Body

8. MBA in Sustainable
Enterprise

9. Co-Produced
EcoFashion Show in
LA 2006
Advisor to Organic
Leather accessory and
wholesale leather
company

10. !"#$%"&'($)*+$,-,.('!(/0"$/+(!&,
• online marketing
• web strategy
• web design and development
• build trusted brands
• social media marketing
• San Francisco, CA
• Solar, Natural Products, Green Events,
Online Start-ups various industries

11. Fall 2009 joined Board
Marketing Chair
Alternative to the US
Chamber of Commerce
Voice for Green Business
National Expansion

12. New Media Statistics

13. Four out of five
NEW MEDIA USERS
interact with companies and brands online
source

14. Two-thirds of American
new media users
Feel they can influence business
practices by voicing opinions online.
source

15. What people Want
From Brands
• 85% what’s in products and how they’re made
• 83% additional details about labels and claims seen offline
• 82% providing a forum for consumers to voice concerns over business
practices
• 82% reporting progress on social and environmental issues
• 80% advocating for social or environmental issues
source

16. Social Media Principles that
Earthsite Follows

17. sustainability = transparency + openness + authenticity
social media = transparency + openness + authenticity

18. Social Media is perfect for
Sustainable BRANDS
• Sustainable Brands have an
authentic story
• Sustainable Brands are fine with
transparency
• Sustainable Brands are open
about their social &
environmental initiatives

19. SOCIAL MEDIA PRINCIPLES
LISTENING
What is being said about your brand?
COMMUNITY
beyond consumers, now community
SOCIAL CURRENCY
Accumulating Goodwill From Your Community
RADICAL TRANSPARENCY
Openness in Marketing
MANY TO MANY
Information flows through the community

20. ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPUTATION
Testimonials and comments build brand reputation
REAL TIME
Community is talking about your brand right now
ENGAGEMENT AND INTERACTION
The new measurement is about engagement and
interactions with your community
PERSONALIZED
Relevant message “just for you”
HYPER-LOCALIZATION
All marketing is local with mobile media

21. Social Media Is DIFFERENT
Old School New School
B2C C2C
Top Down Bottom Up
Closed Open
Print Media Digital Media
One to Many Many to Many
Privacy Transparency
Advertisement Conversation

22. Case Studies

23. Social Media is Ideal for New Brands
• Inexpensive way to build brand
awareness
• Chance to build your brand
based on authenticity right
from the beginning
• Tools to show sustainable
fashion story: blogs, twitter,
facebook, youtube, video, etc
• Easy to launch a new brand
only online (no middleman)

24. • Sustainable urban + outdoor
apparel
• Clothes made for modern
mobile life
• E-commerce, wholesale
• Treehugger: voted best
outdoor company
• Outdoor Magazine: voted
best company to work for
(Portland, OR)

25. Social media is perfect for Nau
• Sales + Marketing original title
was “connector”, community
builder
• Word of mouth marketing vs
traditional print
• Able to track ROI with google
analytics, sales E-commerce site

26. What is Nau doing?
• Monthly newsletter “Off the Grid”
• Blog: “Thought Kitchen”
• Clothing Giveaways: monthly
through newsletter
• Facebook Contest: “Tell us your
Favorite Spring Break story”
• Partners for Change: 2% of each sale
donated
• The Collective: Grant for Change
$10,000

27. •One for One Campaign
•Alleviate Soil Transmitted
Diseases
• Shoes required for school
uniforms

28. How is TOMS using
Social Media
• Community built around
the brand
• Twitter:
@TOMSshoes
@TOMSshoepport
@FriendsofTOMS
• How Do You Wear
TOMS (photo album)
• Style Your Sole Party

29. • One day event to raise
awareness
• April 8, 2010
• 1/4 Million People
participated
• 1600 events around the
world
• People already signing up
for next year

30. • Founded by Zem Joaquin
(contributing eco-editor at
House & Garden, Domino,
Architectural Digest and 7×7
Magazines.)
• Creative Director Caitlin
Bristol
• Blog about the best eco-
products on the market
• You don’t have to sacrifice
style for sustainability

31. Smart Tactics
• Host Offline Experience
Events
• Followed by Online dialogue
and activism
• Create content that lives on
ex) EcoFabTV
• Goal: grow audience, not
necessarily on own website
but through partner sites as
well (Huff Post, Dwell)

32. What Does Social Media Mean for
Established Brands
• Accountability
• Transparency
• Open Brand
• CSR 2.0: Corporate
Social Responsibility
• Real Time Feedback
• Going Beyond
Greenwashing

33. • NY Times released
article about unsold
garments being thrown
away and slashed
• Jan 6, 2010 H&M
#2 trending topic on
Twitter
• Next day H&M released
a statement that it will
not happen again.

34. • Ceo, Dov Charney in a lawsuit
filed by Woody Allen over
unauthorized use of his image
• Used Social Media sites to
quickly connect with fans to
assure them that the company
would not be affected
• American Apparel estimates
that 10% of their online traffic
originates from the social
media sites

35. • Target gives $3 Million
per week to charities
• 2009 “Bullseye Gives”
campaign
• Facebook Fans vote
on which charity
Target should give to
• Fan is then given
option to send to own
newsfeed, spreading
virally

36. • Corporate Social
Responsibility Report
for last 3 years
• Microsite that highlights
their story

37. • Adweek reported this
week that FOX and ABC
refused ads due to too
much cleavage
• LB posted ad on Blog,
asking their customers
what they think
• YouTube commercial is “How do we contact Fox and ABC
viewable to complain about them not
running the Ad? They will run
Victoria Secret's Ad but the not
• Great example of brand one for us plus size girls? That
using social media to call sucks! And it's discriminating!”
out other brands --Facebook Fan

38. What Does the Future
Look Like?

39. How is the fashion industry OPENing up?
• Social Media is allowing
more people to
participate in the trend
setting
• People can upload
photos on dozens of
photo-sharing blogs
• Less mediated then
traditional media
• Accelerates the spread
of trends globally

40. • Fashion Futures 2025 Report
• consumers will increasingly
demand that business be
transparent
• “owning stuff is out” due to high
cost
• swapping clothes, borrowing
(clothing libraries), vintage shops,
buying less, higher quality
• bulk buying, community sharing
• reframe the designers role:
design experience and services

41. Website’s That Let You Borrow
www.weartodaygonetomorrow.com
www.rentmeahandbag.com
www.dressedup.com.au
www.girlmeetsdress.com

42. “I think partnerships and joint ventures
are important, as are collaboration of
ideas, social media, and networking. I
feel that its the perfect time to team up
with someone to create a new idea. We
need to help each other and focus on our
individual strengths to make our
businesses stronger and thereby create
a stronger green community.” Source: ecouterre.com

43. Happy 40th Earth Day!

44. Stay Connected
Stacie Shepp
stacie@earthsite.net
Twitter:
@stacieshepp
@earthsite
LinkedIn: Stacie Shepp
www.earthsite.net