Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Lohr.
Hi Shannon, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story started back in 2010 when I was trying to launch a sustainable fashion brand that was ethically made in the USA. At the time, very few people knew what “sustainable fashion” was and it was an ongoing challenge to set up a supply chain that was sustainably and ethically made in the USA. It took my then-cofounder and I a year and a half to launch but in that time, we focused on sharing our story with a small audience of blog readers and social media followers.
When we finally launched our brand at the end of 2011, our audience rallied behind us and we successfully pre-sold nearly $65,000 worth of inventory through Kickstarter. We became the highest-funded fashion project in Kickstarter history at the time, were featured by The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and were able to quadruple our first production run. It was an amazing first experience in entrepreneurship, but what I learned along the way is that it should be easier for people to start clothing brands that are sustainably and ethically made.
Fast forward to 2014 when I launched Factory45, the online business school that takes sustainable fashion brands from idea to launch. Over the past eight years, I’ve worked with over 500 entrepreneurs all over the world to help them launch their own sustainable fashion brands the right way from the start.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been a mostly smooth road because I’ve been very conscious of growing slowly and organically without sacrificing the quality of the program I’m delivering. I’ve too often seen “course creators” try to scale quickly and it results in a lackluster experience for their students. I was very conscious of not wanting to create another “course” — instead, I’ve aimed to create a first-in-class program that is unmatched in the fashion education space.
The biggest challenge that I see (and that my students also face) is the education of the consumer to understand what sustainable fashion is and why it’s so important to be conscious of your purchasing power. We’ve come a long way since 2010 when I was first starting out in this industry, but there is still a long way to go in convincing shoppers to “buy less and buy better.”
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Factory45?
Factory45 is the program that I would have wanted when I was first starting out as an entrepreneur in the fashion industry. It’s a fully-immersive mentorship experience that takes sustainable fashion entrepreneurs from idea stage to launching their brands through pre-sales.
This strategy of a pre-sale launch not only reduces the financial risk of the entrepreneur but it ensures that they’re testing the market before they produce any inventory. It’s a win for the business and it’s a win for the environment because we’re not making more “stuff” that will never be sold.
In addition to this more sustainable launch method, I work with my entrepreneurs in Factory45 to source sustainable fabrics, use eco-friendly packaging and work with a manufacturer that is as local to where they live as possible.
We also have a team of Alumni Mentors who have already graduated and launched their brands through Factory45, who work one-on-one with our students to help them successfully launch. There’s nothing more valuable than working closely with someone who has already accomplished what you’re setting out to do and that’s the opportunity that our mentorship program provides.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I’ve been teaching the pre-selling strategy since 2014 and I’m finally seeing it take hold in the mainstream industry. Bigger brands are starting to adopt this method of pre-selling inventory before they manufacture it and we’re also starting to see “on-demand” manufacturing make its way to the forefront. Both pre-selling and made-to-order manufacturing are significant changes that can be made in the fashion industry to reduce the massive carbon footprint it has, as well as the amount of waste it produces.
Contact Info:
- Email: shannon@factory45.co
- Website: http://factory45.co
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/factory45co
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/groups/factory45workshop
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Factory45
- Other: http://market45.co
Image Credits
Hale Production Studios
