Russ (right) with business partner Tim

Alumnus joins the slow fashion revolution

Alumnus Russ Avery (French and Russian, 2007) has set up a new sustainable and ethical fashion brand for men, women, and children.

The business - Renewabilitee - has a fully transparent and traceable supply chain with garments made from certified organic cotton and processed in a factory powered by renewable energy. Also, at the end of their life, garments can be returned to the company to be recycled and resold.

Russ said: “Fast fashion has many dirty secrets. As well as causing pain and suffering for people and the planet, it is the world's second most polluting industry after the oil and gas sectors. We’re hoping to be a new and vital British player in the ‘slow fashion’ movement.”

Renewabilitee’s processes are audited against multiple sustainable and ethical criteria, and garments are never kept as stock. Instead, they are printed on-demand – in a renewable energy-powered factory on the Isle of Wight – to limit waste.

Russ said: “I visited a great interactive museum called Fashion for Good in Amsterdam. I left knowing that I could easily improve my own clothes buying and wearing habits, but I wanted to go the next step and see if I could provide a solution to fast fashion.

“I was able to set-up everything quickly thanks to Teemill. We use the Teemill platform, which was created by the guys behind Rapanui - the sustainable fashion brand based on the Isle of Wight. By using Teemill’s supply chain and platform, I was able to turn Renewabilitee from idea to reality in less than eight weeks.”

At the moment Renewabilitee is a side project for Russ, who spends the rest of his time as a specialist marketing and growth consultant for sustainability-focused businesses. However he has big plans.

He said: “My friend Tim (who I brought on as a Co-Founder within a week of launching) and I have big ambitions. Although we both have full time jobs and Renewabilitee is just a side hustle, we want to see it go global and become a well-known brand. Within our first six weeks, we had already sold garments to people in the UK, USA, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland and France, which is amazing.

“We have both been really busy recently, so time spent on it has been minimal, but we are hoping to release more designs over the summer, including some environmental slogan designs in the lead up to the next global climate strike on September 20th.”

Date: 8 August 2019