not my style concept paper (to share)

7/17/2019 Not My Style Concept Paper (to Share)

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Not My Style – Concept Note

Not My Style is an app and digital platform that will create a consumer movement

to push fashion brands to be more transparent about their supply chain.

Our mission is to improve the lives of the women who make our clothes.

Not My Style is a registered company limited by guarantee, and will operate as anot for profit.

Why It Matters

The fashion industry has changed beyond recognition over the last decade. Goneare the days of four seasons per year. Now, every week, new styles are deliveredto stores all across our high street. Fast fashion, this incessant cycle, makessubstantial and often unreasonable demands on the complex supply chains.

With 97% of our clothes being made overseas, and 40 million garment workersacross the world (around 85% of whom are women), we can’t turn a blind eye. Fastfashion is literally killing people. Cheap labour and exploitation go hand in hand with£20 dresses found on the high street.

Fashion retailers have made progress in their supply chain practices over the past

few years. There is, though, still a very long way to go. Information on who makesour clothes and their working conditions remains elusive, even for the savviestconsumer. The industry is in a vicious, opaque catch 22: Brands say that consumersdon't care enough to push them to disclose their data, but consumers can't accessthe data easily, even if they try.

Why We’re Different

A number of organisations have done an incredible job at tackling this issue,creating solid data that looks into labour practices and ethical supply chains. Butthis too is out of reach of your average consumer.

We're not the first to tackle the fast fashion problem but we believe our idea willbring something new to the market.

- Our app will be made to be used in the moment: When shoppers come outof the tube at Oxford Circus, they aren’t taking the time to read a report onsupply chains from an NGO, or research what Topshop’s policies on ethicallabour are. They are shopping in the moment, and Not My Style will be there



for them when they need it: when out and about, facing immediate choices

about which store to walk into and where to spend their money.- We've taken the data that exists, included our own analysis and distilled it

into something simple. Our assessment considers leading industry research

and accessibility of information for the high street shopper. We don’t want toreinvent the wheel, instead we are repurposing existing data for an audiencethat does not have the time or inclination to make sense of this complexissue themselves.

- It's about small positive incremental actions that, combined, can create a

movement. One woman changing her shopping habits won’t have a hugeimpact on Primark’s bottom line, nor will 100. But with thousands of womenacross the UK choosing to shop with the brands making more of an effort,

and being more transparent about their supply chains, we will see a changein the industry. Consumer pressure can and will exert the outside force thatwill make positive change happen, faster.



How Can An App Change the World?



Measuring Our Success

Brands will be evaluated over time – we’ll do a mass refresh every year but alsoupdate as new information comes in or is disclosed. The ranking system is relative

– not absolute – meaning that by sharing more data on their supply chains, brandscan move up (or down) the scale vis a vis each other. We’ll know we’ve beensuccessful when we see brand scores improve on the app.

We’ll also measure downloads and track usage, first day retention, and userinformation, any changes in shopping patterns we can measure from the app, andmedia impressions. The app will also be full of shareable content, so we can trackhow the message is spread across social media channels.

Target Audience

Let me tell you about Chloe.

Chloe is 26, she works in marketing and lives in a teeny tiny London flat. Chloe goesto food markets on the weekends, and tries to buy local or sustainable productswhen she can. She is pretty savvy and is up to date on current events. She caresabout the state of the world and is known to take steps to change her behaviour,

to an extent.

Chloe also loves shopping. She takes a lot of pride in what she wears and while herdisposable income is bigger than most, she's very much a high street shopper.When she's got big plans for the weekend, she'll go out and buy something new.She loves shopping and will happily spend a Saturday wandering in and out herhigh street’s shops looking for the perfect addition to her wardrobe. Wednesdaysare her favourite commute day as she gets to read Stylist on the tube and keep up

with the latest trends coveted in Grazia and Marie Claire.

She knows about the garment factory fires in Bangladesh that caused Rana Plazato collapse and kill over 1,200 people and is vaguely familiar with the problems in

the supply chain. She may have even checked out if her favourite brands produceclothes in Bangladesh after hearing about Rana Plaza. But what she found wasconfusing or unclear - she didn’t feel more informed and truth be told, she didn’treally know what answers she should was looking for. Nothing was very specific,and she more or less gave up, continued to shop, now with a small cloud of guilt

overhanging her decisions. She isn't a huge fan of the so-called ethical clothingbrands, preferring the more well known high street. But she does care, and would



choose one store over another if it meant the lives of the women who made her

clothes were a little better.

Not My Style is for the Chloe's of the world. When she gets out of the tube at

Oxford Circus, she can open the app. Her favourite stores, and their rankings popup on the home screen. She opens the map feature and sees the 30 shops within acouple of blocks from where she is. She follows the greens, choosing to shop at thestores with the highest rankings on our scale. She tweets the brand after with athank you and Instagrams a picture of her purchase.

With enough Chloes we can reward the brands doing well, making strides andbeing transparent and encourage others to do the same.

App Features

We are sure once we start the design and testing process, that many features ofthe app will change, but here is the initial profile. Not My Style will include:

- A ranking of high street stores, as many as we can find in the UK. The ratingsystem will be simple: green light (shop), amber (think), and red (stop). Whilethe information on the app will be simple, full profiles and transparent ratingswill be disclosed on our website.

- A GPS map that users can open when out shopping that will show the stores

and the ratings. This map will offer filters to allow for a customized screen(e.g., only show me the greens).

- Completely seamless integration into social media to allow users to take anaction if they want to do more than shop, such as:

o Instagram, Facebook, or Pin a photo of what you bought from a greenstore to our hashtag – and we’ll repost.

o Show of their “haul” on YouTube – if it’s from a green store, we will

repost on our channel.o Tweet or email the CEO from a store with a positive or negative

message



Budget and Sustainability

Phase 1 - We are currently seeking start-up funding for the development of a betaversion of the app, the graphic design, and marketing costs. We are exploringfundraising from a small group of committed patrons as well as support fromfellowships, incubators, and accelerators.

We aim to take advantage of generous in-kind support for other needs, includinglegal, and all the ranking and development will be handled by our founders, whoare volunteering their time.

We will publically launch a demo of the app with a simultaneous crowdfundingcampaign to cover costs of a big marketing splash – a billboard or bus ad onOxford Street, for example. We’ll also aim to buy ads in magazines, like Stylist orGrazia (whether or not they will sell to us is another story!). Any additional fundsraised will go toward marketing and PR for the app.

Phase 2 - In the long term, we want Not My Style to be more than fully sustainable,but also to be able to fund an expansion into the future (other countries, other

types of products, etc.). In order to do this, the second phase of the app will add a

new section: a shopping aggregator exclusively for fair trade, ethical clothing linesthat can demonstrate that their supply chains are not only free from the mostharmful, negative impacts, but making positive ones as well.

Similar efforts are underway in other countries (like Accompany in the US, andIndelust in India), and with other products in the UK (like Stand Seven for jewleryand homeware), but, to date, there is no “Asos” for fair trade, ethical, beautiful

women’s clothes at high street price points. Once we have built the audience withthe original app, we will add an additional tab that will lead to a shopping platform,as easy to use and cleanly designed as the main app. Only brands that meet thehighest ethical standards (such as People Tree and Everlane) will be invited to sell

via the platform. It also represents a natural progression for the user, who maydecide the high street is no longer for her, but wants easy options to buy clothesfrom committed brands.

In the first instance, we will use the Google shopping model – offer an aggregate

search, but purchasing is made through the site of each brand – but couldeventually allow for an aggregated shopping cart by partnering with others. We



could generate revenue from a percentage of sales or eventually a membership

fee from brands. We would also give consumers the option to donate to Not MyStyle at purchase.

Not My Style is, and always will be, a not for profit company. 100% of all profitsmade will be reinvested back into achieving our mission.

Key milestones and next steps

- Pre launch phase: June – November 2015

o Finalise ranking system and rank all brands

o Silent fundraising phase

o

Slowly build social media presenceo Design and develop beta of app

- Campaign launch: November 2015o Launch the deisgned app and crowdfunding campaign at Trust

Women Conference- Full build and market: November 2015-Spring 2016

o Refine app post beta

o Line up marketing and PR

o Generate users- Large scale go to market: London Fashion Week Spring 2016

The Team

The three founders of Not My Style combine NGO and corporate responsibilityexpertise with business acumen (and of course, excellent style).

Alisha Miranda brings to the team over a decade of experience in CSR,

philanthropy and women and girls related work.

Until recently, Alisha was the Director of TrustLaw, the Thomson ReutersFoundation’s global pro bono service that helps NGOs and social enterprises in over

170 countries access pro bono legal support. In her first 18 months at theorganization, Alisha grew the network by over 100% and launched two newproducts: a global index of pro bono and a training course on social enterprise andimpact investing.

Previously, Alisha managed global community investment at Standard CharteredBank, where she designed the global expansion strategy for the Goal programme



which gives adolescent girls in urban slums access to critical life skills and

knowledge like financial literacy and reproductive health through sport. WhenAlisha joined the Bank in 2008, Goal was a small, expensive intervention, supporting

just 49 girls. Using a culturally sensitive approach to girls’ issues and a robust

business model that kept the programme integrity intact, Alisha launched a newstrategy that eventually brought Goal into now 18 countries, with a target to reachhalf a million girls.

Alisha is a trustee of Coin Street Community Builders, Women Win, and an advisorto Lend-A-Hand India. She was previously a trustee of the UK National Committeefor UN Women and member of the Global Reporting Initiative’s gender workinggroup on the G3 Guidelines. She received a Master’s Degree in Gender,

Development, and Globalisation from the London School of Economics, andgraduated from Harvard University with a BA in Women’s Studies.

Joni O’Sullivan brings over a decade of corporate experience in communityinvestment and colleague engagement communications to the team. Joni iscurrently leading a cultural transformation programme for Lloyds Banking Group.During her time with the bank, Joni has helped design and launch the LloydsCommunity Fund, which last year supported over 1,600 good causes around the UK.

Joni has also worked to increase the impact of the bank’s community engagement,

with a focus on skills-based staff volunteering, leading her division to a 60%increase in time committed. More recently, she has worked closely with the Schoolfor Social Entrepreneurs, judging their finalists in Scotland and mentoring new socialenterprises in Glasgow and Scotland.

Previously Joni was seconded to Business in the Community as the BusinessConnector for Lambeth. The Business Connector programme increases the

positive impact of business in the most deprived communities around the UK, withan emphasis on education, employment and enterprise. During her secondment,Joni successfully built capacity in five high potential local charities in Lambeth,helping them to secure additional funding and support, as well as training to scale

up their activities across the borough.

Joni holds a BA in Modern History from the University of Oxford. She is a mentorfor an Edinburgh social enterprise and is on the board of the London based charity,

Vital Regeneration. Joni also sits on the Africa and Asia awards panel for the StarsFoundation and previously acted as an advisor to the High Street Fund.



Jessica Perrin brings a valuable understanding of the NGO sector with over 10

years experience supporting the plight of women and girls in some of the poorestcountries in the world. Today, she is Head of NGO and Social Enterprise at theThomson Reuters Foundation where she oversees the Foundation’s network of

over 2,200 NGOs and social enterprises, and supports the annual Trust WomenConference. She is also Chair of the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation UK and aTrustee of Operation Fistula UK.

Jessica has worked extensively in the social impact space as an EvaluationConsultant at Coffey International Development managing large scale DFID grantfunds, with UNICEF as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and with CAREInternational, Amnesty International and Marie Stopes International. She holds a

Masters of International Communications and Development from The CityUniversity of London and graduated from the University of South Australia with aBA in Communications, Media and Culture.

not my style concept paper (to share)

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