Today we’re talking about Market Placement, Brand Identity, and finding your brand’s authentic story. Understanding your brand’s place in the market compared to your competitors will help you make decisions like where to expand your product assortment and what prices to target. This foundational knowledge increases your chances of success in any product-based industry.

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I’m interviewing my talented friend Laura Bonnell who has worked for such brands as Ralph Lauren and The Limited, amongst others. She teaches in the Fashion Program at Orange Coast College and has her own beautiful brand The Letterman Co. We will discuss her back story, what she does for brands as a consultant, how she started The Letterman Co., and how she plans to disrupt the youth team sports apparel market. She shares actionable exercises to help you nail down your Brand Identity and Market Placement in order to build a strong foundation for a thriving startup. As a huge bonus, Laura shares a wealth of knowledge to help us make our brands more sustainable and where we can have the biggest impact.

Welcome, Laura! Tell Us a Little Bit About Your Background and Career.

Born in the British Countryside

I grew up in the beautiful English countryside. I was pretty lucky that I knew from pretty early on, probably from the age of four or five, that I wanted to be a Fashion Designer when I grew up. I was able to choose my subjects through school and then heading off to University in line with that goal. After schooI I went to the University of East London and completed a four-year Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design with Marketing.

Afterward, I got the opportunity to take a design job in London that got me started in the industry. But then a few months in, I was getting kind of itchy feet and I wanted to have some adventures. I basically gave myself a year to go find a job overseas. And if I didn’t find a job within a year, I was going to pack a backpack and go traveling around the world.

Travel the World or Get a New Job?

I started sending my resume out there, contacting people. Nothing was really happening and the deadline was approaching. It was coming up to a year and I wasn’t sure that it was gonna happen. At the time I had started interviewing with The Limited. The Limited at the time was still a pretty big organization. This was back in the 2000’s when The Limited still owned a number of brands in its portfolio and it had offices in London.

It was coming down to the wire. I was interviewing and things were progressing, but I didn’t know if it was actually gonna happen. I got to my deadline and I was like, “I don’t think it’s gonna come off, I don’t think I’m going to get the job. I’m gonna book this round-the-world ticket!”

Both!

And this is a true story… I booked the ticket. I booked the flight that would take me around the world. And the very next day I got the phone call from The Limited; I’d been offered a job in New York. This has kind of played out the story of my life. Really big life events will tend to happen like this!

So I called them and I said, “I really want this job. This is such an amazing opportunity, but I’ve just booked this flight to take me around the world. Is there any way that I can start this job in four weeks’ time?” And they said, “Yes, we can do that.”

So I hopped on the plane. I flew to Thailand. I traveled around Thailand for a few weeks and I went to Australia. I saw some friends there. I flew back. I unpacked my backpack and I put everything into a suitcase, two suitcases actually. And then I hopped on a plane and moved to New York and started work over there. It worked out great and it was so fun.

I got to live basically in the Essex House Hotel on Central Park South for a month, which was super fun. I felt like royalty. Then got myself settled in New York and worked for The Limited and I was there for about a year.

Working for Ralph Lauren

Then I got approached with an opportunity to go work for Ralph Lauren. They were putting a team together to relaunch their Lauren brand. There’s an interesting story from the interview process including getting a stiletto heel stuck on Madison Avenue and also a power cut and things like this, but I’ll save that story for another day.

But I got the job and the job at Ralph Lauren kind of set the stage for the rest of my career. Because even though I’d known from very early on that I wanted to be a fashion designer, I guess I’d never really figured out what kind of designer I was going to be. You know, what area or sector of the market was gonna be my thing? And I often refer to it as The ‘Ralph Lauren University’ because I learned so much when I was there. I worked for Ralph Lauren for a number of years.

Back to the U.K.!

I then met my husband and we moved back to the U.K. for a number of years and both of our sons were born back there. The plan was always to come back to the States. I worked for a company called Jack Wills over there, and Barbour, it’s a very old British heritage brand.

Back to the U.S.!

We were both struggling to find a job back in the States. After a number of years, we decided that we were just going to make it happen. So we sold our London flat. We put everything in a 20-foot shipping container and put a pin on the map in Orange County, California. We moved over and we’ve been kind of making it up ever since!

In a nutshell that’s been about the last 20-plus years in the industry.

You’re a Consultant Creative Director. Tell us, what kind of work do you do for brands when they hire you?

The consultancy work has actually started to take a backseat as opportunities with my brand have kind of taken off. And I’ve also been taking on more teaching opportunities. But being a Consultant Creative Director has been a great way for me to pay forward that knowledge from the industry.

Something that’s really interested me, and again, I think my interest was really captured when I started working at Ralph Lauren, was to really understand a brand and how a really great brand comes to be and thrives. Really focusing in on what’s the brand’s unique selling point (USP). What’s the authentic story? And I think that’s very telling with a lot of successful startup brands now, is that they have an authentic story to tell. It’s not something made up because that’s what the customer buys into and connects with. I work on building a Brand Strategy.

… I think my interest was really captured when I started working at Ralph Lauren … to really understand a brand and how a really great brand comes to be and thrives. Really focusing in on what’s the brand’s unique selling point. What’s the authentic story? And I think that’s very telling with a lot of successful startup brands now, is that they have an authentic story to tell.

Working with Startups

I’ve worked with companies that are startups. I’ve literally had a brief where pretty much they’ve given me the name of the brand and said, “Right, we’ve got a 5 million budget. How would you launch the brand and what would it look like?” That was a fun project, but I tell you, 5 million when you start crunching the numbers, it can disappear very quickly.

A benefit to having connected with people in the industry over the last 20-plus years is that I know I’ve got somebody to call, I’ve got somebody to email that I can ask for advice or feedback. I love getting pushed out of my comfort zone. I love doing something I’ve not done before. I love problem-solving, so kind of push me there and I’m like, okay I’m going to go figure it out.

Expanding Existing Brands

I’ve worked with start up brands, I’ve also worked with existing brands. There was a brand I worked with and they’d built their brand off the back of branded hoodies and sweatshirts and t-shirts. I worked with them to build out their brand by building their brand story and product extensions. Okay, if you started doing sunglasses, what would that look like? If you started doing footwear, what would that look like? Who’s that customer? Where are we gonna sell it? How are we going to market it? Planning brand growth, whether it’s through a brand new concept or whether it’s through an existing brand is really exciting. I really enjoyed doing that kind of work.

On top of this, you’re also the CEO and Founder of The Letterman Co. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how it started?

The Dream

Yeah, absolutely. I think pretty much every fashion student and designer at some point wants to have their own brand. It’s like “the dream”. I’ve had that dream ever since probably age four or five. But I’ve never necessarily had the means or the guts to really go for it. It’s the uncertainty of potentially walking away from the regular paycheck or no paycheck!

Taking the Leap

When I founded The Letterman Co I’d actually been in a position working as a Design Manager and, as often happens in the industry, there were changes. When there’s a downturn in the apparel market there are often layoffs. When there’s a change in management, it can mean changes in personnel. Unfortunately it can mean that you can lose your job when there’s restructuring at the company.

I’d been through a couple of experiences like that and it was getting tougher to dust off my knees and get back in the saddle again. I thought, I’m always the glass-half-full kind of thought process, right? This is how I exist and I tend to take things as an opportunity rather than feel too down about it. Once I’ve dusted my knees off, I’m like, “Okay, let’s take this as an opportunity. Let’s try something that’s different. You know what, I’ve got a few months here. I’ve got a bit of savings as a little safety net to keep me going for a few months. Let’s give it a try! I’ve always wanted to have my own business. Let’s give it a try and let’s see what happens.”

So in 2015, I had this idea brewing. Having two boys and shopping for clothes for them, I was struggling to find clothes with a look that I really liked. I wasn’t really the kind of mom that would buy the cute little dinosaur prints and things. I wanted something a bit more authentic and something that had longevity to it.

A Connection to Heritage

I’ve always had a fascination with heritage. A lot of the brands that I’ve worked with have a heritage connection. So I thought, right I’ll take my love of heritage, I’ll take my love of Americana. One of my favorite things to do on a weekend is to go vintage shopping. If you saw my house, it’s a mixture of vintage and we’ve got some really cool pieces we’ve collected over the years. Why don’t I pull that all together in a brand? And I came up with this Americana vintage-inspired kidswear concept.

I’d also seen that parents really liked buying things that are personalized for children. I took that idea, added it to the Americana theme and came up with personalized products with varsity letter patches.

The Local Mom Group

I’d connected with some local mums that had also walked away from the corporate world and were trying their own thing. There were some network groups forming in London. There was kind of this movement happening. A lot of us Gen-Xers that were starting to have kids and not able to work the 12-14 hour days in our respective industries anymore were coming together.

Concept Validation

I started by literally making a cushion with a varsity letter on it and a baseball t-shirt. My friend was running a local networking group for women in business and she’s like, “Just come along and meet the women. Go tell them your idea. Just start seeing if there’s maybe something there.” And I didn’t have time to get business cards printed, so I literally just printed my name and my email a bunch of times on a few sheets of paper and cut them out!

I got there and felt a bit silly carrying my cushion and my t-shirt and my pieces of paper, but I walked around the room and I just got chatting to women. And through that, I built confidence that I had something that they were responding to. They got it.

I was describing what the brand vision was and they were all behind the idea. They told me, “Just go for it, Laura. Go for it. Go for it.” So I did! Instead of taking a few months to plan and execute, I pretty much within a week just got a website live. And then there was an opportunity at like the boys’ school; they were having a summer fair. So I quickly made some products and I went along and sold my first T-shirt. That’s where I count the anniversary of my business. Because to me it became a business once I sold something. And then once I sold that first item, I’m like, I’m a business now. And it just kind of built from there.

Rebecca: I’ve learned a few key things from you and I feel like you know how to basically take an idea and then make sure fits with the brand. Like, okay, we’re gonna make sunglasses for this brand, but how do we make it fit with this brand? What is this brand’s story? With The Letterman Co., it had a very authentic story. So again, I feel like what I keep hearing from you is “brand story” and how important that is.

I also like how you tested out the market first. You went and you met with other moms and people that would be buying, like who your customer would be, and you asked them, “Do you like this?” And then you went to sell where those people would be and it kind of validated that idea. Like, yes, people are interested in this. That’s such a smart way to start a brand instead of diving in full force without researching and buying tons of product. You felt it out first.

Tell me where is The Letterman Co. today? What’s going on lately with it?

Seed Funding

Well, we’re keeping our fingers! I have, potentially, a group interested in injecting some seed funding to get the business to the next level. I’ve always had this big dream, this big vision, as I’ve been continuing to work on the business. But we all know time, resources, it is the thing that holds us back from getting to the next level. And also having that confidence that you’ve got something that’s scaleable.

Currently, I’m still working out of home. I’ve grown out of the home office into the garage. The garage is now the distribution center! My husband keeps asking me on a daily basis, “When are you moving out? I don’t want to see one more box.” Our house is filled with boxes and rails.

Shifting Mindset

But I think also, I had a big shift in mindset about a year and a half ago. I still always, probably, am in this balance of like, “Am I a teacher that has a side hustle business? Or am I a business owner that teaches on the side?” And these two things have actually been working really well synchronously because I just love paying forward that knowledge. I love connecting with students and hearing from them about what they’re seeing, what’s inspiring them, and what they want. I feel very privileged to be just a little part of their journey into the industry. That’s very fulfilling for me.

So up until about a year and a half ago, I’d pretty much been making most of the products. The main products we sell are personalized sweatshirt varsity jackets and school pennants. The felt pennants have been really successful, particularly these back-to-school little pennants on a stick that the kids hold on the front doorstep. First-day kindergarten. Last-day kindergarten.

And I’d pretty much been making all of the products up until that point. I realized that it wasn’t sustainable working till 4:00 AM. It is not a sustainable model, particularly when we were in the pandemic and we were homeschooling the kids at the same time. The coffee machine stayed on a lot during that time!

The business had been growing organically. Pretty much doubling year on year on year and all pretty much through word of mouth and SEO. I was landing on the first page of a lot of things that people were searching for that connected to the brand.

Incrementally Hiring Help

Financially, I had got to the point where I’m like, okay, I’ve got a few spare hundred bucks. I can pay somebody now to do something. What’s that thing gonna be? I decided to hire somebody a few hours a week to help with the sewing. I found a local embroiderer that could take over all the embroidery and the appliqué.

I found a great U.S. manufacturer for pennants. Now, instead of making to order, I could start building stock. And then from there, it got me to the next spot. Now I’ve got a few more hundred bucks. Okay, I’m gonna pay a professional photographer to do my photography. Now I’ve got a bit more money. Let’s pay a social media manager that’s gonna help me. It’s just incrementally built like that.

Other entrepreneurs I’ve spoken to, and mentors I’ve spoken to, have said this is the way that a lot of startups are building their businesses. They use consultants because you have that flexibility of, okay we’ve done well this month, here’s some money to do this. Or if sales have gone down a bit maybe there are less hours of work this month.

I’ve found that’s where some of my peers in small business have got stuck. Taking that leap to start scaling and growing your business. It’s really hard. Particularly when maybe you’re not paying yourself any money, or paying yourself very little money, to then give some of that money to somebody else. But you can’t do it all. It has to come to a point and you have to strategically pick what that’s gonna be. What’s going to give you that return on investment?

That’s a little bit where we are. With the seed funding, I’ll be able to move into a space. We’ll be able to hire a few more people. I’ll be able to create a brand experience space. Whether that’s a showroom or whether that’s a small retail space. Opportunities are opening up and I feel like the universe keeps telling me to, “Go for it. Go for it!”

Disrupting the Youth Team Sports Apparel Market

One of the bigger visions for the brand is that I’m looking to disrupt the youth sports team apparel market. Particularly with my sustainability knowledge (it’s one of the classes that I teach). I see how wasteful the team sports apparel and embellished market is. Kids will often wear a synthetic uniform for a season. Then it’s thrown away. Or maybe they’ll use it a little bit longer, but then it’s thrown away. It’s a very wasteful industry using a lot of manmade fibers. I’m looking to disrupt that. And that’s really exciting for me because there are some opportunities opening up there. The doors are opening. I’ve just gotta be brave and walk through them.

Rebecca: Yes. Oh, that’s so interesting. That’s so true. I’ve never thought about that, but every season my kids are in sports they’re like, “Here’s your uniform for the season,” and then you’re done with it. That’s so interesting.

Okay. You said so many good things there. I’m so excited for your next steps. I also think that it’s so interesting to hear how you grew incrementally. I think that’ll be really helpful for people to hear that are growing their own brands. You know, step by step, you’re able to hire out some of those things that you needed to get done and take that off of your responsibility list little by little. I think that’s a really smart way to grow.

Many people here are hoping to launch or have already launched their own product business. I saw on LinkedIn that you help in creating “Brand Identity, Market Placement, and Launch Strategies” for startup brands.

Could you just give us a little synopsis about what brand identity and market placement are?

Brand Identity

Absolutely. There are a couple of little tools I like to use. This is a little exercise:

On a piece of paper, you write down

• “We are ______” and then you insert the name of the company.
• “Our strategy is _______” and you sum up what the strategy of the brand is in about a sentence.
• “Our purpose is _______” and then you would sum that up in about a sentence.
• “Our values are _______” and then you would fill that out.

And by nailing those things, you are really honing in on who you are as a brand and what’s your guiding north star? What makes you different from everybody else?

If you answer those questions with quite generic statements, maybe you haven’t quite nailed where your place in the market is. Because it’s a very saturated market. At the end of the day, there are a million people making t-shirts, and there are a million people making hoodies. What’s going to make somebody come to your brand, buy them from you, and stick with you?

Market Placement

It’s about figuring out what the DNA of the brand is. What’s the personality of the brand? People are really connecting with brands that have some kind of authentic personality to them.

• Are you a fun brand?
• Are you a serious brand?
• Are you a mission-focused brand?
• What’s your mission statement?
• What’s your reason for being?

Market Placement and Brand Identity are really important.

You can do this exercise as well. You draw out a graph with an x-axis and a y-axis. Then on your x-axis, at one end of the scale, you’ve got “mass market” and on the other end, you’ve got “niche”. And then on your y-axis you’ve got “opening price point” and then you’ve got “premium or luxury price point”. Using those, you can plot out where’s my brand? How niche is my brand? How mass market is my brand? What’s my price point gonna be?

And then start looking at brands that are doing something comparable to you and where they sit. And that’s really helpful to visualize where your place and your space is in the market. That’s going to help not only with things like your price strategy but how you’re going to build out your collection. If you are in the skiwear sector of the market, you are obviously going to be focusing more on outerwear and waterproof pants and maybe less on lifestyle pieces.

It’s really good to contextualize that. That will also help with building out your USP or your unique selling point and what’s going to make you stand out there.

You mentioned the keyword “niche” which I feel is a really hot topic right now. Do you feel like being niche is pretty important?

What’s Your Unique Selling Point

Yeah. Think of if you had five seconds in an elevator with somebody that’s going to invest 5 million in your brand. How can you sum that up. In that sentence or two sentences, how are you different to everybody else?

Because, the clothes we wear, it’s pretty much all been done before. What’s going to be the story? What’s going to be the unique thing behind what you are designing, what you’re making, what you’re producing?

You also carve out your niche market as well. Niche who you are selling to. How niche are you going to be? If you are an outdoor brand? Are you a brand like Patagonia that covers multiple outdoor pursuits? Or are you very specialized? Are you only gonna hone in on women that rock climb, for example?

Rebecca: I know another focus of yours, and you teach this in college, is sustainability for brands. I know a lot of people are interested in creating sustainable brands and there’s so much information out there.

Is there a good way to get started on making our brands sustainable?

Sustainability

Absolutely. If you’re really committed and you want to learn more, go take a class. I teach sustainability in the apparel industry. It’s a certificate program at OCC (Orange Coast College). There’s not actually currently that many places in the U.S. where you can get a qualification in sustainability in the apparel industry.

There are a few master’s programs. I think there are one or two Ph.D. programs that I’ve found, but getting a college-level qualification, there are not that many places currently out there.

Rebecca: Interesting and it’s such a hot topic right now. I bet there are a lot of brands that are wanting to hire a sustainability expert.

Everyone Needs to Know This

Laura: Absolutely and this is a really good point, and one that we discuss quite early on in the classes that I teach. That taking these classes is not necessarily training you to be a specialist in sustainability. Having that knowledge in sustainability is something that everybody needs to know, whether you are in Design, Product Development, Marketing, PR, or even Visual Merchandising.

We all need to have that knowledge in our tool belt to be able to do our jobs well because it’s just going to become more and more important. More and more integrated into everything we do. Particularly if you’re looking for new opportunities in the industry, it’s something that I believe recruiters are going to be looking for to see that you’ve got that understanding.

Sustainability Resources

And read, read, read, read. There is so much great free available resources out there. These are just a few to get you started.

1. There are some industry reports that are really good to check out. These are free to access and download. Check out The Pulse Report. There are actually just three of them right now, 2017, 2018, and 2019, but still very relevant.
2. This is a document that many people go back to, The CEO Agenda and The State of Fashion. You can also find not just on their websites, but you can go to YouTube and there are some great little summary videos, particularly for the State of Fashion.
3. Some good books to look at:
   • The Future of the Responsible Company
   • Sustainability and Social Change in Fashion
   • The Future of Fashion
   • The B Corp Handbook
4. Good documentaries to check out:
   • The True Cost
   • The River Blue
   • Seeding Change
   • Another one I really like that I have recommended to my students is actually a British documentary show that’s available on YouTube called Blood, Sweat, and T-Shirts. That was a really interesting one. It took some young adults overseas that were very into their fast fashion. They actually had them go and work in some of the garment factories. It was a very eye-opening experience. They not only got to work in the factories, but they took home the pay that the workers were paid there and had to learn to live off of those wages as well. It’s available for free on YouTube. There are a few episodes of it on there.
5. There are lots of free newsletters with all of these that you can sign up for:
   • Check out the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
   • New Textiles Economy Report
   • Global Fashion Summit. There’s videos. There’s live online events that you can join remotely.
   • The See Change Sessions
   • Sustainable Brands is another good one to connect with. They also have conferences and panel talks.

So that will get you started. But just start tuning in and turning on and you’ll be on a good path.

If you’re wanting to create a sustainable brand, where do you find manufacturers? Are there different ones that you would use for sustainable brands?

First Understand the Value Chain

Yeah, it’s a really good question, and it’s a bit of a wormhole to go down. This is where having that foundational knowledge is so important because even the word “sustainable” or “eco” or “green”, means different things to different people.

The guiding north star that we use in our classes when we think about sustainability is the definition from the UN: “The development that meets the needs of the present without mitigating the needs of future generations.” Words to that effect. Because often when we think about sustainability in the fashion industry we think, “Oh, we’ll make it out of organic cotton,” but do you really know why it’s better to make it out of organic cotton? So you need to have that knowledge and know about why you would make certain decisions.

The biggest impact in regards to what we call the value chain or the supply chain. Basically if we take a cotton t-shirt from wearing it to when it very first starts life it’s a cotton budd, right? That’s the very, very start of our journey, of our cotton T-shirt. We call that cradle. That’s the beginning of the process.

Then it moves through the value chain. It gets picked, it gets ginned, the impurities get taken out, it gets turned into yarn, it’s spun, it’s knit into jersey, it’s cut and sewn into a garment, it’s then shipped off to a distribution center, and then it goes to a retail store. Then it goes to the consumer and then when it’s finished being used it gets thrown away. All along the way of that value chain, we’ve got different impacts on the environment, our water usage, our carbon emissions, etc.

Biggest Impact in the Early Stages

The biggest impact we have is at that early stage, at what we call the tier 4 and tier 3 stages. The more we can mitigate that early stage, the bigger the impact that we’re making. So guess what? The best thing we can do is buy less or reuse what we’ve created already because then we don’t need to create new virgin stock. We don’t need to grow more cotton. we don’t need to do all that harmful processing, etc.

One of the biggest things right now is to move the industry towards a circular economy, where we stop throwing things away and we feed it back into the system again. It’s not enough to send off our used t-shirts to charity shops because most of that is going to waste. Only 1% of recycled material actually makes it back into the system again. Most of what we throw away ends up in landfill or is incinerated. So it’s a misnomer that, “Oh, I filled my bag and I’ve given it to the charity shop. All of the clothes are going get bought and used again.” It’s not what’s happening.

Firstly, if you can, try and find a way to recycle or upcycle. That’s a great way to be more sustainable. If you can, use recycled fabrics or fibers. Use recycled cotton or recycled denim hemp. Know the really good sustainable fibers. It’s much more than organic cotton. Hemp is another great fiber that’s come a long way. Back in the eighties, hemp was very scratchy and it was quite a hippie-ish look, but it’s come a long way since then. We’re now starting to see it being used and also blended in with other fibers as well. It doesn’t use as much water as cotton which is much more sustainable.

Know Your Certifications

I’ll just finish off by saying know your certifications as well. So knowing things about Blue Sign, ZDHC or zero discharge of harmful chemicals. Knowing if your factory is certified, if it’s Fair Trade, WRAP certified, Sedex certified. Starting to learn all of that; that’s really going to help you. And the very last thing, The Open Apparel Registry. Check out that website. You can plug in brands there and see the factories that they manufacture in.

Are there any other additional resources or actionable takeaways that you want to share with someone that’s wanting to launch their own product-based business?

You Won’t Make Money at First

I’ve already mentioned being prepared to not make any money for a while. So having another source of income. Unfortunately, I didn’t marry a rich tycoon so I still have to contribute to paying the bills! That’s where it’s been fantastic being able to freelance, being able to teach. It’s been able to give me an income whilst I’ve been building the business.

Don’t Overstock on Inventory

Don’t overstock on inventory. That can really kill your business as well. It’s tough too, particularly in the apparel industry, where you are often having to meet minimum production requirements. Be really smart. If you are committing to producing 500 pieces of something, do the numbers. Figure out how long is it going to take me to sell through that so you’re not stuck sitting on a lot of inventory.

Networking

Connecting with mentors is really helpful. Networking. Build that network. Nurture that network. I’ve already mentioned preparing to grow, so if things take off and build traction you’ve got a plan how you’ll be able to grow logistically and financially. I still do call in a lot of favors and what’s really helped me grow along the way is having great friends that would come help me when I would do pop-up markets. They’d come if I needed help with this and that, you know, entertain the children whilst you go do something. But, you’ve also got to start paying people to help you in order to continue growing.

Rebecca: I think one of the things I learned at Orange Coast College, because I did go to school there as well as teach there, was how important networking is. So to have a good support group of friends. Then not only that but then when you’re ready to hire, you know the people and the places where you’d like to turn. So you never know who you’re going to meet along the way that can be a friend and a help to you.

Show Up In Person

Laura: Yeah and just a note on that, and this is I think a generational thing because I’m a Gen-Xer. I grew up without the internet. When I went to university, email was kind of a new thing. It was crazy. Thinking back now, we thought we were very posh when we got a car phone that had the wire going into the car!

I feel fortunate in a way that I’ve got that foundation. That I know life before the internet. The internet is great and it’s a great resource, but it’s meant that we’ve lost a few things along the way. I think particularly during Covid and with us going onto Zoom a lot, we got into some bad habits. It opened up a lot of opportunity, but it started a lot of bad habits.

We’re missing that human interaction. To build real, authentic relationships, you need to go meet somebody for a coffee. You need to go have a conversation. You need to show up. Maybe they’ve got an event or something, go show up and show them some support. You know, good networking.

Real Relationships

I kind of hate, love and hate, the word networking. There’s a sticker I have here, it says, “Hello, my name is Laura”, it’s from a networking event. The word networking conjures up these images of being in a conference suite in a hotel somewhere. And it’s very stilted and we’re shaking hands and meeting people. But it’s about nurturing that network, those friendships and those relationships, you know?

Rebecca: Relationships is maybe a better word. Networking almost feels like, “What are you going to get me? I’m gonna network with you so you can provide something for me,” but really, I think relationships is a more appropriate word. Because everything is a give and take and we want to be there to support others as well.

Laura: Yeah. I’m sure you had Chris for one of your classes or a few of your classes. She’s a fun, amazing person. I’ve met many amazing people, particularly through teaching. Whether it’s instructors or students. She was a Professor that had had multiple years of experience teaching and has many wise words of wisdom. She would talk about networking and to think about what value are you as well. It’s not just a one-way relationship. “What use can you be to me?” that’s not a fruitful relationship. You’ve gotta think about how you can be of value to somebody else.

And it may be that it’s not until five years down the line. I just reconnected with a graphic designer I worked with in London 16 years ago. Through the years we’ve just kind of commented on each other’s Instagram posts and kept up with each other’s lives. But it’s the right time now and now I’m like, “Okay, I want to do some work with you,” and we’ve kind of reconnected.

Rebecca: Yeah, so cool. And that’s one of the reasons I’m excited about this podcast. I know so many great people with great knowledge and I feel like it’s mutually beneficial to be interviewing these people.

Laura: Yeah, it’s exciting. I’m, I’m looking forward to listening to your other podcast.

Rebecca: Thanks! Yeah, thank you so much for coming on. Laura, you are seriously a wealth of knowledge, you know so much and I just really appreciate you taking the time to share it because I think it’s going to be really useful for a lot of people.

Connect with Laura

So probably the best places on LinkedIn. On social media, it’s @TheLettermanCo and you’ll find me there as well. Across all the platforms it’s the same handle @TheLettermanCo.

The Letterman Co.’s website.

The Letterman Co. on Facebook

The Letterman Co. on Instagram

The Letterman Co. on Pinterest

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Links Mentioned:

Fashion Program at Orange Coast College

Sustainability Industry reports:

The Pulse Report

The CEO Agenda 

The State of Fashion

Sustainability Books:

The Future of the Responsible Economy

Sustainability and Social Change in Fashion

The Future of Fashion

The B Corp Handbook

Sustainability Documentaries:

The True Cost

The River Blue

Seeding Change

Blood Sweat and T-Shirts

Free Sustainability Newsletters:

The Ellen McArthur Foundation

A New Textiles Economy

Global Fashions Summit

The See Change Sessions

Sustainable Brands

Factory Certifications:

Blue Sign Certification

Fairtrade Certification

WRAP Certification

Sedex Certification

Open Apparel Registry to look up brands and see the factories they manufacture in.