Cuyana Co-Founder Shilpa Shah on Why Sustainability Has to Make ‘Business Sense’
Building a successful business is hard. Building a purpose-driven business is even harder. How do you stay true to your values and profitably scale in a way that's good for people, planet, and profit? In this episode of Crash Course Fashion, hear SFF founder Brittany Sierra in conversation with Shilpa Shah, co-founder of Cuyana, to discuss why sustainable commerce has to make business sense
Building and scaling a sustainable fashion brand is no small challenge.
Inherently what's good for people and the planet isn't necessarily always compatible with what's good for business. A business focus will often encourage cheaper, lesser quality materials to cut costs to increase profits. A sustainability focus requires investing in more expensive, "better made" materials that have less impact on the environment.
When left unchecked, a focus on financial business goals can lead to constantly churning out trend-focused designs to promote sales. Focusing on sustainability reveals an inconvenient truth that a volume-based growth model is the root cause of fashion's most pressing problems. Truly sustainable brands should strive to solely produce mindful, staple pieces or, even better, not produce new product at all.
How can business owners and company leaders navigate the opposing forces of profit and purpose? For Cuyana co-founder Shilpa Shah, the key is ensuring that sustainability always makes 'business sense."
"Sustainability has to make business sense; otherwise, it will always be an add-on — something that you think about afterward. You have to actually make it economically viable for your company."
In this episode Brittany Sierra talks with Shilpa about why the Cuyana’s ethos of "fewer, better" is more than a marketing message, the key to scaling a profitable purpose-driven fashion brand, her thoughts or greenwashing and critics, and why Cuyana doesn't lean on sustainability when communicating with their customer.
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Short on time? Here are a few timestamps to get straight to the goods:
15:38 How “fewer, better” enables Cuyana to manage production and avoid overproduction (+ why fashion continues to over produce).
25:25 How to Cuyana communicates its values to their community.
28:49 Greenwashing + critics.
37:42 Staying true to your values during times when it would be easier to do what’s best for business.
41:54 Thoughts on marketing without promoting overconsumption.
50:39 Views on growth and scaling the brand.
