Changing the Standard Fashion Business Model Through Social Entrepreneurship

Written by Jihyo Kim (Co-Founder of LEDOUBLES)

Current Status of Global Fashion Industry

Do you know how much water is used to make one pair of jeans? The water usage per pair is equivalent to weekly water consumption by 4-person families. Our global fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. Every single sectors of the garment production, from farming fibers to discarding clothing, raise social and environmental issues like ocean pollution, micro-plastics, modern slavery, and landfill waste. Current business structure of the fashion industry is erected in a linear “one way street” of take, make and waste. If this system persists, by 2025, the environmental impact of our fashion industry will reach an alarming level. We are in desperate need for a structural innovation and everyone needs to play a role in it.

Start of LEDOUBLES

This is the reason why my friend, Amy Jehyun Choi, and I, Jihyo Kim, decided to start a sustainable fashion brand, LEDOUBLES, this May in Seoul, South Korea. We believed that the current sustainable fashion brands merely focused on the ethics but disregarded the current fashion trends. Thus, we wanted to harmonize both the sustainable principles and fashion-forward aesthetics in our brand. We utilize natural dyeing, organic cotton, upcycling, and fair-trade ethics in our products.

Meaning of LEDOUBLES

If you spell out LE+DOUBLE×S, it comes out to be ‘LESS’. We want LESS harmful chemicals to flow into the ocean, LESS wastes that burdens the Earth, and LESS wrongdoing to the workers in developing countries. LEDOUBLES is a sustainable fashion brand that is conscious of its every production stages.

Mission of LEDOUBLES

Our ultimate goal is to become a successful epitome of social business that targets the mainstream fashion market. We strive to abolish the existing business norm that the one and only factor of measuring business success is how much net revenue the business makes. Rather, we aim to establish a healthier business model that stresses emphasis on the business’s social and environmental impact.

What You Wear Matters,

LEDOUBLES

For for information on LEDOUBLES contact Co- Founders Jihyo Kim (UT Fashion Design major, Senior) and Amy Jehyun Choi (UT IRG and Chinese major, Senior) and visit www.ledoubles.com