We caught up with Sarah Jordan, the founder of YOU Underwear, to discover the story behind the business, her vision and the importance of purposeful businesses. >>
What is unique about Y.O.U underwear?
Y.O.U underwear is a social impact business that makes sustainably-sourced underwear. We want to make sure that we have a positive, sustainable impact across everything that we do.
We use only organic cotton to avoid the disastrous pollution and water depletion in conventional production, and we work with one of India’s leading ethical manufacturers (who is Fairtrade, GOTS and SA8000 certified). We are about to launch a take-back scheme to help support a circular economy and to support our work around body positivity, we focus on ethical marketing, meaning that we use real models and don’t airbrush our images.
Most importantly, for every pair of underwear we sell, we donate two pairs to Smalls for All. Smalls for All is a charity which provides underwear to (mostly) women and girls in the UK and across Africa.
Why did you start Y.O.U underwear?
My background is not in fashion, nor in manufacturing or in running a business, so this is a completely new journey for me!
Instead, the beginnings of Y.O.U underwear originate in my time volunteering in Uganda in 2016, where I came across many women locally who didn’t have access to underwear of their own. It struck me that underwear is something so simple, something we take for granted every day, but that it can have such a massive impact if you don’t have it.
Aside from the obvious health and hygiene issues, women and girls in Uganda are at risk of greater occurrence of violence if they don’t have underwear, as it shows that they have little protection. They are also excluded from school, work or even their communities – some girls miss one week of every month of their schooling, leading to a massive education deficit.
Upon coming back to the UK, this issue continued to bother me. I started to look into how I could do something about it by providing underwear – and eventually set up Y.O.U underwear.
What is the purpose and vision of Y.O.U. underwear?
Y.O.U underwear is about empowering women at every step of what we do as a business. We support women throughout the supply chain, ensuring they are paid and treated fairly, and help those in disadvantaged communities have access to education and employment opportunities.
On top of that, our giving back model hopes to develop a sustainable, long-term mechanism through which we can provide underwear to women and girls who don’t have access to it.
Overall, I want Y.O.U underwear to show that business can be a force for good. The conventional fashion industry is a nasty industry, with frequent social and environmental scandals. In contrast, I want to make sure that everything we do is transparent, sustainable and fair.
What is the role of business in the community?
I founded Y.O.U underwear from a passion to support women in disadvantaged communities. For me, the idea of purpose, of being a solution to a problem, and business, are inextricably linked.
With Y.O.U underwear I’m trying to show that profit doesn’t necessarily negate purpose. A fashion business can be positive without destroying the world.
The growth of social impact business in the last few years shows that people are increasingly aware of this dual position. I really believe that business has the potential to be a positive change agent in the world.
What support did you receive from eScalate and how has it helped you?
I took part in one of the eScalate Peer-to-Peer mentoring programmes. Particularly when you’re working alone, and you don’t have anybody that you can bounce ideas off, it’s invaluable to have a group that can help provide other opinions and perspectives to help you. We’ve kept in touch and continue to share ideas and support each other.
When you’re running a business you often get caught up in the detail of the everyday and you rarely get the time to step back and think about the bigger decisions and the impact you want to be making. The Peer-to-Peer sessions helped me step back and work on, and not just in, my business, which was really helpful.
What are the most rewarding moments you’ve had with running your business in Oxfordshire?
I’m part of many different networks in Oxford, all of which play a different role. Whether they are a group of local social entrepreneurs, small product companies or female-run businesses, each is a great source of support, experience – and camaraderie.
Running your own business is hard, so having a network of people to support and encourage you, that you can talk to or vent at – it’s like therapy at times! – is incredibly valuable.
How have and are you adapting to the pandemic?
I went into the business full time and hired my first person helping the week before lockdown – so not ideal timing!
In the first couple of months, our sales plummeted and we had to shift everything online. We spent that time focusing on outreach, marketing and communications – just being there for our customers. In the following months, as everyone slowed down and reflected on the type of businesses they wanted to support, sales gradually recovered. We then managed to get featured in The Guardian, which had a huge impact on our sales and the profile of what we are doing, which was amazing.
Overall, the last few months have actually been really positive. Our increasing sales brought new stock problems and our manufacturer itself closed due to local lockdowns for several months. It’s forced us to think creatively and be very open and transparent about what was happening with our customers. They have responded very positively – it’s been a hard time for all of us and I think people just appreciate you trying your best.
What are your plans for 2021?
As we go into 2021 we’ve got girls bralettes that were designed in partnership with local Oxfordshire girls, as well as an amazing collaboration with an African designer coming in. I’m really excited about this new collection because it brings the products right back to the original inspiration for the business.
We will also be implementing a take-back scheme as part of our Circular Fashion Pledge, encouraging people to recycle their underwear, and will be working with a company that does fibre-to-fibre recycling to turn the items into something else rather than them ending up in landfill.
We’re also looking at our impact more broadly and have recently submitted our B Corp registration. In terms of donations, our aim is to donate 23,000 pairs of underwear to Smalls for All by 2023 and we’re well on track!
Our thanks to University of Oxford student, Matilda Gettins for collecting and writing this case study for OSEP.