Vegan Business Spotlight: Kinds of Grace An Interview with A Vegan Fashion Mogul
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Vegan Business Spotlight: Kinds of Grace
AN INTERVIEW WITH A VEGAN FASHION MOGUL
It’s happening more often that you hear about vegan brands cropping up, but it’s not as often that you hear founding stories about the amazing people building them from scratch.
Today, we’re sharing an interview with Grace, the founder and innovator behind Kinds of Grace, a luxury vegan fashion brand that designs and produces ethically-sourced and fairly-crafted bags, wallets, satchels, and clutches.
Kinds of Grace also appeared in the article, 23 Vegan, Cruelty-Free, and Eco-Friendly Brands You Need to Know About, highlighting their strong positioning amongst vegan fashion labels.
Kinds of Grace is forging the way in vegan fashion as they establish that the vegan lifestyle builds on every facet of life, even with what’s in our closets.
Using vegan snake skin, vegan crocodile, vegan wool tweed, and eco-PU to create their incredible line of vegan bags, Grace and her team want people to know how crucial it is for our planet and animal lives that we use sustainable options in everything we do.
In fact, they’re expanding their range by launching a line of piñatex (pineapple leather) bags soon, which will be an incredible addition to their current collections. (Stay tuned -- we’ll be posting about that soon!)
Aligned with vegan values and lifestyle, Kinds of Grace is an all-vegan team working towards a better future with every single luxury bag they design.
#inspiration
If you’re not already impressed with Grace and her business, here’s the cherry on top.
Kinds of Grace has promised to donate 20% of their net profits to charities such as the World Wide Fund for Nature, Wildlife Conservation Society, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Aussie Farms - Dominion Experience to ensure they are always giving back.
If you’re an aspiring vegan business owner, be sure to keep reading as Grace provides insight into the process of building her ethical brand from the ground up.
Thank you, Grace, for taking the time to do this interview and Maddie for organizing it all!
Enjoy!
Caption: Grace, founder and owner of Kinds of Grace
What's been the most challenging thing you've experienced since starting your vegan brand amongst a world of non-vegan brands?
“As I’ve discovered, starting a business is tough!
Even more so with a vegan business and trying to do that as a female & first time founder being pregnant and then raising a child. It’s not easy to try to juggle a startup, baby and home life, whilst being away from family support - I live with my partner in Melbourne Australia, my parents are back in Hong Kong.
Apart from that, the biggest challenge at the start was finding a production partner.
One that met my expectations for a fair work environment and with the skills to handcraft my designs.
It took close to a year and with many false starts, but eventually we got there.
Now that we've launched Kinds of Grace, a new challenge has been to help educate luxury consumers about the realities of leather and wool etc, and why cruelty free is important, and to help introduce people to our brand and why we do what we do.”
If you could give yourself 3 tips before you started Kinds of Grace with what you know now, what would they be?
“First and foremost, to believe in yourself.
Learning to overcome your doubt and find ways around (or through) obstacles is a wonderful growth experience.
Second, remember the why. I should have done it earlier, but once I really wrote down the mission including all the good we’d do for animal and environmental groups if we were to succeed, it gave me a lot of motivation and resilience to keep going.
In hindsight I should have done that earlier.
Finally, learning to enjoy the little wins along the way, realizing it’s a marathon not a sprint.
Allow yourself to stop and savor the little wins and meaningful moments from time to time.”
If anyone is thinking about starting a vegan business, what are the most important things for them to know?
“I think first to understand your reasons for starting this business, on a very personal level.
When times get tough, having a ‘north star’ there to guide you helps a lot.
In my case, becoming a mother and thinking about the planet we’d leave their generation gave me a lot of motivation.
Also I’d say having a clear vision of what you can bring that’s different, whether it’s a new type of product, or a very different aesthetic (I wanted to buck the trend of minimalist mono colors and go for bold colors and vibrant animal prints).
It’s easier to make a name for your new brand if you’re unique, compared with just replicating what others have done before.”
What's been your favorite part about building your own vegan label from the ground up?
“Definitely collaborating with lots of missioned aligned creatives.
Be it photographers to stylists, graphic designers to writers, it’s a lot of fun working with fellow vegans who believe in the same things you do.
Having that teamwork and sense of excitement to get the startup off the ground is really fun.
Plus getting to learn from different folks backgrounds and experiences has been rewarding.”
What do you wish non-vegan fashion designers would know?
“I’d encourage them to ‘go to the source’ and really understand where their materials come from, and the animals involved.
In some cases their soft leather is coming from calves as young as 3-4 weeks old, that otherwise could live to be over 20 years old.
From animal skins to wool, to silk to glues and dyes, there’s terrible costs involved.
And on the positive side, knowing there are ethical alternatives that continue to get better year on year.
There’s never been a better time to make the switch to cruelty free.”
Do you have a message for the vegan community you'd love to share?
“Stay positive and do keep pushing companies for more ethical options.
It’s been incredibly exciting to see the growth in vegan meats and food alternatives, and seeing them being adopted by the wider audience.
The same is starting to happen in beauty and cosmetics, skincare and can also happen with fashion and accessories.
We may be a small percent of the population now, but we can make waves.”
What's it like having an all-vegan team!?
“It’s great!
And I’m thankful and fortunate to have worked with so many passionate and talented folks in the journey.
Being on the same page in that way gives a sort of unspoken bond - that while we’re different and have our own opinions and views, we’re united by common motivations.”
What are your goals for your business in regards to where it is right now and where you want to go?
“Our goal for this year is to do the hard work to establish our new brand within the industry.
We’re still small, and finding ways to raise our visibility online, through outreach and content is important.
We’ve made a conscious decision to invest in education and producing high quality content (several articles a week), and our goal is to be a great resource for learning about the fashion & accessory industry and why switching to a vegan approach makes a lot of sense.
We also have a goal this year to connect with bloggers, influencers and opinion leaders who share our values, and collaborate to share the message as well.
Even despite the current challenges in the world, I’m excited for the next steps.”
Interested in buying a beautiful vegan bag from Kinds of Grace?
It’s your lucky day, friend, because the amazing team at Kinds of Grace have provided my readers with an exclusive offer of 10% off any purchase when you use “CRAVING” at checkout!!
Be sure to head over to the Kinds of Grace website and shop their amazing collections for you and your friends!
Many thanks to Grace, Maddie, and her team for doing this wonderful interview and for all the things they’re doing to make the world a better place.
You guys rock!