An interview with sustainability consultant Ani Wells of Simply Suzette.

The denim industry in particular is quite unsustainable. The amount of water, toxic chemicals and energy used to produce just one pair of jeans is mindblowing. Ani Wells of Simply Suzette had no idea as well, and it wasn’t until she heard that it takes over 2000 gallons of water to produce one pair of jeans (although that stat has been debunked) for her to realize the negative impacts of the fashion industry.

Read on to learn more about Ani, her journey with denim sustainability, her role as a sustainable denim consultant, and of course her favorite denim brands!

Tell us about yourself and your background. How did you get to where you are today?

After graduating from a postgraduate fashion management program and my work in the fashion industry, I was mind-boggled when learning about the consequences denim production had on people and our planet. This is where my research journey started, learning the ins and outs of the complex denim supply chain, to understand the challenges and solutions to creating ethical and environmentally friendly denim.

I became so fascinated in the technology that was helping us save water, chemicals, energy, etc., and started falling in love with the charismatic people who were behind these innovations. The passion and pride people have when making denim and clothing is so endearing and I thought it was a shame the average person had no clue as to how hard the people behind the seams were working to improve our environmental footprint and social impact.

This is where the premise of “bridging the gap between the denim industry and consumer” began for Simply Suzette.

Now, Simply Suzette has evolved into a consultancy agency on top of continuing to educate on best practices.

How did you begin your sustainability journey? Did you have an “ah-ha” type of moment?

My aha moment was hearing that it took 2000 gallons of water to produce one pair of jeans (although that stat has been debunked), and being a forever ‘jeans and a tee’ kind of gal, I thought that there had to be someone out there trying to make a change.

This on top of watching the True Cost and River Blue, I knew I wanted to be on the ‘good’ side of fashion making positive impacts in the industry.

How did you get into denim? Why denim?

Denim has always been my passion. I love the versatility and the fact that it is a living garment, aging with you and becoming more beautiful with time. Not to mention, my dad has worn jeans pretty much everyday of his life and I must’ve taken after him slightly :)

Currently, I find myself working on many different projects in the denim and fashion industry ranging from communications to sustainability consulting. My communications work ranges from creative direction to helping businesses share their impact stories through beautiful visuals and creative story-telling, while ensuring all claims are backed up with hard evidence so none of my clients fall into greenwashing claims.

My sustainability work ranges from sourcing, design direction and building ESG roadmaps for denim and fashion brands.

What is the biggest misconception about sustainable fashion?

The biggest misconception with sustainable fashion is that we can solve our problems by ‘greening’ our practices and consumption patterns. But, I always tell my friends, “you can’t shop your way to sustainability” and the same mentality goes for brands and manufacturers. Until we can reach an industry that explores different business models based on de-growth and society culturally accepts re-wearing, reusing, and repairing, we are putting a band aid on a bullet wound.

What type of elements/manufacturing should we be looking for if we want to purchase/make ethical denim?

Always look for brands that are transparent in their practices! But, I admire brands who are looking at sourcing their raw materials through regenerative agriculture, as well as working on carbon insetting projects.

What are your favorite denim brands?

My favorite denim brands who are creating new jeans are Triarchy, Boyish Jeans, Mud Jeans, Kings of Indigo, Kuyichi, Amendi, and unspun.

My favorite upcycled brands are EB Denim, ELV Jeans, Blue of a Kind, Greg Lauren, Natasha Zinko, and M.a.d.mfg.

What’s a typical day look like for you?

A typical day for me looks like this:

Wake up and make my big cup of tea
20 minute stretch / meditation
Emails
Meetings from 8am to 1pm (as I work with a lot of EU and Asian companies)
Afternoons are blocked off for getting my work done!
- From research to building campaigns, designing collections, creative directions and copywriting, there are many aspects of my work that change daily depending on the current project
After work, go for a walk
Make a nice gluten and dairy free dinner
And try to have a relaxing evening although work often fills up my evenings as well :p !