PR Strategies for Sustainable Brands

An interview with Lorraine Sanders of Spirit of 608

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN OUR DIGITAL MAGAZINE ISSUE 02 PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION

If you’ve been in the sustainable fashion space for a while now, chances are you’ve listened to the Spirit of 608 podcast. Hosted by Lorraine Sanders, a PR expert and fashion journalist, Lorraine interviews brands and thought leaders surrounding the fashion, entrepreneurship, sustainability and tech world. An acronym she refers to as FEST brands. She has interviewed various sustainable fashion founders as well as some very notable names in our industry such as author Elizabeth Cline, and also less known names (like myself lol → you can check out my recent interview here.)

Lorraine’s podcast has always been a favorite of mine ever since I began this journey. The Spirit of 608 was one of the first podcasts I ever listened to regularly as she’s truly a leader in sustainable fashion media and now PR. Hearing her story was quite inspiring considering she started out unsure if she would ever become a journalist due to insecurities of not knowing if she could pull off being an actual reporter.

Ironically she went on to get her masters degree at Stanford University in Communications (no big deal) She then went on to write for various small publications focused on community and neighborhood issues such as homelessness in San Francisco, or gay marriage (which she covered when it was legalized in 2004 by Gavin Newsom in California).

In her early twenties, which was somewhat around the time when “retail therapy” came into play, she realized she had to curb her shopping habit a bit. It was then that she began to realize how many new independent designers were popping up everywhere. In an effort to support these small brands (and potentially justify her shopping habit), she became more and more interested in the small local independent creatives.

This was right around the time that Etsy was popping up and brands were selling at maker’s markets, craft fairs, etc. It was then that Lorraine created a blog to keep track of all the different shopping events happening throughout San Francisco.

By starting that blog she became known as a writer who wrote about emerging designers which soon parlayed into fashion jobs such as writing for SF based 7x7. From there she began getting more and more writing jobs focused around the future of fashion and fashion tech, and eventually found herself in the fashion niche after writing for over a decade.

LAUREN TANAKA: When you set out to be a journalist, was it always the route you intended to take in terms of writing about fashion?

LORRAINE SANDERS: No. I’ve always been a little apologetic about fashion. When I was drawn to it early on I felt that it was frivolous. It’s about elitism, and exclusivity. And while it’s beautiful to look at in a magazine, I couldn’t get behind the values of it. So I was conflicted about it and wasn’t comfortable with a lot of what it meant. As I started to report more and more, I realized you have to be really inspired by what you’re covering because it’s SO much work (and you don’t get paid very much). So for me to get rallied and hound people for content, I really needed to be into what I was doing. So I found myself pitching again and again around innovation or female founders doing something they thought they couldn’t do. They had the potential to radically change the negative elements that I saw in fashion.

LT: So how did you pivot to PR?

LS: When I was starting the Spirit of 608 Podcast, I started getting more and more questions after the interview about, how do I get into the media? And they would have all these questions that they didn’t have any information about how to get into the press. They were getting led down these dubious pathways from PR people, spending all their capital. So I started working with them and eventually launched a membership called Press Dope (which I recently shut down), and is now an online course.

LT: What are some mistakes you see sustainable brands or small brands doing when it comes to their PR strategy and what advice would you give to them in terms of PR strategies?

LS: Top three mistakes that they typically make are: one, thinking it's too early to pitch. Secondly, pitching a publication but not reaching their audience. So making their decisions on the publications they want to be in and not who’s reading. They’re like I want to be in the New York Times, or Vogue. They want to be in whomever they feel is a prestigious name but they haven't thought about where their audience lives. And finally, lead by your audience, not by reach. PR should be aligned with your business goals otherwise it’s a waste of time. For example, I have a client that I’ve worked with for several years who have been featured in many major news outlets. But the publication that they receive the most converting traffic is from a niche blog that specifically targets their product. If you can get into these high-profile publications, do it, and fine that’s great you get to put that logo on your press bar. But what really ends up being a business driver are those publications that are the gatekeepers to their audience.

LT: Tell us more about Press Dope and its new version as an online course?

LS: Yeah it’s an online course, there’s video training, templates, guides, and everything you need to do your own PR. But along with that, the Facebook group is a place where we post media opportunities specifically for FEST brands. We’ve done this as a one-off service (previously) and it’s a huge huge value, which you get to be part of in the course. There are about 25 networks we look at to find various media opportunities and put them in the Facebook group so you don’t have to find them yourself.

It’s also different because you’re getting trained by someone who has sat on both sides of the pitching world. So I’ve been in the industry for 20 plus years, understand PR and it’s also specifically for FEST brands. There are guides to walk you through your story, finding your media moments, and everything that you need to execute a professional campaign. And then also a constant influx of leads to help you get press without pitching.

“I don't want to hide out under the veil of complexity, but I do think that it's easy to jump on a social media bandwagon and take an extremist viewpoint without understanding the nuances of everything that goes into the production of apparel, shoes and accessories on a global scale.”

GG: This issue is all about Progress Over Perfection. How do you apply this mindset to your business and in life? How can brands apply this mindset?

LS: For me personally, perfection is an illusion and it’s unachievable so I don’t even get close to striving for it. When I’m worried about perfection usually it’s a visibility issue that comes back to how I’m being perceived. I really do applaud progress over perfection in this space because I’d rather help advocate for what can happen now.

When I started learning more and more about the fashion industry, I was floored -- like so many people who've worked in it and seen the realities of its effects on people and the environment -- to learn that so many beautiful things had a dark underbelly that mostly went unseen and ignored by the general population. At first, it was easy to argue that brands were evil if they did not immediately change their ways, that governments were failing their people by not instantly regulating corporations' business practices, and consumers acting with negligence for buying tainted goods.

As I started to learn more and talked to more and more people around the world about these issues, the complexity of the issues at play became clearer and clearer. I don't want to hide out under the veil of complexity, but I do think that it's easy to jump on a social media bandwagon and take an extremist viewpoint without understanding the nuances of everything that goes into the production of apparel, shoes, and accessories on a global scale.

Should brands pay their suppliers so workers have shelter and food? Absolutely. Will more government regulations influence better business practices -- possibly. Are they worth exploring? Absolutely. Should consumers be the ones in charge of changing fashion's problematic relationship with social and environmental justice? No. But wait, why? While a high percentage of consumers do shop from brands that align with their values, it is not for any of us to say how any individual should spend their money. To do so aligns what is a subjective morality judgment with capitalism. And while that morality may be in the name of good and a driver toward the more sustainable fashion industry a lot of us want to see, it's a devil's in the details idea that sounds good, but in reality has more likelihood of alienating and dividing people than creating meaningful global change.

Where I think consumer behavior and opinion is really important is in how it influences the forces that influence brands' business behaviors, which are chiefly their investors and the governments they operate under. So while it may seem that consumer behavior is actually changing business practices, I think it's a more indirect route, one in which citizen-consumers behavior and opinion influence investors and political bodies to take action and demand different business behavior. But those things take a long time.

It will take years before we see a massive shift in the fashion industry's ties to social and environmental justice, but it's in progress. And while we look to that better future in the distance and advocate for the ideal scenarios we'd like to see, I also applaud imperfect signs of progress. I think it's possible to see, say, H&M having a recycling program as a positive sign of progress, Levi's producing jeans made with less water and a million companies making yoga pants out of plastic bottles as a net positive, while also acknowledging that each is far from perfect and, in fact, may have negative trade-offs in certain areas of the entire landscape. The bottom line is that we have a long way to go and more work to be done, but it's important to see steps being made.

Imagine a massive ravine you've got to cross. You can see the other side. The rickety bridge across is a middle that's scary and maybe even a little bit dangerous. But that's part of the journey. You can't have one without the other.

This interview was originally published in ISSUE 02 - Progress Over Perfection.

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@sophiabain

@sophiabainphotography