Jason Kibbey

Have a listen to a great conversation that I had with my new friend Orli Cortel on Sierra Club Radio talking about PACT: our history, our supply chain, and the environmental impacts of making apparel.Jason Kibbey on Sierra Club Radio

Check out the new facial hair!

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Elizabeth and I have just spent the past 2 days cleaning nearly every piece of clothing and then going through our drawers and closet to decide what to keep and what to give away.  It is a bit strange to make things for PACT and then realize how many things we buy (especially clothing) gets given away.  How sustainable is something that might be made with organic cotton but ultimately doesn’t make the cut and ends up at Goodwill?

First let me say that Goodwill is an amazing organization.  I have never seen such incredible resource efficiency as when I got a tour of San Francisco Goodwill Industries from their powerhouse executive director Deborah Alvarez.  They find a use for everything–even if it means bailing it up and selling it as cotton scrap that turns into paper.  If it has any value left in it, Goodwill will find a use for it.

That being said…we’re buying too much stuff.  When I say me, I also mean Me.  Elizabeth and I filled the trunk of the car with stuff that was to be given away.  I’m pretty good about what I buy.  Since getting to know the dirty underbelly of the clothing industry with the launch of PACT, I generally only buy clothing that has a somewhat transparent supply chain and is certified organic or GOTS.  But still, what happens when I get rid of something that just “didn’t work out”?  How have I minimized my impact when I bought something that I ultimately didn’t use?

I did learn some useful information about the clothing that I got rid of: amongst other things, I’m a big stainer.  Stains that I couldn’t get out were the cause of goodwilling for about 8 of the shirts that I got rid of.  Another important lesson: gifts get given away.  I think I’m finally going to tell my family that I love them, but gifts (especially clothing) don’t really work for me anymore.  (I’ve always felt like a terrible jerk for even thinking this, but perhaps just asking for cards or dinners or something else reasonable might be the way to go.)  The other culprit of causing a giveaway: sales.  Elizabeth and I both noticed that of the clothing that wasn’t a gift, a disproportionate number of items that are heading to Goodwill tomorrow were sale items that seemed like a great deal until we factored in the cost of not using them.  Finally, other than 2 Patagonia items which were well worn after years of use, almost nothing that I gave away was from a brand known for high-quality.

Reducing the impact of our clothing is about far more than choosing “sustainable” apparel–it’s about not getting things that we don’t need in the first place.

One swine flu, hundreds of orders packed in the series of two days, and our order from our factories arriving just in the nick of time for Christmas deliveries, we made it. Molly got swine flu, Jeff packed more orders than he thought possible with the amazing staff at Planet Access Company especially the amazing Meghan, and I did quite a bit of customer service as the sole remaining PACT full-timer in the office.

While Molly is amazing at making sure all of our customers get what they need and get any issues fixed, I must say that I enjoyed the time talking with our customers.  We oversold a couple of skus to do a glitch in our inventory management system and I spent about 2 days on the phone and emailing those who had ordered something that we couldn’t deliver.  Every single interaction I had with our PACT customers was positive–not one complaint, not one snarky email, nothing but support for our company and a complete willingness to make it work. It was also great to hear from so many of our customers what they liked about PACT, what they thought we should do differently, and how they came to find us.  I doubt any of them read this, but if you do, I heart you guys.

PACT had several of its biggest days ever just before the holiday and then when the xmas shipping deadline came and went orders slowed down as shopping fatigue crept in. We could have had free express shipping on really expensive orders and guaranteeing xmas arrival through the 23rd by promoting the crap out of overnight shipping.  We couldn’t stomach it.  PACT is built on trying to reduce our impact–it was tempting to sell a few thousand dollars more underwear but we know that the carbon footprint of express mail is enormous.  We allow our customers to use it if they need it, but we discourage its use by making it really really expensive.

When our beleaguered team came together after Jeff returned from the midwest and Molly emerged from her 9 day bout with swine flu the 6 months of working all the time had finally caught up with us.  We needed some time off.  We didn’t shut down until after new years, but we all shut off our email and phones over the holiday and spaced out.  Something that almost never happens when you’re growing a business.

Thanks to everyone who has helped make PACT happen in 2009–it’s been a wild ride and it’s only getting better.

PACT sent out its first round of checks to our partners this month, and it felt absolutely great. While we do get some critiques about “taxing” our products from time to time I couldn’t be prouder and happier to receive notes like this one from our friends at 826 National

I have a few coupon codes for a free pair of PACT (www.wearpact.com) underwear for readers of this blog.  Send me an email to get one!  First come, first served.

–Jason

We launched!

Check out wearpact.com

We’ve had great press with everything from the New York Times moment Blog to Women’s Wear Daily.

Check out some of the coverage below:

NEW YORK TIMES

FAST COMPANY

DAILY CANDY

COOL HUNTING

TREEHUGGER

NOTCOT

MEN.STYLE.COM

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

REFINERY 29

INHABITAT.COM

SELECTISM

SAN FRANCISCO BIZ JOURNAL