Sustainable Clothing Brand ROTE Looks To Food And Wellness Industry For Inspiration
Just like what you’ve come to expect from the wellness and food industry — transparency and standards — female founders Nadia Gagnier and Sara Roter are looking to bring that same set of expectations to the apparel category with the launch of their new sustainable brand, ROTE.
“I am beyond thrilled to share that after a few years in the making, today we launch ROTE,” said Roter in a LinkedIn post. “Inspiring consumers to come clean about what they wear, and demanding brands to step up to the challenge to know what is in their garments. While revealing ingredients and chemicals used in garment manufacturing is not mandated, as a proud B-Corp, we challenged our suppliers and factories to develop one tee following our It’s Time to Come Clean List.”
For Gagnier and Roter, what began as a quest for the perfect organic white t-shirt is now a mission to bring transparency, intentionality, and standards to an industry struggling to do the bare minimum.
Leveraging products as a channel for transparency
ROTE seeks to deliver full transparency by offering its customers details on the ingredients used in developing its products directly on its t-shirt labels and on its website.
Its products are made without azo dyes, bleach, formaldehyde, NPEs, phthalates, and plastics — all commonly used ingredients in the apparel industry.
“It’s hard to imagine why plastic would be in our clothing, yet recycled materials — acrylic, nylon, and polyester among them — are made from microplastics,” the company’s website says.
“When microplastics are heated, through the course of daily wash and wear, they leach and are absorbed by the skin and our environment; ingestion and inhalation can lead to an array of health issues, particularly hindering the recovery and development of our lungs.”
Addressing a larger issue at hand: overconsumption
While yes, we’re finally living in a world where consumers are gravitating toward secondhand fashion (thank you, millennials and Gen Z, for leading this one!), there seems to be an enormous appetite for low-cost, trendy pieces — we call this fast fashion.
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ROTE seeks to solve this growing problem by empowering its customers to be more intentional about purchasing and think of ROTE pieces as a luxury that is still foundational and a core staple. This approach encourages customers to embrace the concept of having a capsule wardrobe and spend more on pieces that are made to last.
ROTE customers are also more likely to be mindful about their consumption as the brand’s shirts come in at $85 per piece — a price point that is a splurge for a basic tee.
To shop ROTE core staples, visit rotenyc.com
Photo(s) Credit: ROTE
