The co-founder of Bassike on embedding sustainability into the brand’s DNA

Inside Retail interviewed the co-founder of Bassike (pronounced “basic”), Mary Lou Ryan, on what the brand achieved in 2023 and how it is preparing to navigate the retail landscape in 2024. The Australian designer clothing label is doubling down on its sustainability initiatives for its customers, local industry and the planet.

Inside Retail: What were some of Bassike’s proudest achievements in 2023?

Mary Lou Ryan: We had a pretty busy year. In terms of the key highlights, on Earth Day, we launched our first impact report, sharing our progress on our responsible business pathway and all the work we’ve been doing over the last couple of years in terms of taking our organisation to B Corp certification. It was an opportunity for us to put some stakes in the ground about where we see the business going over the next 10 years, especially towards that 2030 mark. It’s really important that we have a roadmap and that was a big achievement for us to deliver that. 

We also onshored our denim production, which was a big move. We used to make all our denim out of Japan, and we brought that back to Australia, still using Japanese denim. Onshore manufacturing is a big part of our brand DNA and our commitment to local economic development. 

We also pledged to raise $1 million by 2030 for the Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter. Each year, we run a luncheon where we gather all our friends and family, and this year we raised a record-breaking $90,000 for the shelter. To date, we’ve raised about $400,000. 

We also launched Bassike X as part of our More Than Bassike program that we kicked off in 2022. We partnered with three contemporary artists to reinterpret our wordmark and dot logo and printed them in a core capsule. We held a beautiful event at Sydney’s Paramount House Hotel where we had a DJ and cocktails. It was a celebration coming out of what has been the last couple of years.

IR: Onshore manufacturing is generally much more costly than offshore manufacturing, and some brands have been forced to close because they’re unable to make it work. How are you navigating the challenges associated with this?

MLR: We haven’t seen much investment from a state level or national level in terms of how to modernise our local manufacturing. We’re big advocates for it. We have spent the last 17 years working with local manufacturers. Eighty-one per cent of our suppliers were onboarded in the first five years of our business, and they’re still our partners today. Over 90 per cent of our manufacturing is still conducted on shore, which is fantastic. One of the fortunate things for us is that we built a business model based on local manufacturing, which is proving to be positive. 

Everything has a pro and a con, but the great thing about local manufacturing is that we get to work much faster when it comes to the customers’ needs and wants. I can understand why brands take their manufacturing offshore – it’s a much more complex system locally – but in terms of the product that we’re able to produce, and the quality, the local manufacturing piece plays a big part. 

IR: Are there any other potential challenges on your radar in 2024?

MLR: I think 2024 will not be too dissimilar to 2023. There are so many macro issues happening at the moment that are just naturally having an impact on business. It’s about how you create agility and a new way of doing business. I think 2023 was a real testament to that. We’ll continue to look at ways of innovating and evolving our business because I think it has changed. Especially as a fashion brand, there are challenges around greenhouse-gas emissions, the impact on climate, the impact on landfill. As a brand, we’re well poised for those challenges. 

IR: What are the top priorities for Bassike in 2024?

MLR: In 2023, we set the agenda for what we want to do in terms of our impact by 2030, so 2024 is going to be about scoping out what those priorities need to look like. Multiple agendas are happening from a design perspective around low-impact materials, the circular economy, the resale, rental and repair market, so my focus for this year will be on scoping out the priorities. 

It takes time and we’ve got to find the right partners. One of the things that we did in 2022 was work with BlockTexx, which is an Australian organisation that converts cotton and polyester products into cellulose and puts it back into production. We piloted that with one of our factories, and in 2024, we’re looking to roll that out across more of our supply chain. 

IR: Bassike still maintains a strong bricks-and-mortar presence, with boutiques across several Australian states. Why is having a physical store presence important for the business?

MLR: The whole omnichannel experience is important if you want to drive successful business these days. We have a very personal, immersive experience when you come into our store. It’s very tactile. Our brand is minimal and almost simple in the way that it approaches its design, and it’s the touches around the product, like the hemlines, that you can often miss in the digital space. When you come into a retail store or Bassike, you get to understand the product and the quality and the detail that we put into making our garments.

IR: How has Bassike evolved its definition of being a responsible and sustainable business as the retail industry has evolved?

MLR: When we started in 2017, things like using organic cotton or having ethics in your supply chain were so foreign to the way people were actually doing business and creating brands. Obviously, that’s been part of our DNA. But in the last three or four years, when I moved out of the creative role and into my role currently [as] director of supply chain sustainability, that space has been rapidly changing. It used to be around certifications; now it’s around traceability and transparency and circular design. 

We’re starting to see legislation coming out of the EU and the US. This space was often not talked about – even from our position [where] because we produce locally, we’re connected very deeply with our supply chain. All brands need to be having that conversation and it’s going right from the farmers through to the brand. That was so disconnected before; now that connection is really important and we can start to see that people are interested in where their cotton has been grown or their wool [comes from]. 

It’s evolving at a much faster rate than I think people understand and the word sustainability is changing as new technology and innovation comes in. People for a long time thought that donating their clothes to charity was a really responsible thing to do, but actually, it creates a huge landfill issue, which has a huge environmental and economic impact. So people are starting to see the industry lifting. The other [issue is] around modern slavery. There are a lot of actionable things that are starting to take place, but it’s going to take collaboration, innovation and technology to really drive the transformation that our industry actually needs. 

IR: Sustainability is at the heart of Bassike. Do you have any tips or advice for Australian brands that are at the beginning of their sustainability journey?

MLR: If you are a brand starting today, and you don’t embed sustainability and ethics into the way that you conduct business, I think you might have a short-term win, but long-term, the future of your brand won’t sustain. 

If you haven’t had that as part of your brand DNA, I think you just have to start wherever it’s possible in your business. You might start with the organisational piece, measuring your carbon footprint. You might start with sourcing lower-impact materials or next-gen materials. 

Every business is different. By starting to lift the lid and unpack it, you’ll naturally gain an understanding of where you need to go. Once you know, it’s very hard to turn back, so I just encourage brands to get educated and do the work. It does seem overwhelming, but it is very rewarding to have a purpose in the product you’re producing or the business you’re creating – it’s just so powerful.

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