Earth Day is just around the corner and lingerie brand Lemonade Dolls has launched a campaign offering consumers a look into its supply chain.
Lemonade Dolls is a slow fashion brand that aims to make lingerie that is good for the planet and for consumers wallets.
Retail Gazette sits down with the brands’ founder Lemon Fuller to find out more about the campaign.
The seven day series will run across the firm’s social channels and website and aims to be a “Transparency Passport” for the modern consumer.
The first day of the campaign will put the spotlight on Lemonade Dolls’ factory team, introducing them to the company’s consumers. On the second day of the campaign, the business will release a clear breakdown of recycled fibres, elastics and fabric certifications, including an acknowledgement of areas that still need work.
Day three investigates Lemonade’s Dolls’ packaging and shows its efforts to reduce waste without compromising on its shopper’s experience. The brand gives insights into how its factory is audited, explanation of how the factory is fuelled by solar panels and long term partnerships on day four of its transparency marketing drive.
On day five, the brand showcases its tradition of hosting a party for its factory workers during visits. Fuller explains that the brand is the first to ever do something like this with the workers despite the factory having been open for 30 years.
She says: “We do it every single time we see them, and that impact on their life, even, however, to us, is so simple and so small, that showing that we care, showing that we see them and value them, and have a party with them. We’re dancing together, and we were singing on the microphone to Lady Gaga together in a factory of 400 people.
“It seems really small, but actually, I realised that it’s not small to them. And all of these and brands just don’t do it. They come in, they walk around, and they’re quite scared of that, them coming around, everyone’s got to be on their best behaviour, and I’m like tell me everything you know they’re just incredible.”
Day six sees Lemonade Dolls publish a transparency passport recap on the product is made and on day seven the company highlights its that its partnership with Choose Love has seen over 40,000 pairs of underwear donated to displaced women. It adds that there is a further 10,000 pairs in production.
Fuller explains that this year for Earth Day, Lemonade Dolls wanted to do a deep dive into what transparency and being ethical meant for the brand.
She says: “I think right now we have such a amazing opportunity to share behind the scenes with everything that we’re doing across people, factory, fabrics, warehouse, the partnership with choose love, that I decided that to break it down into a seven day campaign would really allow the customer to come on a journey with us and kind of highlight each individual aspects.”
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According to Fuller, many brands are working towards becoming sustainable but usually just issue one email or one message and the brand wanted to do something different.
The firm is able to “lift the hood up” and look at each individual aspect of its supply chain in a way many other firms can’t or aren’t willing to do.
Fuller explains that she hopes many of its customers are already aware of what the business stands for but the campaign is a great “education piece” for someone new to the brand or someone who brought the product because they like the design or colour and didn’t research the brand beforehand.
She says: “I’m excited. I’m excited to educate everyone as much as we can.”
“I hope they {the consumer] really see the deep dive into what we’re doing and understand it. I hope that they understand the efforts that we have taken as a business, that are often not taken by other businesses. And understand that we do really set ourselves apart for a majority of high street and fashion businesses, even the ones that claim sustainability.”
She adds: “I think it would be brilliant for consumers to understand what is possible for brands big and small. We’re small and if we’re able to do this, then big brands can also do this, and they have more power and more money and more resources. And I think if we can really highlight what is possible, then hopefully other brands will do it, small and large.”
She explains that she wants Lemonade Dolls to be transparent.
She comments: “You see everything, data and and facts and percentages. You’re literally seeing kind of everything that we care about, what we’re doing. And we’re just being honest.”
As it’s not a typical campaign, sales metrics don’t really apply according to Fuller and success for a campaign like this is hard to measure. One way the brand could measure the impact the campaign has had is by looking at reviews and comments.
Lemonade utilises social media for this campaign as it enables them demonstrate its impact. Fuller explains that words can only get them so far whereas social media as a more visual medium can can really showcase the work it has been doing by spotlighting its “incredible workers”. It also allows them to share their messaging with new customers.
She explains that the work being covered by the campaign is something the brand does on on a daily basis. Company wise nothing will change for them. But Lemonade Dolls plans to do even more.
Fuller says: “Hopefully next Earth day, I’ll have some other initiatives that we have launched because we’ve grown as a business, and we’re in a position to build upon our ethical pillars within the company.
“The more opportunities we get, the more opportunities we can provide, and the more opportunities we have, the more we can give back because we’re in a more powerful position.”
The campaign reinforces the brands messaging as it builds on what the brand stands for.
Fuller explains that she founded the company to make people feel good. It didn’t start as lingerie brand but rather as a Instagram account encouraging people to feel “incredible and powerful” and this messaging can be found in everything the brand does from being on the ground in Greece to working with Choose Love to visiting female refugee centres and having a really “gorgeous relationship” with its factory.
Fuller said: “We care about the people, and that’s why Lemonade Dolls started.”
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