• ROBIN GREY STORE
    • Coat attributes
    • Product journey
  • COLLABORATE
  • Blog
  • About
    • Our philosophy
    • Value-driven fashion
    • The team
  • Contact

​​

Why South Africa, Why Cape Town?

10/9/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
When deciding to run an international Start-Up, there is the question of which continent, country and finally which city to choose. Therefore I’d like to explain how we eventually narrowed it down to Cape Town. 

Which continent? Why Africa?
​When Sarah went to Kenya, she was fascinated by  its culture and people, and she became more interested in the social, ecological and economical challenges it is facing. Due to this personal relation, it was soon decided that we would want to get to know other countries of this continent.

Why South Africa?
Once the decision had been taken to explore this continent, there was the question of which country we would like to start GreyC2 and its clothes production. It soon became clear to us that we’d preferably start working in a country that had a solid base to start a business. Whereas corruption was and still is a major problem in many countries, South Africa proved to have the base we needed, starting from the textile industry that has been established there back in the days, to how the government works, to the overall current stage of development of the country itself and last but not least how we as Swiss women would be able to position ourselves in the job market. Especially relevant to us is the aspect that South Africa had a well-working textile industry until it crashed around 15 years ago due to the fact that textile production in Asia became much cheaper so South Africa lost many of its customers to the Asian market. We decided to support the counter-movement there, using the skills that people still have, generating employment and at the same time producing products that are fair-trade and therefore represent a positive life-style. 

When it comes to women working in business we were made aware that it’s ok for women to work in South Africa and that we should just get a mentor to help us with the administrative work, however this is an advice to women as well as men who want to start a business in a yet unknown country. I can tell you that I was extremely relieved that there isn’t a big issue for women starting their business – or at least we were told so. We’ll of course see how it actually works out, whether or not we will encounter challenges due to our gender or not, however we are staying positive and are hoping for the best. Until being confronted with this potential challenge, I’ve never given much thought to the difference between men and women starting a business and I can tell you that it’s actually a scary thought that it could be our gender that affects the outcome of our work. This in itself is one more reason that drives us to show through actions that we are able to do relevant work.  

Why Cape Town?
When choosing the city we’d like to start getting our products produced, we were looking for a city that had – additionally to the reasons mentioned above about the country itself - a well-working infrastructure and ideally a city where we could find a start-up culture so we could profit from its networking opportunities and build our support system. Cape Town seems to be ideal for that: This city has emerged to a Start-Up hub, attracting people from all over the world to start businesses there, having countless events every week to develop skills and our network through workshops, seminars, trainings, conferences and other events. 

To sum it up: we believe that Cape Town is a great place to start with and we are thrilled to finally get to know this city, its people, its culture, and dive deep into work in this all in all new environment. 
​

0 Comments

Make your clothes tell a story - of human collaboration

10/2/2016

0 Comments

 
Some thoughts about your look, our definition of beauty, and others’ work
Picture
Everyone awards different importance to clothes in his or her life. Some people spend a lot of time filling their wardrobes with fabric after fabric while others only blunder into a dress shop after the holes in their pants occupy more space than the actual pants themselves.  Most of us are probably somewhere in between those categories and allocate quite some precious time to fashion matters.
Fact is humans all put some clothes on (guests at this “pure” restaurant being the exception that proves the rule). Be it because Darwinism pretty much left us all stripped down and we have to create a second skin to protect ourselves from weather incidents and all kinds of pests, or because of the many other reasons Quora members discussed about, humans wear additional fur to what is given by nature itself.  

But as with many other things, humans turned this necessity into something much more than just fulfilling a basic need. Our outfits are a form of expression. It’s not just teenagers who change their style more often than their undies, we all think about how others might perceive us, and physical appearance, including what we wear, takes an important part in that.
Your style helps you shape and express identity, moreover following certain dress codes define which tribe you belong to. From business suits to hipster look, clothes and their brands uphold their own position in the social context since centuries. A costume for every occasion, high-end fashion and traditional garment alike, this diverse stuff occupies an essential function to communicate who we are to our fellow  human beings.

Looking at the above the success of the apparel industry is no surprise. Whether we pick the ostentatious, expensive designs presented during fashion weeks for the few, or the cheap and trendy fast fashion overstocking stores for the crowd, the demand for fashion goes far beyond survival.

It is about art, about individualism and most certainly, about belonging.

Fashion and its consumers are only one side of the coin. The apparel industry is an employer found in furthest corners of the world. Many people make their living through providing a little stitch and needle here and there to the profitable mass of fashion. Before the 18th century, you would exactly know who produced your dress, garments were mostly made at the worker’s home and on demand basis. Industrialisation led to clothes manufacturing in mass, and today on demand production is only reserved for the wealthy few. It is hard to say if demand for clothes actually increased, or the higher supply suggested that you need to buy much more. But fact is that there is a huge amounts of items on the market that no one buys or wears. Most of our clothes are produced in some far away factory, by people we don’t know, under conditions that are neither positive for people or planet.  

Although each side largely depends on the other, few consumers and brands look at fashion from the perspective of creating stronger connections between producer and consumer. Industrialisation and globalisation successfully hide the uncountable hands and stories involved in just one piece of gear. Even if we are inspired by designers’ artistic pieces that express our most beautiful desires, the stories of the many garment workers reproducing these ideas are less beautiful.

What would happen if we start to look beyond clothes’ physical appearance, and expand our interests to all the stories of what we wear. What if we demand pieces that are a product of human collaboration that goes far beyond money and look, that talks about shared emotions and shared prosperity, shared from sewer to consumer alike.

What’s the story of your clothes?


​
Picture
0 Comments

5 insights into having an international start-up

9/25/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
1.) Interconnectedness in today’s world
Today’s world is more interconnected than ever; due to the internet there is a seemingly endless stream of knowledge that can be taken advantage of. Starting a business across borders – in the case of GreyC2 between Switzerland and South Africa – there is a lot we can learn about a country that is different from the one we are used to live in. We gathered information about the overall state of development in South Africa, the business culture over there as well as women working in business and how they are being perceived, just to name a few examples. Furthermore we acquired knowledge about the textile industry on the African continent which made us in the end decide on South Africa as a country we want to cooperate with. Having the World Wide Web is an indescribable value added to the development of our business as it helps in the preparation and execution of our tasks and a source we are constantly using to get new insights and new perspective. It’s today’s world that provides us with this opportunity and that we take advantage of.


2.) Legalities
When talking about different cultures and settling in a new country, legalities are an essential sector to be knowledgeable in. This came to our attention especially through talks with people that already did business abroad, whether it’s in South Africa in particular or in any other country other than Switzerland. One of the key things we learned is that it’s not only important to know how to just start a business abroad, but as well to know what to consider when closing a business down again. These conversations are not easy ones in a stage when a business isn’t even established, however it definitely is relevant to consider every possible case of which turns a Start-Up might take. We were advised to get a mentor whom we trust and who can prepare us for the talks we are going to have with the authorities – a task that is currently in process. What we want is GreyC2 to be known and which requires a legal establishment of the business and having certain safety measures taken to be able to do business properly – in Switzerland and abroad. These measures are being taken now already to be on the safe side once the business grows bigger and once we deal on a larger scale with the public and private sector.   


3.) Language as the base of effective communication
Communication in today’s business world is a question of understanding each other and at it’s base it’s understanding the language of each other. We chose English as the language we can provide our stakeholders all our information with, however it doesn’t stop there. It’s astonishing how easy it is to explain our business in English and how challenging it can get when talking to people about it in a different language - starting with friends and family that speak French, German or any dialect of Swiss German. So it’s not just about investing into the field of developing our English skills further for our website and other communication channels, but to take the time to adapt to any situation where we get the opportunity to talk to people about our Start-Up – in any language – to make it sound authentic and easy to understand.


4.) Network abroad
We thought that this part - establishing a network abroad - would be one of the biggest challenges we’d face as we we are currently working from Switzerland. It turns out that his is not so much the case if taking one thing into consideration: Knowing our stakeholders. This means that as long as we know which businesses or people we want to connect with, doing research about them and see if they are aligned with our own business, it’s a quite simple process to get in touch with the people in charge. The interconnectedness mentioned in the first point of this article is our big advantage because as long as we managed to keep a clear communication, we are at least getting responses from most of the people we’ve gotten in touch with. And then of course the personal network helps to expand the network abroad: Coaches and mentors, as well as friends and family, provided us with valuable contacts inside and especially outside of Switzerland we can consult with and that support us. There are endless networking opportunities, the important thing is just to filter them and see who would be of great benefit for both parties to establish a relevant relationship.


5.)  From assumptions to experience
Taking the previously said, it’s seems to be relatively simple to gather information about working in an international Start-Up, put the information into context, draft out different scenarios of how a business could look like in the future and taking the needed action steps to make it reality, however, and here comes the biggest step so far: This is aquired knowledge, not on the spot experience from abroad. In our case it has been a wish of ours to go to South Africa since the beginning on and now it becomes more and more urgent to make this business trip happen. There is always more knowledge to gather, still, it’s essential now to put this knowledge into perspective through the experience we are about to have abroad. How do things look like in reality? We’re talking about a reality we haven’t experienced so far and that is a much needed step to take in order to evaluate if the information we gathered is relevant. And if so, to research more about it, and if not, what more information is needed to get a better picture of how things really are.
It’s a new step to take, a step into the unknown and a step that requires guts. We are eager to learn more, to get away from assumptions and eventually be able to speak from experience. And this is why we are onboarding on the journey to spend the rest of the year 2016 as the whole team in Cape Town, South Africa. We are ready to succeed and we are ready to fail, and most importantly we are ready to take the step and make the unknown known to us.

​
0 Comments

Let the GreyC2 adventure begin

9/18/2016

0 Comments

 
And here we are. After a year of brainstorming, researching and exploring various business models, we are extremely excited to share this idea with others: GreyC2 is going live.
A deeper look into the fashion industry left us with an overwhelmingly uncomfortable feeling. The industry's common practices are far away from what we would call sustainable and ethical. We took this circumstances as an opportunity to challenge the status quo and explore the meaning of values within a business context. Everyone wears clothes, they are a part of our identity. So wouldn't we want to wear something that reflects what we believe in? We are starting our journey with these open questions; excited and a bit scared at the same time, and ready to share our experience with you. 

​Lots of love, 
​Angela, Rebecca and Sarah
0 Comments
Forward>>

    Recent Posts

    • How to thrive as a visionary realist
    • Today's and tomorrow's essence of work
    • What are essential human needs?
    • Balance between humans and other species
    • Being informed creates empathy
    • How to connect with the right people
    • South Africa: Why we came and why we stay
    • Look good. Do good. Feel good. 
    • Why South Africa, Why Cape Town?
    • ​Make your clothes tell a story - of human collaboration

    Archives

    August 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016


Robin Grey Store
​Collaborate
​​Blog
About
Contact
Copyright © GreyC2
  • ROBIN GREY STORE
    • Coat attributes
    • Product journey
  • COLLABORATE
  • Blog
  • About
    • Our philosophy
    • Value-driven fashion
    • The team
  • Contact