We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carly Burson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carly below.
Alright, Carly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
We’re committed to changing the narrative around fashion and sustainability. We do this by honoring the Earth from the moment we design our garments and with consideration of the full product life cycle. The fashion industry has a devastating impact on the environment so we focus on limiting our footprint by decreasing water consumption and pollution, restricting the use of synthetic materials and harmful chemical dyes, working only with organic natural fibers, limiting production waste, and offsetting the entirety of our carbon emissions.
Carly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hi! I’m Carly Burson, the Founder, and CEO of an ethical fashion brand focused on moving the industry toward a more sustainable approach while providing educational opportunities and meaningful employment to artisan men and women. LAUDE the label’s story began when my husband and I finalized the adoption of our daughter, Elie. At the time I knew that becoming a mother would profoundly impact my life, but never imagined that it would alter the course of my life’s work. Although adoption presented an opportunity to support an individual child, I was struck by the desire to address the core issue of child relinquishment on a global scale: namely, the economic insecurity facing women in the Global South. LAUDE the Label was born from my decision to utilize years of experience in the conventional fashion industry as a platform to alleviate poverty by providing artisan women with sustainable and meaningful jobs. In 8 years’ time, LTL has grown from employing only 4 female makers in Honduras to supporting 9 artisan design cooperatives in 6 different countries, where over 500 people are sustainably employed.
My vision for minimalist designs in high-quality, eco-friendly materials that can be worn for years has remained central to our design philosophy from the beginning. Each year, I work hard to lead a team that supports new efforts in environmental consciousness and innovative solutions for the holistic employment of women across the world.
Outside of my work, I’m passionate about spending time with my beautiful family, investing in close female friendships, running, traveling the world, and volunteering for social justice initiatives in the state of Texas (specifically advocacy work centered around voting rights, refugee resettlement, and immigration reform).
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
The people behind my brand are the essence of who we are, and many have been with me since the very beginning. I work really hard to foster a collaborative environment where every member of our team (from the most junior employee to the most senior) feels empowered to have a voice. I’m passionate about creating a workplace where everyone can trust that when they speak up they will be heard. I invest a lot of time in building relationships within my team and believe that managers have a responsibility to foster who their employees are as humans instead of just focusing on who they are as workers. I work hard to create a space where teams feel empowered to be their authentic selves and reject the idea of traditional business, where employees are expected to compartmentalize work and life. Instead, I believe in an environment where people feel safe to “come as they are,” regardless of what that might look like some days. Life is hard and messy, and business owners need to create space for people to be human – I truly believe in a people over profits mentality, and work endlessly to try and lead from that perspective.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
I worked on my business for a year while also balancing a full-time job. One day I received a call from a large company that wanted to place an order for 5,000 bracelets. At the time, I was running the company on my own – It was hardly a company, and more of a hobby, but I knew that pulling the order off would require me to leave my career and invest full-time in my business. I made the decision to take a leap of faith, gave my notice at work, and moved to Honduras for 2 months with my five-year-old to oversee the hiring of 60 women and the production of 5,000 units. That was almost 9 years ago, and I haven’t ever looked back.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://laudethelabel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laudethelabel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shoplaudethelabel
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-burson-0ba2458b/
- Twitter: @laudethelabel