We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Desiree Gaitan-Buchanan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Desiree below.

Desiree, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

As a Latina, I saw an opportunity to launch Poplinen as a digitally native brand dedicated to being at the intersection of sustainability, inclusivity, and social responsibility. I wanted to make a difference in a space ripe for change. Poplinen was born out of my own pain points with the sustainable fashion space, and is dedicated to making sustainable fashion more diverse and approachable while bringing awareness to sustainability issues, which is imperative to creating a more equitable climate future. I believe there is an opportunity for a brand with sustainability, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of its mission to build affinity with the modern customer who is conscious about shopping with brands that align with their values around people and the planet.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Before starting POPLINEN, I was cutting my teeth in the fashion magazine world of New York’s Conde Nast Publications (Vanity Fair and Architectural Digest) and managing social media marketing for start-ups including Warby Parker and The Black Tux. These work environments and experiences helped me understand how to create and grow a brand using the skills I learned over my career journey. During this time, I couldn’t find a single brand offering premium, sustainably made clothing that was inclusive and comfortable without compromising on style, which led to doing some research and development for POPLINEN.

As someone who spent all her 20’s working in editorial and brand marketing, I saw a true business opportunity to launch Poplinen.co as a direct-to-consumer brand dedicated to celebrating women of all sizes. We’re designing for the future by putting sustainable practices at the top, implementing social good initiatives within our business model, and offering better fitting pieces with extended sizing. POPLINEN makes earth-friendly, everyday essentials at an accessible price-point for women (sizes XS-3X) and baby.

As a company that prioritizes being made in L.A., our impact within the community is a top priority. Our commitment is to create jobs locally that champion garment workers, provide living wages, and foster a company culture with diversity, empowerment, and opportunity for growth. We’ve been able to build our product slowly and thoughtfully by partnering with some of the most seasoned experts in the local garment industry of Southern California. Poplinen champions our local community through donations and volunteer work. We’re members of 1% for the Planet and donate 1% of all sales to Step Up Women’s Network in Los Angeles, a non-profit that propels teen girls living or going to school in under-resourced communities to fulfill their potential by empowering them to become confident, college-bound, career-focused, and ready to join the next generation of professional women.

POPLINEN is in the business of innovation within the sustainable lifestyle space. There is still so much room for improvement within this industry to make customers lives better. I am proud of the trust we’re building with our customers to deliver on quality and fit that’s better for them and the planet. I am also proud of the partnerships we’ve been able to organically form with Darling Media, local West Elm stores, THE VIEW, and most recently GMA, to strategically elevate our brand and get in front of like-minded, conscious customers on a much larger scale. With over 100 5 star reviews, we’re delighted to continue better serving and refining our styles for our growing community of customers.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

During my first year in business, COVID-19 had hit the United States and the big shutdown forced all my in-person events to go away. At the time, Poplinen’s growth strategy relied heavily on in-person fairs, pop-ups, and markets to build awareness and grow our customer base. I was stressed to say the least, did not have enough resources or budget to invest in a digital ad strategy, and wasn’t sure how Poplinen would be able to survive the foreseeable future.

When the CDC announced non-medical face masks would be mandatory in public spaces, I had a light bulb moment, and quickly pivoted from using our organic cotton fabric on-hand for clothing to utilizing for face masks. I made a game plan with my small factory in Los Angeles to have their team make the masks from their individual homes. I also made a commitment for every mask sold, one would be donated to the Downtown Women’s Center here in Los Angeles (a non-profit we’ve worked closely with since Poplinen started). Sales that month shot up 1,044% from the previous month. Poplinen grew 2X that year, and online searches for cozy clothing drove consistent sales and traffic for our size-inclusive, earth-friendly essentials and face masks. Personally, the key lesson here is when crisis hits, try to see the opportunity underneath it all, stay resilient, and use your imagination to pivot into a new direction.

The impact of COVID was devastating for our nation and community, but I am grateful I could meet customer needs in a different way and turn this challenge into an opportunity to keep POPLINEN growing, helpful, and useful.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There are a few books that have significantly impacted my management and entrepreneurial thinking. I’d say my top three are:

1. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
2. The Company I Keep by Leonard Lauder
3. The Ride Of A Lifetime by Bob Iger

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.poplinen.co/
• Instagram: https://www.poplinen.co/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/POPLINEN/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/poplinen/

Image Credits
All in studio photos (seamless ivory background) by Amber Maalouf / the rest more lifestyle no photographer