We recently connected with Ho Son and have shared our conversation below.

Ho, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

People matter.

While working for Corporate America, one of my biggest realizations was that people are just numbers and data. These corporations are quick to let go of employees and even faster to sell your data and information to the highest bidder. They embrace things like AI and salivate at the idea of being able to hire cheaper labor. Now, as a business owner, I get it. Being kind doesn’t pay the bills. But what if bear with me, the owners and higher-level executives just made less money?

Fashion and apparel companies are no different. They’ve fully embraced the silicon valley model of business, pumping out crap in mass quantities with the ultimate goal of giving consumers that quick hit of dopamine. It’s no secret that companies pump out crap clothes with the goal of selling you something else next quarter.

At Better, we wanted to put our money where our mouths are and work hard to promote people. We’ve partnered with factories that provide jobs and don’t rely on AI and machines to pump out lame products. We’ve visited and vetted every manufacturing process step, including the fabric producers, labor, and logistics. We want to create authentic marketing campaigns that tell stories of the people that we work with on a day-to-day basis. We want to bring humanity back to business.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As the name suggests, we make Better Clothing. But beyond the clothes, we want to be a business that really is just… Better.

1. Better World: We celebrate and practice sustainability but hate using this as a marketing tool. We work hard to ensure our products and production processes are truly sustainable every step. But we will never use this as a core marketing tactic.
2. Better Together: We celebrate humanity. We only work with kind, hard-working people and respect the value they bring to society. We will never use AI as we believe this diminishes the immense contributions of artists and tradespeople. We embrace the mistakes as well.
3. Better Inside: We believe every person is capable of charting their own unique path. We don’t celebrate trends or external pressures, but want the product the uplift the people wearing them, not the other way around.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I have a friend whose family owns and operates underwear factories in Turkey. He’s been suggesting for years that I go and check it out. Long story short, I made my way out to Turkey and became infatuated with the industry. The extensive process of sourcing fabrics blew me away, the different ways you could manufacture clothing and everything in between. After a short 2-week trip there, I decided to buy a 1-way ticket and work on finding a vendor for our products. I spent a month in Turkey going to different conventions, driving and knocking on manufacturers’ doors, and learning/vetting every possible option. The decision on which manufacturer was right for me came down to our company values. The manufacturer we decided on was working actively to better their communities. They worked on providing meals to children in the area, providing jobs, and teaching people how to cut and sew. They were a family business.

My biggest lesson I learned while manufacturing, though was to pay attention to every detail. The more detailed you are, the less room there is for error. There are SO many decisions and details you need to be aware of, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, you will be taken advantage of.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When selecting our manufacturer, I was hoping to work with our friend’s family. However, we ran into a couple of issues during that process. A 2-week trip to Turkey became a failure, and I had to go back and spend over a month there to find a different manufacturer. I was in a foreign country where I didn’t know the language. I was new to the industry. And during that trip, I was involved in 2 different traffic accidents (none of which were my fault). I was (literally) going door to door, asking manufacturers to work with me, even when I couldn’t meet their MOQ’s. I wanted to give up. But I chose to stay and chose to keep working, and here we are!

Contact Info:

• Website: betterclothingco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearbetterclothing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearbetterclothing
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/better-clothing-company
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wearbetterclothing

Image Credits
Dave Tada Hyungi Park Khalif Boyd