Positive Outlook - these guys are not trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
My view and review of positive outlook from product, process and company actions in making tomorrow that little bit better. Looking into their manufacturing, growth from the start, future plans and how they intend to continue the positive outlook on things.
I first came across this company on instagram, as a regular at Fargo village I started looking into what's been around there in the past, this company Positive Outlook had been a presence there. When I found out they had a pop up store in Leamington Spa, I had to come take a look for myself. I was able to get in contact with someone at the company and they’ve kindly kept some dialog with me answering the following questions I asked.
But enough about that let's get into it!
What is Positive Outlook?
“We are an ethical and sustainable clothing company based in the Midlands, creating quality crafted clothing that focuses on the wearer and helps them to shine and feel their best. We don’t cater to high street fashion and exotic looks, we look a little further inwards into one’s mindset and inner confidence. We pride ourselves in creating clothing that helps you feel and be the best version of yourself, whilst safe in the knowledge that you are contributing to positive change in the fashion industry. Each and every time a customer sees or wears an item of our clothing, it should give them a small boost, a smile, a push in the right direction and act as a symbol of like-minded, forward-thinking, positive people. All of our items are ethically and sustainably made from seed to shelf, using only natural, botanical resources including the likes of bamboo, Tencel, organic cotton and hemp. ”
How did it all start?
“The company was started 8 years ago by Harvey Broadbent, out of a woodshed in a local village called Bubbenhall. Harvey was born and raised in the midlands, surrounded by creativity and positivity throughout his early years. With the family on his mum’s side all in motorsport engineering and the family on his dad’s in fabrication, upholstery and carpentry, Harvey was destined for a world in design. His childhood was full of positive reassurance and the general push to “try anything”; their family was not afraid of failure and instead praised it, as long as you gave it your all and regardless learned from the outcome. Although Harvey’s passion began in fine art, he had the standard concerns of “you won’t make any money” stressed to him by my teachers and friends alike. To keep the creativity alive, he chose to explore the world of product design with a bachelors degree at Bournemouth University in 2008. This was where he gained an insight into each and every stage involved in taking a product from concept to life and his sense for sustainable design was born. Little did he know this life of positive encouragement and desire to create would drive him to build a company with people at heart and planet in mind.”
What have been your key milestones so far?
“Considering the company started out in a local village screen-printing onto organic cotton blanks, we have come a long way since. Our first milestone was to secure manufacturing of our own products in 2016 with a like-minded, family-run, ethical and sustainably conscious manufacturer in Turkey; whom we continue to work with today. Since then, we have increased the array of natural, bio-based fabrics offered in our clothing, expanding from organic cotton to bamboo and more recently Tencel. During this time, we grew our team and revised our atheistic to create the brand as you see it today. We opened our first retail store in Fargo Village, Coventry, in 2016, and have since gone on to host successful pop-ups in the Bullring, Birmingham and more recently, the Royal Priors in Leamington Spa. We are particularly proud to have achieved several key sustainability milestones in recent years, including helping our manufacturers to become fully renewably powered in their facilities and certifying all of our products as carbon neutral. We are now working hard to build on this further and will soon be announcing all of our products as carbon positive in the near future.”
Have you come across any struggles?
“Because we have been working in the world of sustainability for over 8 years, we’ve made mistakes, tackled controversy and sailed through the smoke and mirrors that exist within the industry and business practices as a whole. The industry has been tainted by the ‘Green washing ‘ efforts of many large corporations, casting a shadow over the genuine sustainable credentials of smaller, independent clothing companies such as ourselves. When the company was first set-up there was a very limited budget available and no direct access to significant investments to support this. This meant that there were notable financial struggles and challenges in the early years, relying solely on organic growth to begin with. Besides the general challenges that come with getting a clothing brand off the ground, our biggest struggle has been understanding exactly who and what is involved in every stage of the manufacturing process. As a result we now prioritise transparency in everything we do, striving to ensure that we don’t take anything at face value and instead, see our impact and processes first-hand.”
How do you source the raw material?
“Most of our raw materials (i.e. Bamboo/Organic Cotton) are farmed and produced into natural fibres at locations in China, barring our newest addition Tencel that’s sourced in Europe. Over the years we have carefully selected the natural fibres used for our clothing, prioritising sustainable sourcing at the core. Bamboo fabric is one of the fastest growing plants, requiring very little water and no pesticides to thrive. We only use BSCI audited and SMETA certified farmers to grow our organic cotton, ensuring the welfare and support of their hardworking people. Our established farmers have invested in efficient technology enabling them to minimise their water consumption and protect the longevity of our raw material source.
As well as possessing GOTS accreditation, our producers are proud members of the SMETA group, measuring and guaranteeing their performance against environmental and ethical targets. All of our bio-based fibres are produced using environmentally and socially responsible processes that focus on reducing emissions, water-consumption and the use of harmful chemicals.”
BSCI is a Code of Conduct audited by Amfori. The Code of conduct refers to the following:
The rights of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
No Discrimination
Fair Remuneration
Decent Working Hours
Occupational Health & Safety
No Child Labour
Special Protection for Young Workers
No Precarious Employment
No Bonded Labour
Protection of the Environment
Ethical Business Behaviour
Read more on the website
https://www.amfori.org/content/amfori-bsci
SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audits) a compliance audit for farms, factories, processing plants and manufacturing facilities.
https://www.scsglobalservices.com/services/smeta-social-audit
GOTS:(https://global-standard.org/)
Where do you manufacture your garments?
“All of our garments are made by the same loyal, family-run manufacturers in Turkey that we have worked with for 4 years now. These manufacturers share our concerns for the environment and prioritise minimising their impact at each stage of the process. Approved by the Global Organic Textile Standard, our manufacturer's techniques and equipment use the latest technology to reduce waste and maximise longevity throughout the process. They commit to solely using organic certified dyes for all of our natural fabrics, tested using in-house labs to ensure our yarn is only treated with the highest and safest quality dyes.
These manufacturers are all part of the SEDEX and SMETA groups, continually working to improve conditions for employees and their supply chain. Investing in the latest technology, waste is minimised throughout the knitting process with any excess material sent to a local recycling supplier which is then used to produce blankets.
Our manufacturers also share our standards for positive practices; good living wages, safe working conditions, fair working hours and a voice for employees. Recognised by SEDEX and SMETA groups, our garments are assembled in a safe and sustainable facility, providing free meals and transport to all of it’s workers. Whilst minimising waste using efficient technology, their facility is also powered with 100% renewable energy - feeding any excess back into thlocal grid. Everything from swing tags to garment sleeves are assembled using plastic free material, sourced from FSC certified forests.”
How do you compare to fast fashion?
“By carefully selecting our bio-based fibres, factories and transport services we significantly reduce our carbon footprint compared to fast fashion. Using real-time environmental impact analysis data we are able to track our impact at each and every stage of the production process; comparing this to more conventional methods used throughout the industry. We are proud to say that to date our practices have enabled us to avoid 399,836km of CO2 emissions, nearly 37 million hours of light bulb energy, 16.5 million days of drinking water and 48,000 square metres of land farmed without pesticides, compared to conversional methods. Our entire approach to the company is centred around minimising our footprint and strengthening the gap between our practices and the damages caused by fast fashion. We encourage our customers to invest in just a few quality items that will last the test of time, rather than promoting the need for continual buying and trend-chasing.”
Current product line up:
“We offer a range of luxury everyday essentials that are made with botanical and natural materials including bamboo, Tencel, organic cotton, hemp and eucalyptus. We don’t create high fashion items or follow the typical highstreet trends, instead we create long-lasting, essential items that can suit any occasion. We are an inclusive brand for everyone, providing everyday items that look as good in the gym as they do in the bar. Our most recent collection includes a range of Essential bamboo T-shirts and Tencel activewear items, utilising the soft, breathable, and moisture wicking properties of these amazing fabrics.”
“That said, based on customer feedback and market research, we are naturally finding our items are swaying towards ath-leisure; our items are made with function in mind and the fabrics we use perfectly fit with the demands of movement.”
Tell me about your work with Greenstory?
“Greenstory indexed our entire manufacturing processes, enabling us to access real-time comparative data so that we can track, monitor and compare our true environmental impact compared to conventional methods across the industry. This means we are able to constantly seek opportunities to minimise our impact and improve our practices, whilst being transparent to customers about the journey their products have gone on, from seed all the way to shelf.” (https://greenstory.ca/solutions/know-your-impact/
How do you communicate the climate credentials to the customer?
“We display the eco-credentials of each of our products in terms of drinking water saved, emissions avoided, land saved from pesticides and light bulb energy saved, on every product page. Every customer has access to their own account on our website that tracks and accumulates these impact statistics every time they place an order with us. We are also in the process of providing all of the above statistics in an interactive QR code experience for customers on all product tags”
Future expansion plans in clothing lines, offering thrifting?
“We have some exciting developments in the works and a whole new collection on its way in time for Christmas! This will include a range of luxury bamboo hoodies, sweatshirts, joggers and jackets that we are very excited to share, as well as a new women’s bamboo underwear range we are particularly proud of. There are other collections in the pipeline and we hope to be able to offer many more products in the near future. Thrifting is something we have discussed as a team and may well be a viable option for the future. However this is likely to be something for a later stage of development.”
Do you plan to open up new physical locations?
“Our long-term ambition is to become known as an inclusive, transparent and sustainably-driven brand that does far more than just selling clothing. In the near future we wish to open our own physical retail premise in our hometown of Leamington Spa. The intention would be to then gradually share our voice and spread our mission further afield through various pop-up stores around the country. Positive Outlook would aspire to one day open international branches, but will always look to keep it’s Warwickshire-based, UK heritage at its roots no matter where we end up.”
Do you plan to expand into more markets?
“We are excited to be able to soon announce the launch of our new podcast channel, The Give Back Pod, that we have been working hard on behind the scenes. The podcast will ultimately be an extension of our heart, championing various youth organisations across the country, starting local to us. We will be sharing the amazing work they do, breaking down the challenges/stereotypes they and their members face and chatting 1-2-1 with the inspiring young people these organisations work with. We have 6-7 projects lined up so far at different stages and already each and every conversation we’ve had has been eye-opening and powerful to say the least! Keep your ears peeled and eyes open for this one…”
How are you planning on keeping impact as low as possible?
“Positive Outlook Clothing’s long-term vision of sustainability is to become a ‘zero negative impact’ company. This means, throughout our production processes, Positive Outlook clothing wants to be a company that not only aims to produce zero waste, but rather has zero negative impact in terms of environmental damages or greenhouse emissions. We have bold ambitions to help change the face of the fashion industry, removing the need for carbon offsetting by eliminating our negative impact in its entirety.”
“We have already helped to ensure our manufacturers operate using solely renewable energy through the installation of a solar farm. Feeding their excess energy into the local community’s grid, it is wider projects like this that will help us to achieve our sustainability goals.”
Do you plan to recycle old products into new clothing?
“This is something we have discussed as a team and may well be a viable option for the future. However this is likely to be something for a later stage of development. We have ideas in mind for initiatives such as this and it is of course an avenue we would like to utilise when large enough for it to become viable.”
What is the durability of your products?
“We have, and always will prioritise creating long-lasting garments that are built to last. Despite being soft and comfortable, the natural materials we use for all of our clothing are strong and robust, producing fabrics that are built for purpose. We are constantly looking to improve the quality and durability of our clothing, whether it's responding to customer feedback or market research across the industry. As we grow and develop as a company, so do our products, enabling us to offer increasingly high-quality, reliable garments that will last. We have established a strong relationship with our long-standing manufacturers, reassuring us that all of the items are made by experienced, like-minded workers that share our attitude when it comes to creating durable clothing.”
My review of some products I have:
Face mask:
Something I did not expect to need a couple of years ago, now things have changed a lot. I was browsing around the local store in leamington when I picked up this facemask from Positive Outlook. I was really impressed with the range of colours, and the material. Since I’ve bought it, I have worn it on many occasions. It also works as we go back into winter as a face warmer whilst running and cycling, with it being bamboo I have no issues exercising in it.
Definitely worth getting if you haven’t already got a reusable face mask!!
Positivity is key Sweater:
One item I also have is this sweater from Positive Outlook which as you can see below looks great and is also wonderful quality. Especially as the winter draws in, having some warmer clothing is helpful. Sadly they’re not continuing this line, but they’re also not completing the practices of fast fashion and actually you can buy all the ex-stock in their outlet warehouse here.
https://positiveoutlookclothing.com/collections/positive-outlet
Final review:
Overall the company is doing some incredible things, to understand the journey they’ve been on from day 1 to now is really inspiring for all young businesses to follow in the same footsteps of making the right decisions for your enterprise, and doing so in a sustainable and forward thinking manner is more than achievable. I am a huge fan of the clothing they make, the items are of such high quality and design.
I have also seen the latest work recognising the importance of equality in the workplace and having clothing for women designed and led by some amazing women. Acknowledging that you need to use the right people for the right products and giving opportunities to everyone who deserves it.
I’d love to see more collaborations from this company on some clothing items they might not sell, like how to turn the garments you’re buying into some great outfits and showing the diversity of their products for different occasions.
Lastly if you’re in the midlands, head over to their new store in Leamington Spa and take a look, failing that check out their website for more great things that I could not possibly fit into this post. I’d highly recommend following their story as I believe there is some serious growth in this brand and some amazing things to happen. Head over to their page and see for yourself!!
It is a big Tallman Tick for me!!!!!
