CASE
Skall Studio
Personally, the first time I came around Skall Studio as a sustainable brand, where through Instagram, where an influencer was wearing their clothes, and then had them tagged. By means of the tag, and with one click, I was in the universe of Skall Studio.
I was met by a feeling of down to earth, classy women, nature-colors and a special nature-vibe, and the brand seemed instinctive reliable to me. This reliability only became stronger when it dawned on me, the fact that it is a danish brand.
Since then, I have been following them and their development, but also admired their values, their visual expression, and their standards for clothing.
Who are Skall Studio?
Skall Studio was established in 2014 by the two sisters, Julie and Marie Skall, who have a passion for designing clothes to women from women, and through the design make a woman notable. They believe in, that their sustainable path in the fashion industry, is by creating timeless items, that will last longer in the wardrobe, and by that support the idea of slow fashion. (Vores Filosofi, u.d.)
These five sections, is from their webpage, and guides the consumer through, how they work with sustainability:
(5 principper for bæredygtig mode, u.d.)
Design – sustainable fashion is timeless design
Sustainable fashion is created by natural materials
The production of sustainable fashion happens through a responsible supply chain.
The creation of sustainable fashion, needs to show respect for the environment
Sustainable fashion extends the lifecycle of the garment when it is treated with respect and maintained.
My reflections
It has been obvious in my Instagram feed, that Skall Studio is a brand in growth, and have become more and more acknowledged, both from people in my own social circle, but also from the influencers on Instagram. Is has become more common, and the shared values associated with Skall Studio I meet between people are sustainability, exclusivity, a modern brand, unique and sophisticated. I get the feeling it is clothing people want to buy, and for students like me, have a desire to be able to afford.
They separate themselves from the market, by expressing their desire to do the opposite of the fast fashion industry, and thereby articulate the ongoing fashion system and how they think it needs to be slower. With their timeless design and longer durability, which they have an ambition will last several seasons, their work is based on the ideology about buying less clothing. Besides that, they make information about repairing clothing easily accessible on their webpage. With this they support longer lifespan for the garment threw timeless design plus how to repair the clothing, which is the first two steps in a model of circular economy, made by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. (Miljøstyrelsen, 2020)
But I am curious and wondering about, if it is possible for a brand, to experience this growth in popularity, and remain the same sustainable standard?
With an increase in demand and a participation in Copenhagen Fashion week twice a year, where they represent a new collection, does they then work against their own ideology about slow fashion and buying less clothes?
Supply and demand
The launch of new collections creates a desire to buy something new in the mind of the consumer, and every brand has a desire for growth and expanding their business. It is unavoidable not to go with the flow, not to follow the success, due the increasing market competition. A scenario which is also valid for Skall Studio, when they in 2019 let a venture capital fund buy in on 15-20% of the company. This is a part in their business strategy to strengthen Skall Studio as a brand, but also to have the financially support to expand abroad.
Here in 2021, Skall Studio came out with a profit of 1.6 million in kroner partly because of the new group of owners, but also because of a rise in sales and status. (Træholt, 2021)
A rise in sales means more users of the products by Skall Studio, which is followed by a wider product portfolio and that they now launch a Skall Studio Home collection. (Modebrand udvider sortiment med interiørprodukter, 2021)
It is not only clothing they produce at this point, but also interior. According to the model of circular economy from Danish Environmental Protection Agency, the next steps for the textile industry is to reuse, upcycle and recycle.
Skall Studio has a strong policy about their materials and production, which makes their sustainable agenda very consistent, and is also something that Skall Studio is acknowledged for, from mouth to mouth between users. But to keep their sustainable agenda through their growth and expanding, they need to do some parallel reflections about how they can develop their sustainable initiatives, so an improved business walks hands in hands with improving considerations for the environment. (Produktion, u.d.)
WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP?
Based on this and with the model of circular economy in mind, the next steps for Skall Studio to match their sustainable agenda with growth, could be to incorporate the reuse of old items. This could be through giving the consumers a possibility to hand in pieces they do not use to re-sell or to use in upcycling. Possibilities in upcycling could be to re-design products, use the old fabric to new pieces or to use pieces from previous collections in their new collection. This could imply to the users, that Skall Studio also engage in recycle and truly support the fact that, garment pieces from Skall Studio can make a wardrobe last over several seasons.
It is obvious that the values associated with Skall Studio is created by the founders through the social media and on their webpage. The way that their universe draws parallels with the nature and naturally existence, contribute a certain status between the consumers. When wearing items from Skall Studio, we expect to be considered as sustainable, good danish style, buying with responsibility and so on. These values and associations are very important for the brand because I think it is possible to emphasize, that this is what makes a brand living. For me, this is also an indicator for the importance to keep their sustainable status, to maintain the reliability of the costumers.
Bibliography
5 principper for bæredygtig mode. (u.d.). Hentet fra Skall Studio: https://dk.skallstudio.com/pages/manifest
Miljøstyrelsen. (Juni 2020). Miljøstyrelsen . Hentet fra Cirkulære initiativer fra den danske tekstilbranche : https://mst.dk/media/196801/cirkulaere-initiativer-fra-den-danske-tekstilbranche.pdf
Modebrand udvider sortiment med interiørprodukter. (3. november 2021). Hentet fra Branchebladet Tøj: https://branchebladettoj.dk/brands/modebrand-udvider-sortimentet-med-interioerprodukter/
Produktion. (u.d.). Hentet fra Skall Studio: https://dk.skallstudio.com/pages/produktion
Træholt, F. (23. maj 2021). Modebrand lander første millionoverskud nogensinde med kendt kapitalfond om bord. Hentet fra Finans: https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE13000089/modebrand-lander-foerste-millionoverskud-nogensinde-med-kendt-kapitalfond-om-bord/?ctxref=ext
Vores Filosofi. (u.d.). Hentet fra Skall Studio: https://dk.skallstudio.com/pages/vores-filosofi