How to turn an imperfect production run into a positive? The Forivor Perfectly Imperfect Sale!

Imperfect production runs are very common, even with a tried and tested manufacturer. These things can just happen during production, however the interesting question is how does a label turn a stressful negative, imperfect production run into a sustainable positive?

Forivor’s answer takes after the ethos of Fashion Revolution (see previous Pirouette post).  Instead of condemning the imperfect pieces to sit wasted in storage, unloved, unused and hidden they have decided instead to be open about the teething problems they had with this production run. Honest about the ever so slight imperfections in some of their beautiful bedding and nightwear so that you now have the Imperfectly Perfect Sale where you can pick up pieces at a fraction of their normal retail value. 

Why are they doing this? In 2017, Forivor experienced some teething problems with the production of their new expanded bedding and nightwear collection. The result, unfortunately and much to their dismay, looked like wasted stock which they weren’t able to sell through their normal channels due to their high standards of quality control.

This was potentially a huge waste of all the raw materials, water and energy that had gone into the production and a situation that they were very unhappy with as directors of a sustainable business. However the bedding and nightwear were still beautiful, well made pieces that could be treasured and provide years and years of magical bedtimes but yet could potentially sit unused in a stock room for years.

Realising that wasted stock was a big issue for brands large and small, they decided to be honest about the difficulties they had experienced in a bid to shine a light on this problematic area. Hence the Imperfectly Perfect Sale.

“‘We wish that all of our products arrived from the factory in perfect condition to sell but unfortunately in 2017 we received too many products that didn’t quite meet our high standards. As a sustainable business we couldn’t just see good products sitting around not being used so we decided to be open about the issues we’d faced, and how as a small business it created lots of challenges that could have threatened our existence. We were shocked how much waste was created even in a relatively small supply chain like ours and it has opened our eyes to the enormity of the global problem of textile waste in unsold stock.”
Alice Ross, Director, Forivor

“We don’t tend to think of fabric waste in the same way as plastic, water or food waste, but the raw materials, water, energy, printing inks, packaging and shipping that go into each product are pointlessly wasted if the product sits in a stock room or is sent to land fill. We need to close the loop on the cycle of throwing stuff away and thinking that out of sight is out of mind. We hope that by making our slightly imperfect products available we can make a small contribution to the much needed conversation on tackling textile wastage.”
Rebecca Attwood, Director, Forivor

Forivor Perfectly Imperfect Sale. Shop here
Monday 23rd April until Midnight (GMT) Sunday 29th April

Some useful Articles

H&M, A Fashion Giant Has a Problem: $4.3 billion in Unsold Clothes: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/business/hm-clothes-stock-sales.html