Reformation: The clothing store that brought back brick-and-morter and made sustainability sexy
Reformation is a clothing brand founded in 2009 by CEO, Yael Alflalo. It focuses on sustainable practices that range from the factory culture used to make the clothing to the eco-friendly fabric used. I first heard about this brand when I was in high school. I remember seeing the chic, cool-girl pieces flood my instagram being worn by all the top it-girl LA influencers. It is now widely successful, worn by the top celebrities with stores all over LA and New York. It broke over 20 million in sales in 2014 and is only increasing in revenue from then on.
As a user, I was first attracted to their instagram, clean website, and chic, vintage, french-girl look of their clothing. I didn't know much about sustainability in fashion yet, but was encouraged to learn more after falling in love with the brand and seeing some of my idols in their clothing. I keep up to date with their instagram and their influencers and enjoy their educational marketing campaigns about how Reformation is sustainable and what that means. Their instagram is extremely successful, ranking in about 1.2 million followers with a steady increase of about 800-1000 followers a day. They are followed by some of the top brands, models and celebrities. Young adult women shop there, those who mainly reside in cities with a higher income and a passion for high quality fashion.
I often go on their website to enjoy the aesthetics and look at the new arrivals. However, I don't often buy from them since the price tag ranges from $70-$250. Their pieces are simple and minimal, but with a quality that you can keep around forever. I splurge from time to time on rare occasion and the pieces that I buy become staples to my wardrobe. An extra bonus is not having the same fast-fashion guilt that I have when buying cheaper pieces from stores like Zara or H&M.
Reformation has encouraged me to think twice before purchasing from fast fashion brands and motivates me to learn more about sustainable fashion and what I can do help. I, along with many others, don't mind dropping more money on a piece that saves gallons of water and high carbon emissions. Gen X is all about social responsible brands and Reformation is one of the firsts to steal the scene in a way that is trendy and edgy. They recently released a "carbon is cancelled" campaign that offers buyers real life programs they can participate in to live a cleaner lifestyle. In exchange, they receive $100 credit to use in store. Pretty cool if you ask me. While Gen X is all about eco-friendly brands, we are weary about 'green marketing'. We want to see in real time the impact that we are making, with the program offered by Reformation, we can incorporate daily changes into our lifestyle all while being able to afford their trendy wardrobe. Its a total win win and one that I am going to participate in right after this blog post.
I would 100% recommend this brand to others. I dream of working with the brand one day along with having a wardrobe 90% dedicated to Reformation. I haven't heard any negative comments about Reformation other than maybe too small of a size range and too expensive. I agree that it is a bit expensive, but for what they offer I'm not sure how they can cut costs. Maybe they could hold more sample sales and online sales for those on a budget. Bottom line is, they offer more than enough value to the customer and it pays off. I hope that more brands take note from Reformation and we start to see a real change in ending fast fashion.
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