Club Friday Q&A: Slow Fashion Entrepreneurs Rags Rajpal and Tyler MacDonald
By Stacy Lee Kong
ICYMI, holiday shopping szn has officially begun. Now, I unrepentantly love the holidays and was definitely one of those people who pulled out the old Christmas Jams Spotify playlist on, um, November 1, and I also love shopping so, so much... but even I know that the rampant consumerism that characterizes this time of year is no good. At the same time, this is a super important season for small businesses. That's why I wanted to chat with Rags Rajpal and Tyler MacDonald, the founders of slow, sustainable intimates brand raani + ross. The duo, who launched their first collection this fall, talked to Friday Things about why they decided to start this line in the first place, what it means to be a community-focused retailer and why they're taking a different approach to holiday sale season. Read on for our chat! (Bonus: They're also hooking Friday Things readers up with a coupon code! Use FRIDAYTHINGS for 10% off your raani + ross order between December 10th and 31st.)
Where did you get the idea for raani + ross? Was there a particular situation or experience that inspired you? And did either of you have a background in retail and/or fashion?
raani + ross was born out of a shared frustration: the lack of accountability from leaders in the intimates space. Everything lacked transparency, from manufacturing processes to the quality of materials, and it set us on a path to create a brand worthy of women’s top drawer—and their wallets.
Rags had experience working in the fashion industry from a marketing standpoint, but the design and production process was entirely new to both of us. Tyler leads our design, production and supply chain processes and, in the last two years, has developed a roster of industry experts on a global scale who’ve supported us in getting raani + ross from idea to execution.
What pushed you to take it from an idea to an actual company? I feel like lots of people think of things that might be good business ideas, but not everyone actually goes as far as starting something, so I'm always wondering about the decision to actually take the leap!
What pushed us was our desire to create what was missing in the industry: a transparent, consciously made, high-quality product.
It took us over two years to launch our product and over 10+ samples to get it right, not including the number of times we switched out fabric and made changes to our grading (sizing). Since launch, we’ve continually asked ourselves how we can make the product better and continue to test new samples based on community feedback.
Over those first two years, we realized this industry was not an easy one to jump into, especially with no design background. We had many ups and downs during those first two years that we questioned if this really was a good idea… It was the belief that intimates should not be worn to please others that kept pushing us to launch.
I love the idea that intimates should not be worn to please others. What inspired this belief for you?
We know this idea of wearing intimates for ourselves isn’t a revolutionary one, but it’s at the core of who we are as people and as a business. We’re on a path of self-acceptance and understanding the world, and how we’re perceived can play a role in how we perceive ourselves. When it comes to intimates, there’s an added complexity with lingerie positioned as a patriarchal tool, particularly in heteronormative relationships, to put someone elses’ pleasure above our own.
Intimates should be for your pleasure first and foremost, whatever way you choose to wear them. Self-acceptance is not something that will happen overnight or in a year. Throughout our personal journey, our intimates have allowed us to feel like we’re prioritizing ourselves and our pleasure. At the end of the day, we’re underwear—we're not going to be the solution to self-acceptance. We’re just happy to be a part of the journey.
I read on your site that you spoke to 250+ people to understand what Canadians actually wanted from their intimates. What was that experience like? Was it easy to find people open to talking about their underwear with you? And what were the major themes that emerged from those conversations?
The first thing we wanted to do after committing to start raani + ross was get feedback from our peers. We didn’t want to be in an echo chamber of our own thoughts. We wanted people to challenge our vision, and surveying women across Canada was the approach we decided to take. It was as simple as creating a Google form with questions reviewed by a researcher friend who helped remove bias in the questions we asked. We shared it with everyone we knew and encouraged them (read: asked 100 times) to share it with everything they knew. Within a few days, we received responses from almost 300 women.
The first and most difficult thing we learned was that we’ll never be for everyone. Whether that be design, branding or pricing, as much as we’d like everyone to wear raani + ross, we know there are a number of reasons why we might not be the best for them. Our survey helped us determine who we want to be and how we want to get there. The overall sentiment of folks surveyed was that shopping for intimates was a dreadful chore. For something most of us wear (almost) every day, it was interesting to see negative feelings we had around this one small piece of clothing.
We also saw that in the last five years, there has been a significant increase in demand for transparency from brands, and the intimates industry is no exception. Consumers want a better understanding of how their products are being made and who is behind them.
Lastly, we realized that the biggest challenge for us would be price. Our survey confirmed our suspicions that consumers don’t want to spend top dollar on intimates, and we don’t blame them. We live in a world of five for $30 or seven for $45, so why would you spend $28 on one thong? It was clear that we’d need to work hard to educate consumers that the deals we’re used to aren’t sustainable. Pricing a product at $28 means we see how our products are produced, we know the material is of high quality, we pay our manufacturer equitable wages, and we don’t overproduce.
You design, source and make all your products in Canada. Why did you make those supply chain decisions?
Producing overseas vs. in Canada was something we deliberated on for month. We took every opportunity to learn about manufacturing on local and global scales, and deciding to produce in Canada was the ideal outcome from both a small business and value perspective.
From a small business perspective,
Canadian Dollar: We didn’t have to worry about currency exchange or transferring money overseas.
Shipping Costs: If you’ve shipped internationally before, you know what we mean, and let’s not forget about duties.
Creative Ownership: We had the ability to comment on every process in the supply chain, it made it easy to call out the things we didn’t like for a quick turnaround time and $ savings.
From a values perspective,
Sustainable Manufacturing & Sourcing: We save on time, money and carbon emissions by manufacturing and sourcing locally between Toronto and Montreal.
Working Conditions & Wage: Manufacturing in Canada makes this one easy. We know everyone is paid a fair wage and we get to visit often!
Support Local: We love getting to know our suppliers in person
What does being a community-focused brand mean to you?
People first. Sales second. While this was always our intention, when we launched in September, we briefly lost sight of this guidepost. We’re lucky to have such a supportive community that promoted, shopped (and briefly sold us out!) of our product. When we saw the $$ come in, we turned that into our priority. After speaking with our mentors a few weeks post-launch, they told us to take a step back and remember our objective of being community-oriented.
When we think about the brands that inspire us, it's the ones with tight-knit communities that give people a space to belong. Pushing inventory and making money are important to creating a long-lasting business, absolutely. But the way in which we go about this is through establishing a group of like-minded people—we’re betting on community to be the reason for our future success.
Is there also a business case for doing things small and slow (or at least, slower than the usual pace of retail)?
Ultimately, doing things small and slow reduces the risk of overproduction. Unfortunately, the way manufacturing works is that manufacturers reward those who produce in large quantities. They incentivize you through cutting costs the more you produce. So, technically, it would be a better business case to produce in high volumes. But we’re not about what looks good on paper. We decided to forgo reducing our costs and focus on what really matters: consciously made products in small runs.
Tell me about your approach to holiday sales and shopping, because I know it's not the usual retail strategy.
Competing with the biggest brands in our industry is out of the question. We can’t offer what they can, and we’re not going to try to either. Mass consumption is not what we’re here for, but we also understand this sale-heavy season is an opportunity for folks who cannot afford full price to shop the brands they love. This Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, raani + ross has organized a weekend-long pop-up market filled with 20+ women and BIPOC businesses to encourage people to shop local and small! If you’re in Toronto, we recommend stopping by!
What does success mean to you? I feel like it must be a challenge to balance your desire to create a successful company with what I'm guessing is some discomfort with consumerism.
Success to us is continually changing, and because there are two of us, we both tend to have a different idea on what success looks like. Today, success is defined by getting as much feedback on the products from our community as possible and what they want to see next.
Is there anything I didn't ask you about that you think I should know?
We’re focusing on the community! Follow us on Instagram to keep a close eye out for our next events. We can’t wait to bring everyone together to build connections and start conversations around the intimates space.
🛒 A treat for Friday Things readers: use code FRIDAYTHINGS for 10% off your raani + ross order between December 10th and 31st! 🛒
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