Brand, Community & Conservation Media
Team
Built by Elena Jean
Founded by Elena Jean, Kennedy Assman, Jimmy Hamilton
Ambassador Manager: Krissy Middleton
Supporting Team: Trevor Bergman, Emilie Chartier, Sheldon Fernandes, Kailey Beckwith
With support from Queen's Accelerator
One Species
A clothing brand working to make "wildlife conservation mainstream", through products, media and a global community.
In 2016, I started a brand called One Species. The vision was to "make wildlife conservation mainstream" using something that anyone could connect with: Clothing. We designed clothing after specific endangered species and 10% of sales went towards organizations working to save the species.
We sold hats, t-shirts and socks to customers around the world. We built a global ambassador program of over 300 conservationists ("wildlife heroes") strong. And, we organized and ran trips to learn more about our partner organizations on the ground.
In 2019, the brand closed its doors.
Here's what I learned...
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It's difficult to produce truly sustainable clothing. I was doing the best could, but the bottom line was: more unnecessary stuff means more unnecessary waste.
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The clothing sold to save wildlife required intensive material sourcing, chemical processing and a global shipping footprint. We were inadvertently participating in fast fashion (one of the world's most consumer-driven, harmful industries).
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I realized how misaligned I was, how so many of us are, from better solutions.
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Seriously, f*** fast fashion.
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I was inspired by the community and customer interest in wildlife conservation. There's a need for real conservation stories, the gritty and good ones, the ones making real impact!
After One Species, I committed to more conservation storytelling and filmmaking. To inspiring people to take action. Because, at the end of the day, people don't need more stuff to make them feel like they're doing something... They just need to do something!
