S03 Episode 131 | KROCHET KIDS, KNOWN SUPPLY + SLOW STORYTELLING

In episode 131, Kestrel welcomes Kohl Crecelius, a social entrepreneur, and the founder and owner of two social impact apparel brands, the the show. With a focus on helping shoppers know and connect with the makers behind their clothing, KNOWN SUPPLY and Krochet Kids intl. are pushing to humanize the fashion industry.

"I remember in probably our first couple years, all we ever heard (because we were starting around the same time that Tom's was really starting to take off), all we ever heard was - what is the tagline that's like one-for-one? And we thought about it and we came up with all these iterations and then, eventually we kind of just said - you know what, there's so much more to who we are and what we're trying to accomplish than a simple little quip." - Kohl Crecelius, Founder of Known Supply + Krochet Kids

In this episode, Kohl shares more on the origins of Krochet Kid intl., and how it evolved out of a company he and his friends started in high school after his brother taught him how to crochet.

Additionally, throughout the show, Kestrel + Kohl talk about different tactics for storytelling as a socially conscious brand. Kohl sheds light on the idea that maybe you don't need to have a tiny tagline for your brand - maybe you don't need to sum up your entire brand in a mini statement. 

For Kohl, he and Known Supply are inspired by Patagonia's approach, which has led them to take more of a longterm approach to storytelling. They believe in putting in the work to develop the story, while educating their shoppers and sharing more in-depth information with them over time.

Kohl also shares some of his thoughts on how much potential there is out there to partner with larger brands. He outlines that too often, younger or smaller brands sell themselves short and don't present or embrace the big value (knowledge of sustainability, ethics, or supply chains) that they can actually provide to bigger brands.

The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:

• “Why this clothing startup wants you to know thy T-shirt maker”, article discussed that Kohl was featured in on Fast Company
• “My theory was that if we could understand the people behind our product, we would think about purchasing differently,” Crecelius says. “That we would realize that our story is bound up in the story of others.” -via Fast Company article
• Global Citizen Festival, a festival based in New York that Kohl and his team collaborated with in the past to create garments for them
• The Giving Keys, brand that Known Supply recently partnered with
• "What we feel like is going to change the industry is collaboration and connection." 
• "Initially, I had stepped into so many of those experiences thinking that I had a clear path or a clear way to help people - that I was going to come and help people that were less fortunate than I, who didn't have the same opportunities. And I - in that - sort of had these preconceived notions of who people were and what brought them to the circumstances they were in, and how I was going to come save and change and help those. And - what I came face to face with - when I initially started traveling was people. It wasn't statistics, it wasn't the image that I had seen growing up about poverty. It was people full of life and joy and laughter, and I found that there was so much that we could connect over and we shared far more similar than we did different."

EVENT ALERT

The Mindful Materials Summit, hosted by Textile Arts LA, is taking place on September 15th-16th at the Helms Design Center in Los Angeles. Kestrel will be moderating a panel focused on Material Accessibility on the 15th. If you are interested in attending, you can purchase tickets at the link here. Use promo code CCFRIENDS for $70 OFF the ticket price.