Project Rise: ThreadForward, an industry-first upcycling program, spreads the gift of sleep through new children's pajamas
Company Westin Hotels & Resorts
Introduction Date March 14, 2018
Project Website http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/about/sleep.threadforward.html?language=en_US
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Project Rise: ThreadForward is an unprecedented sustainability program that collects, processes and reweaves hotel bed linens, transforming them into children’s pajamas. Upcycling sheets into pajamas had never been done before the inception of this program, and to manufacture children’s pajamas that met the CPSC’s stringent regulations required the development of an entirely new and proprietary process pairing fashion industry best practices with innovation. In the first six months, Westin collected more than 30,000 pounds of linen from select hotels around the world; 97 percent of what was collected has been diverted from landfill, leading to 2,000 sets of pajamas. These pajamas are distributed to children in need, whose circumstances can contribute to shortened and more fragmented sleep. Committed to helping guests get a good night’s sleep, Westin saw an opportunity to extend the gift of sleep beyond the walls of hotels, empowering sleep in an entirely new way. While sleep is a key foundation of well-being, a third of all adults and a majority of children are sleep deprived, according to the World Sleep Society. Creating and keeping bedtime routines leads to better and longer sleep, which in turn improves physical and emotional well-being. The simple act of putting on pajamas as part of a bedtime routine alongside brushing teeth or reading a book, can improve a child’s quality of sleep and cement long-term sleeping habits. Westin also learned from its distribution partner, non-profit Delivering Good, that pajamas are one of the most requested items of clothing sought by various charitable organizations across the United States. Pajamas were the perfect extension of Westin’s commitment to good sleep habits, which fall within the brand’s overarching commitment to helping guests maintain their well-being while traveling. These pajamas use hotel bedsheets that are at their end of their lifecycle and/or have been discarded due to tears in material. The lifecycle is defined by the number of washes and the way the sheet loses brightness (color) through washing. Sheets with any sort of stain are discarded immediately. Sheets are cut into very small pieces and shredded into fibrous tufts that look like cotton balls. The fibers are then spun into an entirely new thread which gets woven into a new fabric that is used for the pajamas.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Last year, with creative partner Venables Bell & Partners (VB&P), Westin introduced a global campaign called Let’s Rise, taking on the distractions and unpredictability of travel and empowering people to regain control of their well-being while traveling. As part of the brand’s rally-cry, Westin looked to their associates for an idea to empower the communities where they live and work. The brand launched a challenge, Project Rise, asking associates to submit those ideas through the lens of the Six Pillars of Well-being; one idea would be selected and solution-funded by the brand. More than 325 associates from around the world submitted ideas; one inspired insight encouraged the brand to repurpose discarded bed linens that often don’t have a centralized recycling process or recipient. Pajamas were the ideal solution, because of their direct connection to sleep and going to bed. Because Westin is not in the manufacturing business, the brand tapped Clean the World, an organization best known for its soap recycling programs (and Westin’s partner in that project). Clean the World engaged Divergent Energy, who sources the innovative technologies and solutions, to develop the hospitality industry’s first system to collect, process and reweave the discarded linens into new fabric. VB&P was an instrumental partner from the development of the Project Rise associates program, through the ideation and execution of the ThreadForward initiative. The pajamas were designed by the Westin team, collaborating on all of the program’s visual elements with VB&P. Designed in Westin’s signature color palette – zest, mint and flax (grey) – the pajamas feature a whimsical illustration of a child rising over a moon with a book: a nod to a better sleep empowering a better day. The name ThreadForward was selected because it is evocative of being the first in the industry to take this forward-thinking approach to sustainability practice. Westin is repurposing and reimaging an otherwise discarded thread in a way that can fundamentally push forward and elevate the lives of young people through the power of better sleep. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, an estimated 15 million tons of textiles are thrown away annually in the United States alone; 11 million of this goes directly to the landfills. This has extremely negative effects on the environment. Decomposing linens release methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, into the air. In addition, the chemicals and dyes used in the linens can leach into the soil and pollute the groundwaters near landfills. Upcycling textiles allows for materials to be diverted from landfills, and these pajamas are a social impact program that help children and families in need. By creating this program, and the ability to manufacture pajamas (and other apparel) out of upcycled bed linens, there is tremendous opportunity for the entire hospitality industry to follow suit. Clean the World and Divergent Energy are exploring ways to make this manufacturing process scalable so other hotel brands can join the movement, and there is opportunity for other industries with high linen turnover (healthcare, food and beverage, fitness/sports) to participate, as well.
Who worked on the project?
Brian Povinelli, SVP and Global Brand Leader, Westin Hotels & Resorts Catherine Flint, Senior Manager, Global Brand Management & Marketing, Westin Hotels & Resorts Caroline Thoroski, Housekeeping Supervisor, Westin Trillium House, Blue Mountain Katie Roberts, Senior Director, Global Communications, Westin Hotels & Resorts Will McGinness, Partner/Executive Creative Director, Venables Bell & Partners Shawn Seipler, Founder and CEO, Clean the World Jim Gosnell, President, Divergent Energy Lisa Gurwitch, CEO & President, Delivering Good Charles Morin, PhD, President of World Sleep Society
View the project video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cTeeIBhC5k
Project Undefined.
Company Undefined Jewelry
Introduction Date November 10, 2017
Project Website http://www.undefinedjewelry.com
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Undefined Jewelry (Project Undefined.) Undefined Jewelry is a gender-fluid, handcrafted jewelry brand based in New York and Seoul, South Korea. While fixed ideas and concepts can be utilized towards creating a common collective, they often transmute into unalterable structures that frequently fail at defining us. Undefined Jewelry see ‘labels’ as a deteriorating, imminently obsolete ideal as the brand identifies with those who envision themselves beyond those labels and definitions inscribed by the past. Emerging in November 2017, Undefined Jewelry challenges the traditional concept of jewelry branding and design by being fluid in our choice of precious materials, methods of communication as well as designs that disrupt definitions and stereotypes of beauty. Always in collaboration with international artists as all of our collections are project-based, instead of following a traditional fashion calendar, Undefined. evokes inspiration from fine art to create a unique line-up of rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces that goes beyond what we’ve seen in jewelry brands. Design for a better world: Production Method That Everyone Wins & Celebrate Local Businesses To Undefined Jewelry, a copy-and-paste production method is anathema. We acknowledge and celebrate all kinds of artists including jewelers - particularly when it comes to providing the ideal production environment. All of our products are locally handcrafted in New York to support local businesses where our creations are proudly presented in a truly global setting. Not only exclusive to designers in a traditional sense, we include jewelers and artisans also as master craftspeople whom historically always existed behind-the-scene. A handmade production approach enables us to support and celebrate everyone's unique identity from jewelers to customers. Handmade production makes each product one-and-only, even within the same design, to show our commitment to an irreplaceable identity.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Undefined Jewelry challenge the concept of aging throughout the entire brand development process by involving the creative of multiple generations. The design development team is comprised of individuals across various age groups including individuals over the age of fifty. We worked on user-centric research focused on a broad population’s perception of beauty before developing our first collection. In-depth data was collected to determine if there exists a noticeable difference in answers between two generations. Throughout the process, the brand was able to curate more creative ideas in designs as we have a broader range of design resources. Also, we achieved stronger capability in production methods of jewelry design. During the brand and design development process, Undefined Jewelry co-worked with at least a person who is in age of 50 and developed in different sectors to learn how that would affect a business brand and a brand. By exploring multi-generational work environment and navigating different ways of working procedure, Undefined Jewelry learned how to utilize and harmonize different assets each generation has. CONCLUSION #1. Going forward, the brand aims to keep questioning about conventional dynamics of presented beauty in fashion industry and media. By sharing unique and special stories of individuals and working in multi-generational environment, we challenge existing fixed ideas that separate generations and as a result, creates biased perception of maturity. As our designs to production method harmonize diversified types of beauty in different stages in life by presenting unique beauty indifferent individuals, we sees potential of delivering and defining new standard of beauty that is inhabited in each of us. #2. Partnering with older generation not only allowed the brand to have outcomes that have broader appeal aesthetically as each brand element goes through process where multiple generations are involved and work together, but also empowered the business capability with more production options and design resources were given, as different generations make synergy during the process- such as technical accessibility and design inspiration. Thank you for reviewing our application. It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for – and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool – for love – for your dreams – for the adventure of being alive. -”The Invitation” , Oriah
Who worked on the project?
Founder, Designer & Creative Director : Kiera Junghyun Kim Photographer: Joshua Aronson Videographer: Hae Eun Park Model: Jalen Dominique
View the project video: https://www.instagram.com/undefined.jewelry/
Prose Personalized Hair Care
Why is this project worthy of an award?
In 2018, consumers experience personalized services in all aspects of their lives - from fashion to food to music. Personalization went from optional to expected. Now, thanks to artificial intelligence, a new frontier in beauty has opened up, allowing personalized products to be produced at scale and letting consumers share real input to optimize formulas for the collective community. Prose’s founders - a veteran team of former L’Oreal and Phyto executives with more than 40 years of combined experience in the beauty industry - set out to create the first beauty platform powered by AI to diagnose, create and distribute customized beauty products through professionals. The result is Prose - the first custom hair care brand made fresh to order that uses AI to develop personalized, professional hair care formulas. Prose’s proprietary algorithm and machine learning combs through a consumer’s 85 data points to develop as many as 50 billion combinations and helps the company scale, however, the brand sees tech as the enabler, not the full story. Prose understands that stylists - having a human and professional touch - remain an integral part of the experience to co-create alongside the AI. Having stylist input and expertise has always and will always be a crucial part of the hair care experience - a factor that Prose has incorporated into its model. Whether consumer’s collaborate with their own professional stylists or go directly to prosehair.com, they benefit from hair care specialists and algorithm-driven formulations to create personalized hair care. Prose not only takes into account your hair type and goals, but also their lifestyle habits (diet, exercise, stress, styling habits) and geographic location (UV, pollution, humidity, water quality and wind) to adapt to the consumer’s climate and seasonal changes. This ensures that ingredients are bottled to effectively treat and nourish hair for long-term health all year long. The brands takes into account all of the different parameters of hair needs so a consumer never has to choose which issue to treat. For example, curly shampoo or volumizing shampoo - with Prose, they can now have it all! Consumers can even choose if they want their products to be vegan, gluten-free, silicone-free and fragrance-free. Additionally, all Prose products are free of sulfates, parabens, dyes, phthalates, and GMO and Cruelty-Free, approved by PETA. As a finishing touch consumers can customize their fragrance. Prose has a collection of 7 exclusive fragrances developed by famed nose, Karine Dubreuil. Whether a consumer’s issue is dry hair, dandruff or color-damage, Prose works to configure the best possible shampoo, conditioner and hair mask by combining artificial intelligence capabilities and stylists’ expertise. Starting at just $25 for shampoos and conditioners and $38 for hair masks, Prose makes professional, salon-quality hair care accessible to consumers everywhere.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
The hair care industry is shifting as the line between mass and professional brands blurs. With traditional professional products sold at big box stores and Amazon, consumers expect more value in their products to justify a premium cost. The solution: Prose’s customized shampoo, conditioner and mask that are salon-quality and not available at e-commerce giants such as Amazon or at mass retailers. No other beauty brand is using AI and machine learning to process 85 data points to create as many as 50 billion unique formulas for each individual, backed by a team of in-house chemists and engineers. Prose has designed its production process to recalibrate formulations based on feedback, so its algorithm is always improving according to the consumer’s needs. This not only benefits consumers an individual level, but also educates the algorithm to optimize formulations for the entire community. On the retail side, since Prose has complete control of the supply chain and is made to order, each product is by nature diversion-free for salons and stylists. Since the uniqueness of Prose lies in the customized formulas, which can only be effective with an accurate and holistic consultation, Prose believes guidance from a professional stylist is key. This makes stylists a product co-creator versus just a distributor, reinventing retail for the salon industry. Salons look to Prose to help boost their retail sales, which have been declining due to diversion within the professional hair care industry. In addition to the risk-free factor (there is no inventory to hold or minimum buys) they make a 50% commission on the initial purchase from a client and 25% any repurchase from their clients whether they buy online through Prose or offline.. Its unique innovation has results that show Prose is on the cutting edge of the hair industry. So far, Prose has grown 3-digits month-over-month since the launch in 2017, and have completed more than 20,000 Prose consultations during the last 3 months. Hair salons that tested the solution are seeing their retail sales on haircare multiplied by 4 on average since they switched to Prose. Prose is working to build its community of stylists and salons and currently partners with 16 salons in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Who worked on the project?
Arnaud Plas - Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Paul Michaux - Co-founder and Vice President of Marketing Nicolas Mussat - Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Catherine Taurin - Co-founder and Research & Development Advisor
View the project video:
Pure, Potent + Personalized: The World's First Zero Waste Organic Beauty Brand
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Pure, potent and personalized, LOLI is on a mission to Stir Up Beauty™ and make a conscious change – equal parts ethical, effective and empowering. LOLI (which stands for Living Organic Loving Ingredients) launched in March of 2018 with a purely fresh approach to clean and customizable beauty. A new ‘vertical’ brand, LOLI is the world’s first zero waste approach to personalizing organic beauty. LOLI’s 100% waterless and food grade skin, hair and body products are available online and at pop-up blending bars. LOLI was founded by a former L’Oréal executive, Tina Hedges. Ethically sourced and sustainably-made, LOLI’s products up-cycle ingredients from organic food supply. LOLI’s PLUM ELIXIR, for example, is an edible blend of oils (more effective than argan or marula) made from repurposed, crushed organic plum kernels. These kernels are usually discarded during the production of organic prune juice or pitted plums. With its commitment to sustainability and purity, LOLI never dilutes or pollutes its products, opting instead to develop 100% waterless solutions and incorporate juices, ferments or distillates. LOLI’s products are also packaged in reusable, food grade glass containers which can be repurposed for food storage. The products are labeled using 100% certified compostable materials. LOLI’s promise of 100% transparency in sourcing and formulating impacted package design, resulting in a graph to indicate every ingredient and the level used in each product. Going a step further to un-bottle beauty with its earth-friendly approach, LOLI replaces secondary cartons with pouches made of an innovative 100% compostable material – until now never used outside of the food sector. LOLI is the first beauty company to be a member of MADE IN A FREE WORLD and is committed to the stopping of people trafficking. LOLI is currently a member of Grand Central Tech’s accelerator Class of 2017/18 and also was a winning finalist in Project Entrepreneur’s Class of 2017.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
We've rethought every part of the experience of beauty to stir things up. From ingredient sourcing and purity to package design and materials. No beauty company has food grade packaging that cane be repurposed for food storage. We're also the first to remove secondary cartons with our break-through 100% certified compostable ouches. Our commitment to being earth friendly + people free (MADE IN A FREE WORLD) takes us beyond a tech enabled approach to customizable personal care. We are stirring everything up to make a conscious change.
Who worked on the project?
Tina Hedges, Founder + CEO
View the project video: https://vimeo.com/255600840
Rebel Nell
Why is this project worthy of an award?
This project is incredibly innovative because it found a way to repurpose discarded graffiti, layers of paint that would typically contaminate the ground, into works of wearable art while providing a solution for generational poverty. We are a socially motivated jewelry company that creates unique and individual pieces of jewelry from fallen graffiti. The purpose of our company is to provide employment for women who are transitioning out of homelessness. We employ them right out of the shelter, provide them not only with employment but all of the wrap around services they need to transition to an independent life including but not limited to financial literacy, business education, life wellness, housing resources, legal aid, etc. Our unique approach to repurposing wasted material and bringing attention to homelessness in our community has been nationally recognized. We pride ourselves on being a self-sustaining social enterprise. At Rebel Nell, we operate under a “teach a woman to fish” mentality. If awarded, this will take our company to the next level and further establish our stake in the social impact sector to educate and empower our ladies. We have just hired our 15th woman in Detroit and have graduated 6 women into the traditional workforce. With this acknowledgement by Fast Company, we have the opportunity to hire and impact the lives of women and their families on a broader scale. Rebel Nell provides a strong support system for the women that we hire. We aim to help them transition through challenging situations, overcome barriers that have been prohibitive in the past and empower them to transition to an independent life. At Rebel Nell, we've launched T.E.A.; Teaching. Empowering. Achieving. T.E.A. is a non-profit that is dedicated to upholding the beliefs shared by Rebel Nell and working closely with our employees to further the objective of enhancing their lives. Our non-profit invests in training, education, skills development, coaching and mentorship services, including basic employment opportunities, and to provide other support and assistance to homeless and formerly homeless women in the Detroit, Michigan area. We offer flexible work schedules so that our team members have time to focus on their families, in addition to working full-time. All employees earn a living wage, well above minimum wage, to help them overcome financial challenges. Further, we offer micro-loan assistance, legal aid, housing assistance, yoga and wellness classes and team building experiences, among many other programs.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
The design of the jewelry itself creates empowerment and self-esteem. Each piece is one of kind not only because of the cross section of graffiti but because of the woman who made it. Her vision is reflected in each piece. The power of creation results in self-esteem building. There is a beautiful transformation that occurs when their vision is turned into a creation that someone believes in enough to purchase and wear proudly because it is beautiful and finely crafted. We believe Rebel Nell can be taken on a national scale with the power to impact thousands.
Who worked on the project?
Amy Peterson, Co-Founder, Rebel Nell Diana Russell, Co-Founder, Rebel Nell
View the project video:
