MILAN — A tour amongst factories offered to finish consumers is one in every of the implementations setting Portuguese brand ISTO apart on the subject of transparency.

Slightly than merely talking about its environmental and social commitment, the corporate got here up with the concept of “factourism” to let customers experience first-hand how its products are made.

The project adds to initiatives that range from providing price transparency to on-demand production that supports the eco mindset behind the brand, which was launched in 2017 by a trio of young talents hailing from different industries.

Pedro Palha, cofounder and chief executive officer of ISTO, matches the fashionable archetype of the Millennial entrepreneur: on the move, curious, clear headed and determined. Boasting a background in business management, he developed an interest in fashion and the direct-to-consumer model while working for a German company in Mexico in 2014. Upon his return to Portugal, Palha and his previous collaborator Vasco Mendonça — who specialized in promoting and digital marketing — began to check a brand that would answer to their personal demand for value-per-money clothing of understated elegance.

They were encouraged by their homeland’s potential, as Portugal boasts a dense concentration of textile factories supplying international brands. “I feel our fashion industry exports around 95 percent of what it produces….We have now a whole lot of quality and expertise, but we don’t have a whole lot of fashion culture in comparison with [other countries],” Palha noted.

The scarcity of local brands further widened the gap to fill out there, encouraging Palha, Mendonça and graphic designer Pedro Gaspar to eventually start ISTO and root the corporate in sustainability and classic designs.

“All of us liked well-made clothing but couldn’t find any at a reasonable price. Every part we liked at that moment was either very low cost or very expensive,” Palha said. “But most significantly, we wanted to construct something that had a purpose. Every part needed to be consistent and to make sense.”

Hence the product assortment is hinged on a everlasting collection of wardrobe essentials conceived for longevity with their minimalist designs and with circularity in mind, given they’re crafted using organic and recyclable fabrics provided by certified suppliers. The brand also reflects the understated nonchalance of Portuguese style, the country’s colours via the natural palette and an overall sense of ease and pragmatism that outline the local way of living.

Standing for the Portuguese term for “this,” the brand’s name itself is the acronym of its 4 pillar features, that are independent considering, superb quality, transparency and organic textiles. Palha particularly underscored the financial independence of the corporate, which enables the founders to set their very own conditions by way of the frequency of drops and to avoid following the style industry’s seasonality and trends.

“We took six months to develop our white T-shirt and one other six for the Oxford shirt…the entire brand began with the 2 most essential items for men…with no money and no marketing budget, only our good storytelling,” said Palha, underscoring that the opening of the brand’s first store in Lisbon in 2018 “helped us to grow and to reinvest every thing in our collection.”

Launched as a menswear brand, ISTO’s collection now encompasses basics corresponding to T-shirts, linen shirts, polos, corduroy pants, chinos, wool sweaters and safari jackets. A womenswear selection, an undyed line and accessories corresponding to scarves, belts, beanies and baseball caps are included within the offering.

The “Factourism” project kicked off earlier this 12 months to further enhance storytelling while serving the general mission of empowering customers with knowledge and transparency. Attendees to the initiative can learn concerning the processes and understand how organic clothes are made via free, guided tours to the northern a part of the country, where the local textile hub and the factories ISTO works with are situated.

Thus far each trip counted around 26 people, chosen upon registration on the brand’s website. “We had reached even 200 people subscribing for a visit, with some users hailing even from Singapore,” Palha said. The cofounder is committed to organizing tours more continuously in light of the rising interest and since he believes that “nowadays is very important to be near our customers and provides them a personalised experience.”

One other tool ISTO leverages to perpetuate its full-transparency mission is its website, where the lists of suppliers is displayed. Mostly local SMEs, these include the family business NGS Malhas producing the jersey for ISTO’s T-shirts and sweatshirts; the Orfama firm for knitwear; the Docas Confecções shirt specialist, and the Somelos company that supplies the shirting fabrics, from linen to flannels, to call a couple of. Lamosa also manufactures the brand’s bestselling work jackets, which can be found on-demand through a service that further mirrors ISTO’s quest to limit over-production, reduce waste and minimize its environmental impact.

On the brand’s online platform, extensive information on the production processes, deep dive on fabrics’ features and garments care guides are flanked by pricing details, which enable users to have a transparent understanding of how much ISTO paid for every component of a garment.

For instance, the fabric cost of single T-shirt selling at 34 euros is exhibited to be 12.65 euros, broken down in the costs for the material at 6.38 euros; for the label at 0.14 euros; for the labor at 4.64 euros, and for the transportation at 0.09 euros. Within the case of a 179 euro shirt, the fabric cost of the garment also shows expenses for salaries, marketing and rents.

Overall, ISTO’s prices range from 34 euros to 275 euros, with the typical basket totaling around 140 euros, Palha said.

Despite the gradual expansion of the assortment, bestsellers remain the fundamental T-shirts in classic colorways, “that are unattainable to beat since Day One,” along with the work jacket that Palha defined as a money driver because of its higher price tag.

Besides its e-commerce, the brand has 4 physical stores in Lisbon, starting from its first flagship within the Príncipe Real neighborhood to the newest unit, which opened in the town’s oldest mall Amoreiras this month. Recently the corporate also opened a pop-up store in Oporto — a retail format that Palha is considering to expand abroad within the near future, ranging from Paris.

The label already has a global footprint since sales online and outdoors Portugal account for 60 percent of total revenues. Overall, last 12 months ISTO’s sales reached 1.2 million euros they usually are expected to double in 2022, Palha said.

The U.S. is the best-performing market online, followed by Germany, France and the U.K., along with Portugal.

Today, a lot of the collection still targets the male audience, which drives 90 percent of sales. Even when through the years ISTO built on its womenswear offering, Palha said the corporate will now change strategy and halt the event of that division.

“I feel we’re not putting enough effort on making women’s products at this moment, also because we don’t have like enterprise capital money [backing us]. We are able to’t do a whole lot of stuff, so we’d like to decide on fastidiously what we do and we’re taking a step back to deal with men’s and, again, on [understanding] what’s the aim of ladies’s. Should we do or not do women’s? Is ISTO intended to be for ladies or is there even room for an additional women’s company? And if there’s room, would it not be under [the] ISTO [banner] or through one other brand? What’s our differentiation?” Palha said.

“Also there’s an interesting purchase behavior to strengthen this [focus on men’s]: there are less competitors [in terms of brands] and male customers are way more loyal to every brand. They buy less [frequently] but higher. And after they do buy, they buy more [from ISTO] than women, who’re all the time in search of latest things, so we’re not that attractive for them.”

Palha’s intention is to pivot investments toward the addition of other wardrobe staples, boost outerwear to raised cover the winter season and enhance the accessories offering.

Most recently, ISTO introduced blue jeans and cashmere sweaters. The previous were developed with denim supplied by Italian specialist Candiani to make sure a sustainable approach to one of the vital polluting fashion items; the latter are ISTO’s first product manufactured outside Portugal since they’re entirely produced by the Italian textile company Cariaggi. Blue jeans and cashmere sweaters retail at 138 euros and 275 euros each, respectively.

Asked about competitors, Palha showed appreciation for Swedish brand Asket but underscored the difference in scale, following and backing. From his end, he remained open to the thought of getting investors in the corporate so long as they carry additional value in expertise and know-how, quite than simply a financial injection.

“We don’t lie, we wish to make cash but we wish to do that in the long term. My dream is to depart this company to my grandchildren,” Palha concluded.