Sir plus is a British based niche fashion brand who uses the waste fabric from England to Italy that are in no longer any use to factories and repurposed into new handmade garments preventing waste material. Sir plus also aims to be as sustainable as possible and uses recyled material in products such as buttons and packaging. This brand appealed to me as I have never heard of a fashion company consider using another companies waste product, but they do it very elegantly. Sir plus use the waste fabric and create very formal and very British looking garments, which you would barely be able to tell were created from something considered as waste in the industry. The brand initially started off as a waist coat and boxer short small company, selling their products from a market stall in London in 2012. The brand began to introduce new products into their range such as socks and ties, and from there created their first online store, and opened their one and only shop. After realizing the popularity of their brand was enough to help expend their company Sir plus turned to kickstarter, an online crowd funding project site, and set out to meet a target to help bring their company off their feet by pitching the idea of a store on wheels to a crowd of backers on kickstarter, the pitch got the company their ÂŁ15,000 target whilst also introducing a whole new costumer base to their products.
Sir Plus’ predominate aim and objective is to create stylish, well made, British formal wear from waste fabrics produced from factories across Europe to help prevent waste materials digested back into landfills. Along with being sustainable by using cabbage waste fabric to produce their products from, sir plus also makes their dispatch and returns forms from recycled paper and use coconut buttons for fastenings on their products. Also by mainly selling their products online and in markets, sir plus is also helping towards the environment by keeping outside and online and not wasting unnecessary energy on electricity inside lots of stores, the personality that the brand reflects also compliments the idea of selling from wooden carts at markets, it sets the personality of the brand that sir plus is trying to portray well.
As a niche brand that has such an original idea of how to produce products, there is not many competitors for them in the fashion market . Although no one else has the same idea and concept as them, a company called ‘ananas anam’ from London came up with the idea of creating fabrics made from pineapples, which create a non-woven textile, a fabric bonded together without knitting or weaving, from the long fibers found in pineapple leaves.The company created Piñatex, a unique natural and sustainable textile made from pineapple leaf fibers, a by-product from the pineapple harvest. Their aim, like Sir Plus,is to create sustainable fashion. Ananas Anam use no fertilizer, pesticides or extra water, helping to contribute to the future eco system as much as the company possibly can. The pinatex produced is a thick, sturdy material and is used as a substitute of what would have been leather products, for products such as furniture, accessories, fashion and even towards the motormobile industry. The brand ananas anam is similar concept as sir plus by trying to remain as sustainable as possible, sir plus by reusing unwanted waste fabrics from factories, coconut buttons and using recycled materials for other items such as packaging for their products, where as ananas anam source their materials straight from the earth at the source and try to remain sustainable throughout of the production of their pinatex.
Another competitor that would be close to the concept Sir Plus has would be people tree. People tree is a brand that solely wants to create sustainable, organic and fair trade products for their consumers and want to make sure their garments are still as fashionable as other normal clothing brands, giving costumers and consumers not excuse or reason not to shop with their brand. Like sir plus, people tree sell both menswear and womenswear products, this broadens their consumer and costumer base and increases sales, popularity and ‘word on the street’ of the brand. People tree believe it’s important to keep their fairtrade cooperation fluent throughout every aspect of their brand and business and are a certified world fairtrade organization, and were in fact the first clothing company to ever receive this award. People Tree developed the first integrated supply chain for organic cotton from farm to final product and were the first organization to achieve global organic textile standard certification on a supply chain .People tree also ensure that they pioneer sustainable methods of production to minimize environmental impact. Not only is the majority of their cotton certified organic and Fairtrade, all their clothes are dyed using safe and azo-free dyes. The company source as many products as we can locally, choosing natural and recycled products over synthetic and non-biodegradable materials. We ship as many of our products as we can by sea, instead of air, and weave fabric by hand, reducing our impact on global warming. In many ways people tree and sir plus are similar, both in their concept for their sustainable brand and their concern for their impact on the environment. Both brands do all they can to make sure their brand is functioning in the most sustainable way as it possibly can. Sir plus, by using waste fabrics which are in no longer use to factories across Europe, selling products from market stools instead of in lots of store which would waste global energy, sourcing other materials such as coconut to produce buttons and using recycled materials to create packaging for their costumers products and people tree by making sure every possible aspect of their brand is functioning in a fairtrade way and organic materials and products are used fluently throughout their products.
Along with their identity of their heritage brand of remaining to their market stalls across London markets, Sir Plus have also produced a website. Within their website you can purchase products from their current stock, including mens and womens wear. The mens wear range is vastly larger then the womens wear section, predominantly because sir plus started up as a menswear brand and have only just recently branched out into womens wear products. On the website you can also go to an about page, where the sir plus team have given a short description of their brand, it’s concept and their goal as a sustainable clothing company. On Sir Plus’ website you can also find links to locations of their market stalls, kickstarted projects and information on delivery and returns. I personally don’t think the company website reflects their brand well. Sir Plus has a strong heritage personality and identity to their brand and it’s products, personally I think their website is too minimalist for the identity their products, market stalls and packaging portray. Although their products are quite luxury and aim toward a mature audience I think they should have kept their British and heritage personality present throughout their website and I think this is a downfall for the brand as it struggles to reflect who they are.
As a brand that has chosen to only really sell products on market stalls and from their studio only in London, I think having a website is important for this brand as it helps to reach a wider clientele, also having their products situated on notonthehighstreet.com also puts their brand into a consumer base who would have the potential to be interested in a brand like sir plus. Websites such as notonthehighstreet.com are perfect for a brand like sir plus with such a pacific concept as the website promotes quirky and niche businesses as costumers who browse that site tend to be looking for products that are literally ‘not on the high street’ this is a great company for sir plus to be involved with to help promote and sell their product.
Sir plus is a brand that tries to remain to it’s original aesthetic. The company still sell most of their products on their traveling stools throughout the markets of London and also from their store based in London. Although this is the main selling point of their products sir plus also have a few products for sale on a website called ‘;notonthehighstreet.com’ a website were they sell products which are uncommon to find in your day to day store. Advertisement isn’t the brands main concern. As a brand that likes to stay humble, and faithful to it’s market start up, advertisement wouldn’t necessarily be useful to the brand as they relocate a lot and their products change constantly due to their lack of consistent material. Sir plus do connect with their costumer through social media having all instagram, twitter and a facebook page. The brand although being involved in social media doesn’t promote themselves enough through out their sites, having about only 2,000 followers on each social media page.
As a British born brand the company is very focused on their brand and product personality. Sir plus like to remain as quite a posh day-to-day and formal wear clothing brand, making casual blazers, cashmere socks, waist coats, hunting jackets and other products. The brand exceeds in sticking to their brand essence, from their clothing, brown paper packaging rustic old fashion font bases. The brand is easily recognizable from the nautical colour scheme throughout their products, and subtly prints such as pinstripes and ditsy prints. Sir plus hold their concept and identity well. They have a strong British heritage essence to their brand and it is fluent throughout their products and London market stall selling strategy, although I do think the brand should consider their overall appearance more and carry through to their website as I don’t think it reflects them well enough to give the brand a recognizable appearance it could easily promote. Sir Plus also need to improve on their social media, even though their products are aimed at a more mature target market who may not be as fluent in social media, it would help reach out to their younger costumers and consumers and also help promote their company for free. Sir plus’ ethic and concept remains strong and apparent throughout all of their products, selling strategies and packaging. I think the brand does very well at remaining as sustainable as possible in each component of their brand as they can, and there are not many or if no other brands that have the idea of using waste fabrics to produce well made male and female British clothing. Overall sir plus is the perfect example of a niche brand that has one goal of helping contribute to saving the environment but also keeping their products desirable to the consumer, and I believe the brand does this gracefully and always keeps in mind where they came from.