Fashion kills wildlife and puts numerous species at risk. Many fashion brands are striving to solve this issue by creating sustainable clothing or reducing the amount of chemicals used. 

I have interviewed In-ha Seon, who is one of the founders of the fashion brand ‘Nakes’. At first, I asked her to briefly introduce her company. 

She stated that “The main goal of the brand is to become a global brand that has established a sensuous timeless design and unique style to have an overall influence on the fashion industry. Our social mission aims to reduce environmental pollutants by replacing animal skins through vegetable leather and leather recycling”. 

After asking her about the brand, I asked her about the overall process she had to undergo to officially open her brand. 

Woo, Soo-min. Photo of the Founders of Nakes, In-ha Seo and Ji heun Seo. Maeil Jung-gae, 14th September, 2021

 “During my tenure at my company, it produced more than 500,000 pieces of clothing per year for the world's third-largest global fashion company. In the process, a lot of clothing waste was generated so I felt the need to take action on the issue of environmental pollution. While attending the KAIST MBA Graduate School of Business, I was able to learn how to convert environmental pollutant reduction figures and the methods to expand the business. However, after the founding of our brand, it was difficult to find eco-friendly materials and create a profit model due to the high price of raw and subsidiary materials. So, we spent a lot of time in the process of finding factories or experts who can help us overcome these challenges.”

To conclude, she stated “Although clothing is one of the essential elements for human life, the overproduction of clothing has become one of the biggest factors polluting the environment. To live sustainably on the planet in the future, many market-leading fashion brands and companies must work hard to make solutions to this problem. Also,  I think it is important for the government to create minimum environmental regulations for the production of clothing”.  

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