Acala Stem
Video Entry
Business Information
Female Founder:
Leanne Savage
Links:
How has the business been funded to date?
Bootstrapped
Tell us about your business:
We’re a plant-based ethical luxury brand championing lotus silk – the world’s most sustainable and luxurious textile, handmade from lotus flower stems and produced with no water, gas, oil, electricity or emissions.
Our customers are deeply passionate about the preservation of the planet and are an extension of our team, forging an army of conscious citizens eager to change the world. Our purpose is to raise the benchmark of sustainability and social impact. We’re keeping loom weaving alive, which is endangered since the rise of mass textile production. We have fierce environmental and humanitarian values, bridging luxury and empathy for modern times.
How would $5k or $10k enable you to create more profit and impact in your business?
Purchasing inventory with higher order quantities, can bring down the price per metre, therefore boosting profits. High end fabrics ethically-made have higher wholesale costs, meaning funding is crucial to boost growth.
Funding is not only a financial boost, but also a boost to morale and motivation of the wider team across our supply chain.
We need backing from those with similar core values, because traditional luxury brands aren’t interested in such ethical luxury textiles because of the higher cost price. The responsibility is on us to raise the benchmark of sustainability and social impact, and lead the future of luxury.
Please outline what you would spend the grant on:
50% Inventory: 50% of $10k to purchase inventory, giving enough work to seamstresses to support them while meeting demands of customer waitlists.
50% Marketing: We won’t be spending the money on online ads. Instead we’ll be vigilant on making every single dollar count.
We’re launching a new range of apparel overseas (we’re doing work nobody has done before) and need a small portion of the funding to distribute garments to ambassadors for promotion. We’re also broadening stockists this year and will be using funding to engage as many opportunities as possible for scaling.
