OPCS Embrace Sustainable Fashion

Juliet Webb OPC ’17 and Hannah Griffith OPC ’17 work at Nuuly, an innovative clothing rental retailer that is part of the URBN family of companies. The two OPCs returned to Penn Charter in November to speak to Upper School students in the Women in Business & Fashion and the Sustainability clubs about their experiences post-graduation. 

The movement toward “circular fashion” is based on the concept of a “circular economy,” rooted in the Indigenous principles of minimizing waste and using resources responsibly. Rather than following the linear model that has dominated the fashion industry for decades, which focuses on temporary trends and encourages mass consumption, circular fashion aims to reduce waste and maximize the lifespan of garments. This means reusing and recycling clothing as much as possible, passing a garment from person to person or store to store, and extending its life cycle until it is no longer wearable. 

Nuuly, under the direction of president and chief technology officer David Hayne OPC ’96, embraces this business model through clothing rental, enabling customers to rent six garments per month for a fixed price. It aims to rent each garment a total of 12 times before its "end-of-life," when it can either be sold at a deep discount at URBN store Reclectic, or donated to other sustainability projects such as FABSCRAP, which turns damaged garments into fabric insulation. Penn Charter students visited Reclectic’s Philadelphia location to see this process in action. 

After graduating from college, Webb told PC students, “I realized I want to work somewhere where I’m going to be making some kind of impact.” She said she felt lucky to work for a company where sustainability practices are built into the company ethos. Though sustainability is not yet “always top of mind” when people make clothing purchases, Webb said, Nuuly aims to change that by demonstrating how consumers can be both fashion forward and environmentally conscious. 

Webb and Griffith offered practical advice about the post-college job search, including to remain flexible and think about the different ways to use your skills and knowledge. Both OPCs emphasized how Penn Charter has influenced their career trajectories, from taking the Costume Design course at PC that inspired a love of fashion, to being a member of the same Women in Business & Fashion Club that they had returned to address.