‘i’m not a regular founder, i’m a cool founder’
Founders behind e-commerce site ZERO on the politics of sustainable fashion and Gen Z consumers.
Fed up with fast fashion and a consumption-driven social media climate, Ellie Konsker and Brigitte Canty, both 26-years-old, started ZERO, a sustainable e-commerce platform that pairs style with sustainability.
This week, I chatted with the dynamic duo about how they select brands for their platform, the biggest misconception about how Gen Z shops, and why this generation’s consumption habits are divided – proving that yes, from their politics to their shopping, Gen Z is not monolithic.
They also shared how, by prioritizing sustainability, ZERO can mostly circumvent tariff pressures. In fact, their locally-sourced products don’t rely on a long supply chain and most of their brands are US-based.
From sharing their outfits of the day as sustainable fashion founders to a series comparing trends in NYC to LA (throwing subtle shade on the fact that we all wear the same things), their social media content is founder-focused and personality-driven. And they just launched a very voicey Substack, Le Zero Girls, building yet another avenue for connection with their consumers. Be sure to check it out.
Here’s our conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.
What is ZERO and why did you start it?
Brigitte: ZERO is a platform for stylish, sustainable fashion brands. Ellie and I started it. We met in college. At the time, Ellie was working at Tom Ford and wanted to have a big career in fashion. I was at Nat Geo trying to figure out how to get people to care about the environment. And meanwhile, we're going to the University of Southern California, we're surrounded by people ordering so many packages a day from the Revolve’s and Amazon’s, and we just felt like our work was kind of disconnected from the immediate issue in front of us, which was this mass consumption. So Ellie came up with the idea to basically start a ‘sustainable Revolve.’
Ellie: All of the brands that we aggregate on our platform, they meet our extensive environmental and ethical requirements. The idea of ZERO was kind of a solution to a problem that we were experiencing ourselves. So, like, personally, I wanted to shop more sustainably, but I didn't know how to – and that's because there's a ton of greenwashing. I started compiling a list of brands that were sustainable and marketed themselves in that way. And then from Brigitte’s analytical vetting lens, a very minimal amount of those brands actually met our requirements. And so we decided to streamline that across the entire site and make sure that all the pieces on the site meet those extensive requirements.
Brigitte, you have a background in climate studies, right? Can you tell me about that?
Brigitte: I've worked kind of all across the environmental world. I worked at an environmental law firm for a little while, doing research papers. Then I worked for the Global Institute of Sustainability, and my job there was to code Fortune 500 companies, their sustainability reports. So basically like pull for keywords, see what people were using to greenwash what they were currently doing, and then publishing live. So that was kind of the most relevant experience for ZERO. And then I also worked at Nat Geo, where my job there was mobilizing people around a ‘Planet or Plastic’ campaign that they were doing. So basically trying to figure out, like, how do you get consumers to care about sustainability. I currently still work in the environmental space for a company that does, like the CIA, but for environmental crime. So kind of all across the space.
Walk me through the user experience of the platform.
Brigitte: We spend a lot of time figuring out how to make sustainability appealing to a consumer, because that's definitely a big issue. People claim that they want a sustainable product, but at the end of the day, when you're shopping, especially for fashion, you just want something that you'll look good in and that the price is right for. So that's been our main priority with ZERO, is making sure that first and foremost, people come to the platform because it has a really great curation. You can buy an entire outfit there, and you don't even need to worry about the sustainability, because you know that the work's already been done for you. So when people shop on our website, it feels like another e-commerce platform, in the sense of like, it's really well curated. But then when you go to check out and you're reading the product description, you can see a lot more visibility into the supply chain of the piece.
Ellie: We like to say that people should have the ability to understand where something is made, and what it's made of, and the exact fabric composition, who made it, etc. And so if you want to look deeper into that information, you have the ability to. We're a completely transparent platform, whereas other e-commerce platforms, I feel like the extent to which they give you is just fabric composition. The curation of ZERO, that's a huge pillar of what ZERO is. Because at the time, where we were kind of building the initial idea, we were thinking about what draws people, obviously to the Revolves and Netaporters of the world. And first and foremost, that's obviously style. And so I feel like, at the time, there was this large misconception about sustainable fashion and what that looks like. And so the entire premise of ZERO is trying to debunk that narrative of what sustainable fashion looks like. Because at the time, people thought of Patagonia and some more outerwear brands, but they weren't actually thinking fashionable brands.
How do you leverage social media to get traction on your platform?
Brigitte: So much focus on sharing the story and the founders behind the brand, because we feel like in consumer it's so crowded and there's so many brands. It's really hard to emotionally connect with a brand, but you can emotionally connect with the people and their story. It's just been so much Ellie and I in front of a camera, explaining ZERO, explaining our methodology behind the pieces on our platform, and putting personality on display in the hopes that people remember it.
Ellie: When you look at other e-commerce platforms that exist, they lack that entire transparency and emotional connection to the founders. Like, I genuinely have never seen the founder of Revolve make a video or, like, talk about what… I think it's a guy?... What he's passionate about. I think there's a disconnect to founders in the e-commerce platform world in general. So it's nice that people can feel connected to us on a deeper level.
Were there any specific videos that went the most viral that you can point to as a moment where you felt like that personality-driven content really took off?
Brigitte: Definitely one where we talk about things investors had said to us after we raised money.
Ellie: Wait, I had a guy call me, being like, ‘I don't think you should be posting that stuff on social media.’ And I was like, ‘This is the exact reason why this video is so viral, because of people like you.’
The other thing that like consistently goes viral is when we talk about trends that people are wearing in LA or New York, and I think it just is a really relatable piece of content, because I think a lot of people can just relate to the fact that, like, everyone's wearing the same thing, and everyone's shopping from the same places. And then they see the pieces that we're talking about.
Who is your average consumer?
Brigitte: We have a pretty wide range. Anything from like the young Gen Z girl who is pretty trend tapped in and is flocking to our website because we have polka dots, to the more like [shopper] in their 30s, who has had more life experience, and is really interested in ZERO for the sustainability side of it and the quality side of it.
Ellie: We also do have a really great range within our curation of pricing and different brands. And some brands are more timeless and chic, and then we have other brands that are a little bit more trend focused, but not in the way that fast fashion. So I feel like our target customer is gonna remain in that area anywhere from like 20-years-old to like 40-years-old.
How are you tracking those trends and keeping up with whatever the current most zeitgeist-ey thing is?
Brigitte: We've been taught to look to the runways and see what they're putting out there, and then start seeing what other brands are putting out there. You can kind of forecast that way. What we're definitely trying to do, though, is tap into some trends that will have relevancy across decades. Polka dots are a perfect example. Polka dots might come in and out, but they'll always exist. As opposed to some other trends, like really bright colors and things that just might lead to a quick purchase, but then there's no longevity behind it.
What's your biggest qualm with the way that Gen Z shops?
Brigitte: I feel like Gen Z is all about being unique and individual. ‘We love the planet. We want to stand out.’ But then they'll shop from platforms that, obviously it's fast fashion, but then also create carbon copies of outfits that everybody's wearing. So that's what we're trying to get across too. I feel like Gen Z's just been raised in this generation of like, influencers, and you seek to other people to feel like you can fit in with what you're wearing. And we're really trying to get across this message of individuality, and you actually don't need to be influenced. You can just see what your personal style is and shop that way. So that's really where we're trying to capture Gen Z, because I feel like they've kind of gone off track.
What is the biggest misconception about how Gen Z shops?
Ellie: I think the biggest misconception is that they prioritize value-driven shopping, because I think that they are the generation that cares more about sustainability, yet they are still shopping fast fashion, and that has always confused me.
So they’re not putting their money where their mouth is?
Ellie: Yes, and that might be we don't have as much disposable income, and the economy, and we could talk about that for days. But as we always talk about on our social media – it's actually more affordable to buy one quality piece that has longevity, that will last a lifetime, essentially, versus 10 really low quality pieces from a fast fashion company.
Brigitte: That being said, some of the most engaged people excited about ZERO are Gen Z. Lots of times they get a bad rep for being like, ‘you shop on fast fashion.’ But also, there's 30-year-olds that consume fast fashion. I feel like Gen Z, a good majority, too, is obsessed with second hand and is obsessed with sustainability. It's really divided.
Do you market differently to Gen Z and millennials? Or is it just, if the ‘ZERO girl’ likes it, the ‘ZERO girl,’ will like it?
Brigitte: We’re the same across the board. But definitely, with our marketing, sustainability is not the main thing that we're pushing at all. We really try to push this message of stand out, be the best dressed, find pieces other people aren't wearing. And then sustainability is an added bonus, because it just really is not a purchasing driver at this point in time.
Why do you think that is?
Brigitte: At the end of the day, if you're buying something, you're focused on the price, first and foremost, you're focused on the style. You're never going to buy something if it's not what you're looking to wear. And then sustainability is the third bucket. And I know a lot of people will prioritize sustainability and shop secondhand or shop on a platform like ZERO, but at the end of the day, you're not just going to buy something because it's sustainable, it needs to be right.
Ellie: That’s why we really created ZERO, because we didn't want people to have to sacrifice something in order to shop sustainably.
How, and if at all, are tariffs or the uncertainty around tariffs affecting your product, the way that you source your products, and what's available to your shoppers?
Brigitte: Most immediately, we work with a lot of brands based in Europe, in the UK, and I feel like there's been some hesitation around, ‘What will this do to shipping cost?’ That's like the main fear, or also, ‘What will this do to the product cost?’ But a majority of the brands that we work with have a completely localized supply chain, so if they are based in the UK, everything’s sourced, everything's made in the UK within a super small radius, and then it will just be shipped to a customer in the US for ZERO. But a majority of our brands are completely based in America. They source everything in America, manufacture in America, and once again, have this very localized supply chain. So even within America, it's not being shipped from state to state.
Ellie: The one thing that we’ve seen, at least from my end, because I’ve been doing a lot of outreach to new brands, is they’ve put a halt to working with some US marketplaces and other, wholesale platforms in the US until they know what the exact situation is gonna look like. Because right now, it’s ever changing. So in that case, like, that's the only pushback that I've got.
I know you said that most of your brands are super localized, even here in the US. Why do you think that is? Was that a priority that you were working with US brands?
Brigitte: Yes, [that was] definitely a priority initially for us, because obviously part of sustainability, too, is the end product being shipped. With a localized supply chain, that means that they're not sourcing fabric in Korea, then it's being shipped to China to be assembled into a product, then it's being shipped to a fulfillment center, and then to the customer. That's something we're really focused on, making sure that the product moves as little as possible before going to the end customer – just because of emissions and everything having to do with that. Also with ZERO, since we require so much visibility into the supply chain, that gets really complicated when there is a supply chain that exists in multiple different countries around the world. So we really found that the brands that most align with what we're looking to promote are locally made, and they have complete visibility into every person touching the product before it is sold to the customer.
Can you walk me through what your criteria are?
Brigitte: We will touch on everything from the founder story, why they decided to create the brand, why sustainability, to make sure that even that just sounds like a good fit for ZERO, and making sure that when they look to scale the brand, will sustainability always be a priority for them? And then we go into the current operations, looking at where they source fabric from, certifications around the fabric, their decision making with the types of fabric they source, why they source it with the specific person. Then we'll go into the production side of it, looking into living wages, how they pay people, how they transport the fabric, how it's dyed, all the way to the end life. We really like to get complete visibility into the entire process and hear the brand's decision making behind every thing that they do. Because that is the challenging part when vetting sustainable fashion. It's really hard to have one definition and one ‘right vs. wrong,’ because there's so many different ways that something can be done.
What have you learned about Gen Z consumers?
Brigitte: Gen Z is very active and vocal publicly about their feelings and what's bothering them. They're so willing to share things on social media, comment on issues that they think need their public opinion. But the issue then is a lot of times when Gen Z does go to purchase, they'll price things out …. and at the end of the day, do the thing that makes most price sense for them. So that's also what we found really interesting, is people will be so vocal, but at the end of the day, it's a lot of the time just for optics and to feel accepted. Because nowadays, I feel like people expect you to have an opinion on something.
That coupled with, I feel like Gen Z doesn’t get credit for their age. When you are navigating your teens through your 20’s – you're insecure, you're figuring out who you are – part of that is trying to fit in and shop and buy things to fit in. So I feel like a lot of times they get pressure if they're like millennials, with all this life experience being like ‘You say you care, but here you are not caring.’ But at the end of the day, it's a young kid trying to navigate and to feel comfortable in their own skin. There's a lot that they're working with.
But I'm very confident too, that when they age into more income and more life experience, Gen Z will start buying more with their values. It's just hard when you're a 15-year-old and everyone in school’s on TikTok in a bikini, and you're like, ‘No, but I care about sustainability.’ It just doesn't stick as well.
A new age of political pessimism
Today I guest wrote a piece for ’s
, a must-read newsletter from the Survey Center on American Life. Dan is a leading expert on the youth partisan gender gap, and is currently writing a book on the topic. In , he regularly publishes polling-based commentary on growing trends in American culture and politics. You can read my piece, ‘A New Age of Political Pessimism,’ some of which will found familiar to readers of The Up and Up, here.Noteworthy reads
Gen Z Is Choosing ‘Explorationships’ Over Traditional Relationships, Sammi Caramela for Vice
DNC leader announces plans to primary members of his own party, Dylan Wells for The Washington Post
The gig economy is growing 3x faster than the traditional workforce, and Gen Z is leading the charge: ‘They don’t trust the old system’, Sara Braun for Fortune