Interview with Samantha Jones

Samantha Jones
Samantha Jones
Founder-CEO
Little Yellow Bird
Little Yellow Bird

We are currently in customer validation stage
At Little Yellow Bird, every step of the supply chain from farm to factory is tracked. It recently raised $1.2 million to develop a technology platform which will verify the origins of apparel. All its products are made in India with the people in the supply chain paid and treated fairly for their work. Founder-CEO Samantha Jones speaks to Subir Ghosh about its organic, ethically-produced product line.

Little Yellow Bird, a company based in New Zealand that produces ethical and sustainable workwear and basics, recently raised $1.2 million to develop a technology platform which will verify the origins of apparel in the garment industry in a quest to end modern-day slavery. The tech platform, called Origins, will use NEM blockchain technology to trace garments from origin to sale. Founder-CEO Samantha Jones became the first woman globally to have a project funded via the NEM community fund proposal process. The NEM platform is a blockchain solution that aims to simplify the development process with a specific focus on impact projects.

At only 28, Jones is already an accomplished entrepreneur with a number of accolades, including being named New Zealand's Young Innovator of the year in 2017. Little Yellow Bird was conceived in 2014, after she left the military and saw a gap in the market for ethically-made organic and fair-trade apparel. Jones, in a statement, credited her early success partly to her experience and time working as a supply chain manager in the military and her time living in "developing" countries as a child. 

Lack of visibility within the garment sector is a global issue with consumers increasingly demanding brands to provide greater transparency, according to the thought process that went into the project. Many brands are unable to track where their garments are made, and Jones for her part believes that she has a solution that will help other brands solve this issue. 

Even as Jones was in India in August to set up phase one of the Origins implementation plan, she took time out to respond to a set of questions. 

You are said to have embarked on Origins "to solve a problem that I've faced first-hand and one that I can see impacts people and businesses across a range of industries." Could you tell us more about the problems that you noticed first-hand?

Most fashion supply chains are long and complicated and many still rely on systems that are largely paper-based. This often makes it difficult for end-users and brands to unmake inaccurate decisions and ensure that ethical practices are adhered to throughout the supply chain. You are said to have embarked on Origins "to solve a problem that I've faced first-hand and one that I can see impacts people and businesses across a range of industries." Could you tell us more about the problems that you noticed first-hand?

How much of these "problems", as they were, specific to New Zealand? Or, did you perceive it as a major global issue?

This is a global issue. New Zealand (NZ) still has some fashion manufacturing locally, but most fabrics are purchased offshore; so this issue is relevant even for NZ-made labels.

The name Origins is virtually selfexplanatory. But, do tell us more about Little Yellow Bird.

The name came from the idea around the yellow canary being used in the mining industry to warn miners of the presence of methane gas. The name Origins is virtually selfexplanatory. But, do tell us more about Little Yellow Bird.

You have secured a $1.2 million funding. How much will you be able to do/achieve with this amount? Surely, sustainability and transparency need to be ongoing processes, and you will already be planning to take this idea to the next phase (for which you might need to raise funds again)?

We are currently in the customer validation stage; we know how this would apply to Little Yellow Bird, but it's important we build something that will be relevant across a wide range of brands.

You have talked about "helping other businesses to implement the traceability and ethics that are now ingrained in the Little Yellow Bird ethos." So, how does this work for other businesses? Would you be licensing the technology?

Licensing is one option that we are exploring, but there are probably going to be different solutions for different types of businesses.

Big businesses and brands already have the financial and technological wherewithal to implement something like Origins on their own. Probably, some are even doing as much. Your comments, please.

They probably are. So we are working out exactly where we can add the most value, if this is for smaller independent brands or perhaps even collaborating with some of the larger brands also working in this space.

I quote you from a news item (in New Zealand Herald): "I think people don't want to inadvertently buy products that have child labour or forced labour or are damaging to the environment, but at the moment often you can only go on what a brand is telling you or their social responsibility policies, which are often quite vague or not easily understandable." My question: do you think big businesses or brands are so warped and convoluted in their statements because they are themselves not clear about issues at hand? Or, is it because sustainability is fast becoming a greenwashing tool.

I think it's pretty complicated, and certainly in some instances brands simply don't know. Obviously, being transparent is also trendy at the moment; so, there is also an element of greenwash happening.

You have moved around a lot: from studying in Indonesia to working as a logistics officer in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and from going back to studies and then launching Little Yellow Bird. Do you see this as one single journey?

Yes, they all interlink actually, and have all been crucial elements in what has led me to do what I'm doing now. You have moved around a lot: from studying in Indonesia to working as a logistics officer in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and from going back to studies and then launching Little Yellow Bird. Do you see this as one single journey?

How did fashion happen? Was it because of what you noticed in supply chains while being in the air force? How did that transition to LYB happen?

It was after noticing that there weren't any ethical corporate options available at the time, I suddenly had a corporate job and for the first time was purchasing my own "uniform". It was really to solve a personal need at the time.

Please tell us more about the Start Up Challenge that you won at the University of Canterbury in 2015.

We didn't win it, but we did win the Entre Social Enterprise and Sustainability award, it was $2,000 and that was spent on the first trip to India.

What made you look to India after that? Why India (for sourcing), and not any other country?

India is well known for being one of the best countries to produce organic cotton.

How did you go about doing your groundwork? Was it difficult to get/put things in place?

Yes and no. You really need to be in India or wherever you're planning to manufacture to identify good partners and establish that personal relationship. How did you go about doing your groundwork? Was it difficult to get/put things in place?

Do tell us about your India sourcing, please.

We source our cotton from a cooperative in east India and the majority of our products are produced at a small unit in New Delhi.
Published on: 06/12/2018

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.