Tonlé, Contemporary Design and Activism

In this episode, part of our monthly brand feature series, we learn about Tonlé, a zero waste brand co-created by Rachel Faller and produced by a community of artisans in Cambodia.

Joshua Williams: Each month on NewsBytes, we feature a fashion brand that approaches business differently and innovatively or operates outside of the main fashion systems and capitals. I'm with Sass Brown, an expert in ethical fashion, sustainability and craftsmanship. She is the former Dean of Art and Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the founding Dean at Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation.

Joshua Williams: Welcome back Sass. Who are we featuring this month? 

Sass Brown: We're talking about Tonlé. They're a Cambodian brand that does a contemporary collection, 

Joshua Williams: This is such an interesting brand, because they really are involved in so many different things. But at the core, they are a womenswear brand led by founders who are very activistic in terms of how to approach design and how to be part of the world as global citizens.

Sass Brown: Absolutely.  Rachel Faller, who's the founder, she's based in California. The brand itself is produced and operated out of Cambodia, which is where she splits her time with. And she is very impressive in terms of, she really understands the place that the fashion system has played in neo-liberalism, colonialism, the whole sort of white savior type mentality. And she really is extremely conscious of that and sees her role as developing a brand and a company out of Cambodia as an honor; that she is able to give back, that she is able to enable the population, to show their capabilities instead of continuing a  rather long and messy past between the U.S. and Cambodia. So, she's very much aware of the role that she plays. 

Joshua Williams: Can you talk a little bit about her design aesthetic, how she approaches her work? 

Sass Brown: It's a very contemporary, wearable, easy wear collection. They're very relatable clothes. They are at a median price point, so they're quite accessible.

A lot of the collection is made out of jersey, although they utilize a number of different techniques. One of the things that is really quite special about them is their focus on worker training. First of all, all their workers are full-time employees. They don't do piece work. They don't subcontract. They encourage their employees to train, to upskill, to learn, which is quite the reverse of your usual sort of workshops, factory setting, particularly in a place like Cambodia that does significant fast fashion production, where it's all about the de-skilling of workers and the underpaying of workers. She does the complete  reverse. She operates in a lean manufacturing model, which means workers work in a circle. They don't work in straight lines, looking at the back of the person in front of them. They're encouraged to learn new techniques, to try new machines. They are paid to up-skill They're encouraged to progress employment-wise towards managerial positions and so on. So it's much more of a humane model, or an ethical model of production, if you will. And in a country that's renowned for fast fashion and the reverse of that. 

Joshua Williams: Besides this sort of collectivist approach to the manufacturing process, because it really is looking at it more as a community that is this brand, what other things might we learn from Tonlé's business model? 

Sass Brown: First and foremost, I think that Rachel considers what she's developed a movement and a community, rather than a fashion brand. She sees it as a community of makers, of customers and investors, rather than a business that produces clothing. So, its mission is far, far greater than just producing stuff. Right? So I think first and foremost, it's that. 

She wholesales as well as retails. And she has a significant number of doors that she sells through, as well as online. I think she has around 30 full-time employees in Cambodia. It's female led. They all benefit from a number of things that just aren't standard practices with free lunches to, annualoutings, to paid for training, benefits, vacation, all that sort of thing.  These aren't standard practices; she follows fair trade principles, although I don't believe she's a registered fair trade. And it's just generally an empowering employment model, I think, where those that work with her are considered partners, as opposed to employees. They're considered skilled as opposed to working towards de-skilling them. So, I think that's really important and that's something that any business can learn from is the honoring of their employees as their greatest resource.

Joshua Williams: Again, it's really that community approach. And I'm so glad that you pointed that out. How do our listeners connect with Tonlé and what they're doing, their collection; how do they purchase it? You've mentioned that they  sell online, but they also wholesale. 

Sass Brown: Yeah, they have a significant number of doors that they sell through, but you know, with most of the world being on lockdown right now, it's as easy to go through Tonlé's own e-commerce site, as it is anywhere else. And it's tonle.com. So, it's really straightforward and they have quite a significant social media presence on Instagram, on Facebook, as well as on Pinterest, that includes a lot of videos as well of the workers, of Rachel the founder. So, it's very easy to find information on them and just purchase directly from the website. 

Joshua Williams: Such a great brand. Thank you for sharing Sass. And we look forward to having you back next month. 

Looking forward to it. Thanks Josh.