Adam Torres and Kat Dey discuss sustainable bamboo bedding.
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Show Notes:
Ettitude is a direct-to-consumer brand best known for its 100% organic bedding and sleepwear made from the world’s first CleanBamboo fabric. In this episode, Adam Torres and Kat Dey, Co-Founder and President of ettitude, explore ettitude’s proprietary bamboo fabric that is ecologically friendly and comfortable.
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About ettitude
Ettitude is on a mission to help create a regenerative future for all, using only regenerative natural resources that have a positive impact on the earth.
They are a fabric innovation and lifestyle brand, making the world’s most sustainable yet functional materials. Our innovative CleanBamboo
Founded in Melbourne, Australia, and our HQ in Los Angeles, ettitude is a proud B Corporation and donates 1% of all sales to environmental nonprofits.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on BR Guest to apply. All right, today I have Kat Day on the line, and she is co-founder and president of Attitude.
Kat, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Excited to be. All right, Kat. So I’m excited to have you on the show today and to talk about attitude and also clean bamboo and what that means. But before we get into your company and, and what your mission is and what your company’s about, I should say we’ll start this episode the way that we start them all with our mission matters minute.
So Kat, we at Mission Matters, we amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts. That’s our mission. Kat, what mission matters to you? Well, attitude is a next generation materials company and a sustainable lifestyle brand. We have proprietary, patented, clean bamboo textiles. So with that, our vision is to dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of textiles by replacing harmful materials like cotton and visco with better alternatives using regenerative resources such as bamboo.
Seaweed and waste. Textiles is the second most polluting industry in the world after oil contributing 10% of global CO2 emissions, which cause climate change. So our technology helps to reduce CO2 emissions by 38% and fresh water usage by 99% versus cotton. And we use absolutely zero harmful chemicals in the.
So we are achieving our mission by continuing to scale our direct to consumer brand, which is well known for its incredibly soft and comfortable bedding, but also we are launching a B2B initiative to accelerate our positive impact with brands. Now what, what a great story and what a great mission. Love having guests like yourself on the line.
And I’m curious, so where did you kind of get started with this idea for attitude? Like how did all that. . Yeah, so actually I joined attitude as co-founder my co-founder and CEO of the company is a textile expert and an innovator, and she’s been in this space for over 15 years and actually started with her disappointments that her big clients giant global corporations like Walmart, target, et cetera.
They didn’t want to really engage with sustainable materials at at that time when she was engaging with them. And so she decided to start her own company that would solve this massive problem. So she spent about four and a half years in research and development to develop and commercialize our technology, which like I mentioned, saved 38% of CO2 and 99% of water versus cotton, which is the majority of the textile space right now in, in the natural space outside of polyester cotton, makes up about 33% of all textiles and is actually.
One of the most harmful plants on earth. Believe it or not, it’s very dirty as an industry. It requires a lot of water, a lot of pesticides fertilizer, which of course releases CO2 and is linked to harmful human ethical practices and labor practices. So she wanted to change that story and use other much more efficient plants materials that are actually regener.
To create fabrics that are better for you as a human being and better for the planet. And so she spent about 10 years in the space and then I joined to help scale this company. And my background is really in scaling direct to consumer brands. So I joined when there was already a product developed and they fell in love with the product.
So our first product for our own direct to consumer company is our bedding. And when Phoebe sent me the sheet back in 2018, I literally just fell in love with the product . I had the best sleep of my life. They were so, so comfortable, so cozy, so soft, breathable, and healing. Just so luxurious and so natural that I decided that this is the company I want to join and continue to scale from a perspective of human wellness, but also because of the clean technology and how we can.
Change the industry by reducing the usage of harmful chemicals and emissions. Hmm. So can you, I don’t wanna assume that, you know, everybody listening cuz I’m, I’m, let me, lemme pick up myself here. I don’t know the harmful stuff that’s in my betting or why using an alternative is, is important. So I, I can, I can definitely, I, I’m, I’m all about sustainability.
I’m always try to integrate things in my life once I’m made aware. You know, maybe what I was doing wrong or, or what I could be doing better. Right. So maybe just educate myself and maybe the audience a little bit more on, on this problem and like why an alternative is important. Yeah, absolutely. So the majority of bedding today is actually made out of cotton.
And like I said, it, it requires a lot of pesticides and fertilizer to grow. It’s not a very efficient plant and it just requires a lot of land. Chemicals to grow and then the processing of it as well. It’s not the cleanest. And then alternatives, such as other kinds of bamboo fabrics, they’re all made with a visco technology which uses a very toxic chemical called.
Toxic soda, sorry, caustic soda. And it’s, it’s so alkaline that it actually can dissolve a human body in three hours. It’s that powerful. And so that’s, Visco is not a great alternative either, even though Bamboo in general is a really great plant compared to cotton. The way that it used to be processed is harmful to the environment.
And also you don’t want that in your final fabric. So attitude has solved that problem by creating our patented clean bamboo, which does not use toxic chemicals to dissolve bamboo. We actually use a completely non toxic organic solvent that you can put your bare hand into and nothing will happen to your hand.
And as a result, we actually maintain a lot of the natural attributes of bamboo into the final fabric. So the final fabric. So incredibly soft and beautiful. It has this like nice luxurious hand to it. And also it’s a lot more breathable than cotton. We’ve actually proven that out with third party certifications and tests that our fabric is superior.
At breathability, it’s better at moisture wicking, which makes you feel comfortable at night, so you’re not sweating and it’s not trapping that heat. It’s not trapping your sweat and moisture. . So you feel a lot more comfortable while you’re in bed in this delicious and nice fabric. Mm-hmm. . And so you are I mean obviously in, in the, in the textile industry, and you’re complete, you’re competing in huge industry, right?
You’re competing, you’re competing against some large players in the market. Like, what’s that like? Like tell me a little bit more about the, maybe the challenges or even just the wins of what it looks like to compete in this. . Yeah, it’s definitely competitive market. Certainly I would say 10 years ago, most people would just not even think about their bedding purchases too much.
They would just go to a retail store, maybe a bit Bath and beyond, and. Pick up whatever was available. And there really weren’t any well known brands in the bedding category. They were just a handful. And mostly just very luxury kind of threat day, maybe as a brand that people could have heard of. And then the rest of them were just licensed brands, like maybe a Ralph Lauren that they’re all made in the same factory as using the same material.
So I would say the industry started to get disrupted with the movement towards direct to consumer brands in the space. And so there are a handful of other brands that essentially they make this the product in the same factory that those previous brands were making their products. And so it’s, it’s literally just the same product with a different name.
and they’re all made out of cotton, so there’s literally zero product innovation in this industry. And so when attitude came out with a product that looks and feels and is actually made out of something completely different, I think for us that was a great competitive advantage because when people feel our fabrics, they get it.
They’re like, wow, this is amazing. This feels so different, and I feel so good sleeping in this product. So we have a very loyal customer base that are our best advocates. They’re, you know, they’re buying more from us. They’re telling all their friends and family, and of course with the innovation, we get a lot more publicity versus a traditional brand that has no innovation.
Mm-hmm. . So, I know, I know you mentioned that, you know, part of your, your side of the bargain on this one and and involvement with the company is helping it scale. So I’d be interested to hear from you, like, like what’s on the roadmap as you continue to to to scale the company. What’s on the roadmap? So I would say the most exciting thing in the roadmap is actually our material innovation.
So continuing to innovate on the material side is a next gen material company. For our direct to consumer brand. We have just launched. What we call vegan cashmere or NextGen cashmere. It is made a hundred percent from our clean bamboo, so there’s no animal product in it. And wow, it’s completely plant-based and it looks some seals like cashmere.
I’m so excited about it. We launched it as a throw blanket and it’s just so luxurious and, and beautiful. It comes in two colors. And it. CO2 saves almost 90% of water versus wool, and it saves harmful chemicals as well. And that’s so exciting. I, I love it to see when and when innovators are coming, giving, giving consumers like myself and everyone listening, right.
Alternatives in order to, I feel like many of us would like to make a better choice with our, with our money and when we can. We’d like to definitely purchase something, especially with, with what you’re describing that can be even superior, right? In terms of feel, look, quality, and like there’s a double win there.
And then there’s also a, another win. Seeing here, and that’s part that your the company’s also part of the 1% for the planet donating at least 1% of annual earnings to environmental protection initiatives. Tell me a little bit more about that. Yeah, we’re really excited to be a member of 1% for the Planet.
We’ve been a member for a few years now, where we donate 1% of our top line, actually, not just earnings, it’s top line. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So every, every purchase really contributes to that. And like you said, it’s 1% is donated to where it’s environmental nonprofits. As a company that’s really focused on fighting climate change and, and protecting our environment, we wanted to align with an organization that makes total sense for us.
We’re also certified climate neutral, so all of production process and all of our corporate operations, all of the supply chain, all of the shipping is already certified climate neutral. Which is very important to us as a company. And we’ve been certified for a few years now. And, and finally, we’re actually a member of we’re B Corp.
Certified B Corp, which took us about 18 months to receive that certification. Which which means that we adhere to the strictest standards for environmental and ethical human. Wow. That’s great. Well, well, Kat love to see what you’re doing over at Edit two, the company, the Growth. I’m wishing you continued success and excited to watch the journey and also to, to start testing out the product.
So thank you for coming on the show today. That being said, if somebody is listening to this and they wanna learn more or they want to to check out the merchandise, what’s the best way for them to connect in. Well, they should go on our website. That’s the best place to find all the latest products and the best prices.
So it’s attitude.com, www.etitude.com. And they can also check us out on social media where Attitude Store and Instagram and Attitude on Twitter. Perfect. And we’ll put all of that in the show notes so that our audience could just click on the links and head right on over and check out the website and social media.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters or engaging in an episode, we’re all about bringing on. Business owners, entrepreneurs and executives, and having them share their mission, the reason behind their mission, you know, why they do what they do, and what we can all learn from that so that we can all grow together.
That’s the whole point of the platform. So we all grow together. If that’s the type of content that sounds interesting or fun or exciting to you, we welcome you Hit that subscribe button because we have many more mission-based individuals coming up on the line, and we don’t want you to miss a thing. And Kat, really, it has been a pleasure.
Thanks again for coming on the. Thank you so much for having me.
