COMPANY PROFILE 11 Better BUSINESS Sarah Jordan founded Y.O.U Underwear in a bid to help tackle pant poverty. Here she tells us more about the highs and lows of running a B Corp company, and why she believes business should be a force for good When did you start up and why? I was volunteering in Uganda in 2016 when I discovered the problems caused by not having underwear, something that we take for granted every day. It is estimated that 1 in 10 women and girls globally miss up to 25 percent of their education or work because they don’t have any underwear, particularly during their periods. I know how important education and economic independence is for girls and women and so I wanted to do something about it. When I subsequently discovered the problems caused by conventional cotton, one of the world’s most polluting crops, and the fashion industry more broadly, I couldn’t not act. That became the 3 main pillars to how we work – we only use fully Fairtrade and GOTS certified organic cotton, we source sustainably and make sure that everyone is paid and treated fairly right through our supply chain, and we donate one or two pairs of underwear to the charity Smalls for All for every pair we sell. Y.O.U stands for Your Own Underwear, because we believe everyone deserves exactly that. What prompted you to launch the business? I didn’t set out to launch a business, I set out to solve the problem of pant poverty and wanting to keep girls in school during their periods by providing underwear. It went from there as I didn’t want to empower on one end and exploit on the other, so we had to find a manufacturer we could trust and who would pay and treat people properly, and also only use organic cotton which uses no pesticides and less water and energy and so is less harmful to both the people who work with it and the planet. What challenges have you overcome since the company’s launch? Lots! From initial co-founder issues to Brexit, Covid, a cost of living crisis and continued recruitment challenges, there are more – and more varied – challenges than I could ever have imagined. It’s harder work and more intense that I thought, often lonely and I have never learnt as much or as fast, but I wouldn’t change it for the world! Running your own business is amazing and when it’s making a difference to other people and having a positive impact on the world there is nothing
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=