MAGGIE MARILYN
Making a difference means building a brand that champions transparency, empowers all people in the supply chain and ensures the health of our beautiful planet is at the forefront of every decision we make.
In addition to this, I aim to re-educate people on the value of their clothing. Our clothes should make our heart sing. They should live with us through a lifetime of experiences and if they should find themselves no longer needed, they should find their way back into a circular industry that re-homes or re-purposes.
Growing up in the Bay of Islands, a rural and coastal region of New Zealand, my appreciation for and desire to protect our natural world is intrinsically engrained. My love for fashion led me to art school where I immersed myself in a Fashion & Sustainability degree at Whitecliffe College. Through my studies, I pulled back the glamorous curtain of fashion and saw an industry that needed fixing, and fast. It was either turn away from the industry altogether or take on the challenge to build an ambitious, passionate brand that proves protecting people and the planet is wholeheartedly possible. It didn’t take long for me to come to a decision…
That was 2016 and after plunging in full steam ahead, Maggie Marilyn was picked up in our very first season by luxury e-commerce powerhouse, Net-A-Porter. Fast-forward to 2017 and we were shortlisted for the prestigious LVMH Prize. In 2018 we proudly switched all our wholesale packaging to fully biodegradable cassava root bags and released our steadfast Sustainability Strategy in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Next up, 2019 will see the implementation of biodegradable customer facing packaging and making tracks towards achieving our 2020 goals (which can be found here).
Piece by piece and seam by seam, the Maggie Marilyn brand embodies sustainability with all textiles being ethically sourced or recycled. Sustainability is an inbuilt mindset, culture and lifestyle, for us it is the heart of the company.
The core of all design is problem solving, and fashion is no exception. My passionate team and I at Maggie Marilyn believe it is time to problem solve our way to an industry that we are proud to be a part of. An industry in which fair working conditions, legitimate living wages, and eco and ethical production are all the norm. We believe these should not be championed values but values that all businesses are built upon. We are endlessly optimistic about the future and fiercely determined to create change.