our first status update

Welcome to our first update. This is kind of surreal because we haven't discussed our goals, progress, and achievements since we founded Yannai three years ago. I want to give everyone a quick timeline and share some details of what's happening.

2019/2020 - We founded Yannai. Prior to Yannai, we had a small business partnership, but recognized a critical aspect was missing, the sustainable and ethical mechanisms of the supply chain and production process. Yannai was created as a brand that could help close the knowledge gap between how clothes are made to the moment they are worn. It was created to answer some of our questions surrounding sustainable supply chains, transparent business practices, fair wages, ethical working conditions, product emissions, and its afterlife. We started to study organizations like Patagonia, Anian, Bombas, Tentree, and All Birds and educated ourselves on what it means for a brand to be truly transparent, ethical, and sustainable. We attended numerous sustainable business and fashion seminars to understand the framework required to build a truly responsible business. After two months of brainstorming, we decided our first product would be socks. They were lightweight and small in size, and we had a hard time finding sustainable and ethical options. We also loved wearing them, and they were a great starting point.

We began to conduct extensive research to decide what kind of materials we wanted to use to create our first product. We narrowed it down to hemp and organic cotton. We chose the best possible materials with the least impact on the planet. We talk more about why hemp here!

2020/2021 - Through our research and questions, we began to understand the importance of knowledge sharing and the impact it could have on local and global communities. We both agreed that by equipping our customers with the appropriate knowledge in a palatable way, they could make better-informed purchase decisions with people and the planet in mind. Our goal is for Yannai to act as a blueprint for other companies to show that business can be used as a force for good. We wanted our clothing to paint a story for our customers about how it came to be. We wanted to show our customers that it is possible to have a fully transparent brand and that others could and should do the same.

We worked with a small business through our creative direction to create our sock design. We were ready to start reaching out to manufacturers to begin getting samples. We spent a few months looking for manufacturers here in Canada and the USA, but we could not find anyone that met our criteria. The hunt had to continue globally. We reached out to almost 40 manufacturers globally, but we were left on read, denied due to smaller order quantity, or we had to deny them because they did not meet the standards we were looking for. Since we were starting as a small business, we didn't have much leverage to request everything we wanted, but we still wanted the best of the best. Ingraining sustainability into every decision from the ground up was of utmost importance.

Like many small businesses, 2020 & 2021 were not easy for Yannai. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic affected many around the world, and we were no exception. It was tough to get a hold of factories globally, and (we also think they didn't want to answer our numerous questions about the sustainability of their supply chain and production process). We couldn't blame them; they had to prioritize their long-term partners and those paying them much more than us, especially in such difficult times. So we halted our search for a couple of months and instead continued our research on how we could create the most sustainable company. The pandemic uncovered a lot of the inequities around the globe, and we started to think about how we could potentially address them in our own organization.

2021/2022 - After starting our search again, we thought we had found the one. The supplier we were interested in seemed to have it all. They had a strong emphasis on sustainability, equity, and inclusivity. They were also helping struggling families return to farming. Everything was perfect. We requested samples, but they never came, and after having continuous back and forth with this supplier for months, they were unable to complete our socks for us. They mentioned they were severely affected by COVID-19 and had to focus on their larger orders. Although it was disappointing, we understood that they couldn't spend too much time answering our countless questions regarding their supply chain when we were only requesting a small batch to begin with.

We aren't giving up. We are continuing our search globally for a supplier that checks off our boxes. We realize that this is going to take a lot longer than we had initially expected. Currently, we are working with two suppliers in China. We have already received samples from one supplier and have started product testing. We are now waiting for another pair of samples from supplier #2. Additionally, we are continuing to expand our knowledge and share it with you all on our Yannai in the Room blog. We plan to make a more detailed 2022 post on our next status update, so stay tuned!

We are nowhere close to perfect, but we are trying our best! If you have any questions or concerns related to this article please reach out to us at sourcing@yannai.ca. Your feedback is valued and encouraged!