It is important to consider product end-of-life when we design products
Coyuchi, which began as a weaver’s dream to craft healthier linens, has set a new standard—the first to create soft, luxurious, and lasting home textiles using only 100 per cent organic cotton. What drove the company three decades ago still drives it today—to make the highest-quality products while leaving the least possible impact on the earth. In a conversation with Fibre2Fashion, Chief Operating Officer Marcus Chung discusses organic home textiles.
How would you describe the market for organic home textiles and clothing in the US? At what rate is it growing?
I think the market for organic home textiles is still in its nascency. While there has been an acceleration of growth in the past few years, and new entrants into the market, the opportunity remains large and the majority of consumers have not yet understood the connection between the natural fibres used in home textiles, organic farming, soil health and climate change.
The overall US market for home textiles is growing at an expected AGR of 5 per cent, according to Statista. We believe there is opportunity for the organic home textiles market to outpace that growth.
What are the major factors influencing this trend towards organic home textiles?
In general, consumers are seeking more sustainable products than ever before. Across categories, customers are shopping with their values, and younger customers in general are prioritising sustainability and climate change as an important cause.
Which are your best performing product categories in home textiles and clothing?
Customers love our bedding! We have high quality sheeting for everyone – whether you sleep hot or cold, whether you like crisp sheets or cozy, whether you like a refined look or more casual! In addition, we have very beautiful duvet covers and quilts that customers love to showcase in their homes and to highlight their own design styles.
Which are your major markets in the US?
We’ve seen success in major metropolitan areas like the San Francisco Bay Area (where we are based), New York and Los Angeles. We also see strong performance in markets that lead the way in interior design like Dallas, and markets where customers own second homes like Aspen, Colorado, the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard.
What are the main consumer trends for home textiles?
We’re seeing consumers invest in home decor and design as a way to express their sense of individuality and style, just like apparel. Home textiles are an easy way to refresh a room, and with so many people still working from home, we’re seeing customers use home textiles – decorative pillows, throw blankets etc – to dress up their zoom backgrounds!
How do you maintain transparency and circularity at Coyuchi?
I’ve worked in supply chain at many companies prior to Coyuchi and I am impressed with how much transparency we have been able to build into our own supply chain. In many cases we can trace fibres all the way back to organic farm groups. This is important to us, so we make sure to learn these details up front when we’re developing new products.
Circularity is an important component of our commitment to sustainability and Coyuchi was the first home textiles brand to launch a resale business in 2017 through our second Home Renewed line. Coyuchi’s renewed products were initially offered exclusively through a pilot at our store in Point Reyes Station, but since late 2020 they have been available through our Renewed.Coyuchi.com online store. We also have created a product, the Full Circle Blanket, using our own post-consumer waste which we recycled into new cotton yarns for the product. Neither initiative was easy to execute, but we believe it is important to consider product end-of-life when we design products and offer customers an alternative to landfill.
What are the major challenges of being a D2C brand in the organic and luxury home textiles and apparel domain in the US?
As a 30+ year-old company, Coyuchi is not a D2C startup. Our store in Point Reyes Station, California has served customers since 2008 and we value long standing relationships with retailers across the US. The majority of our sales come from coyuchi.com, so like many D2C companies we face challenges with the effectiveness of performance marketing. We will continue to invest in an omnichannel approach, and in fact opened our second store in Palo Alto in November 2022.
What new materials and fibres are you exploring for your next collections?
We’re excited about the launch of our Climate Beneficial cotton collection, which is made from cotton grown on farms that have transitioned to Climate Beneficial practices. We believe this method of farming is important to combat climate change, as it has the potential to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and regenerate the health of soil, which can increase resilience to drought, counter erosion, and benefit the climate. As a founding member of the California Cotton & Climate Coalition, we’re pleased to bring to market a collection using fibres from the first harvest.
What are the major trends in home textiles in terms of fabric types, colours, trims and designs?
We’re focused on designing for circularity and strive to avoid fibre blends in our fabrics. This enables easier product recycling, for which there remain far too few solutions. Even using single fibres, we can achieve unbelievably soft hand feel, which is important to our customers. We can also play with different weaving techniques and yarn sizes to achieve new and interesting textures, which definitely is trending.
Which new markets and product categories do you plan to add to your basket?
Our customer is asking Coyuchi to help curate an assortment of natural and sustainable items for their whole home. We’re looking at solutions like natural laundry detergents that will complement products like our wool dryer balls – useful products that help extend the life of their home textiles that customers have come to count on us.
Interviewer: Shilpi Panjabi
Published on: 09/01/2023
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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