Today we’d like to introduce you to Doug Phillips.
Hi Doug, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
23 years ago, near Grand Rapids Michigan, founder and design director of Conscious Clothing, Rose Phillips started producing organic clothing for her children from a lack of any being commercially available. Once friends and family saw the clothing she was making, word quickly spread and she began selling at art shows and music festivals around Michigan like Bliss Fest, Wheatland Music Festival, and the Ann Arbor Arts Festival. As the one-room home studio grew into several rooms of the house Rose opened up an online shop with Etsy in 2006. At this time I was producing contract furniture here in Furniture City Grand Rapids and we used my professional photography setup used to sell furniture and used it to capture better images of the clothing. Things were starting to grow quickly and the two decided to focus all their attention on the business. Along with growing sales, growing people’s awareness to the importance of why making clothing from organic materials was so important became another main focus of the business. Suddenly it was realized that this was a much larger idea than just making clothing but an opportunity to help change the world for the better. From the farmers not using pesticides which end up in our soil and waterways to grow the organic cotton and hemp, to employing local labor to sew these fibers into garments. It was a win-win for everyone involved.
Today they offer a full line of organic linen for summer, organic cotton and hemp fleece pieces for winter. A French terry lounge collection and a yoga/activewear collection. Our most recent project encompasas enclusive sizeing, offering xxs through 6x sizes.
This year they are working to bring awareness to everyone being part of the solution when it comes to consumer habits and choosing natural materials over synthetics. Especially with clothing, as all those tiny plastic fibers found in polyester clothing are ending up in our waterways when they are laundered which find their way into fish, wildlife, and eventually humans. Also, the Grand Rapids Public Museum has brought several Conscious Clothing pieces into their permanent collection. They are on display now in the current exhibit titled Fashion and Nature which aims to show the public how closely linked fashion and nature are and how our consumer habits can make a difference.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Our biggest challenge has been losing our founder and my wife Rose to cancer in 2023. In the early days, what started as a creative couples journey soon turned into a business. Losing my business partner after it was a larger entity forced so many challenges all at once. Restructuring and defined roles has helped a lot so we can continue to bring organic clothing and the valuable mission of awareness and careful consumption to market. Creating systems as been a huge part of this transition too and has helped us keep focused on our goals of adding value to peoples lives through what they wear and being more than just a clothing brand through education and shared resources.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
At Conscious Clothing we do every aspect of the process, from design and patterning, to cutting, sewing and order fulfillment, it’s done right here in our West Michigan studio. We offer XXS-6X, a full 12 sizes to choose from. All made with the best organic materials from our Belgian linens, hemp and organic cotton fleeces to organic cotton French terry grown and milled in the USA. We even offer color grown organic cottons that are naturally colored and use no dyes.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
The best thing about our city is all the great food. I do wish housing was more affordable though.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.consciousclothing.net/shop
- Instagram: @CONSCIOUSCLOTHING
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consciousclothing5104/
