Bag Lady: PACT Underwear

Published Oct. 30, 2009 at 12:00 a.m.

SFist: What is PACT?
PACT: We're an online apparel company offering design-driven, responsibly manufactured, premium organic cotton underwear connected to powerful social and environmental causes. At PACT, the motto is “change starts with your underwear.” The purchase of PACT underwear is more than a transaction. It turns commerce into a social movement, in support of the belief that everyday essentials communicate personal values.
SF: In your words, what do you sell?
PT: The best fitting, most comfortable and stylish organic cotton underwear ever! Thong, Bikini, Boyshorts for girls and trunks, boxer briefs, and boxer shorts for men.
SF: How long has PACT been in business?
PT:launched on Aug 17, 2009.
SF: Most popular item(s) or design and why?
PT: for girls our most popular style is the bikini but girls that are into boyshorts are REALLY into ours...Boys like our boxerbriefs the best...The Oceana print is the most popular but not by much...All our prints sell at a a similar pace...Customers who are fans of 826 National are devotees of the 826 print.
SF: Who is PACT? Tell us a bit more about yourselves.
PT: PACT is the brainchild of two unlikely business partners who joined forces in the most unlikely of places. Jason Kibbey is a born-and-raised Berkeley leftie who started his own land conservation nonprofit, drives a Prius, and loves his bike(s). He also likes business: he helped start a few, and oddly began his career at Bain & Company. His wife sings opera; they don't own a television; and his dog gets acupuncture. J

Jeff Denby, on the other hand, was told that he was "too artsy for business school" when he showed up with multi-colored hair. A Facebook, texting, and Twitter addict who personifies young, fabulous, and broke, this wayward Canadian has shopped his way around the world. He definitely owns a television. (Otherwise, how would he watch all of that reality TV?)

Jason and Jeff met at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley during the first year of their MBA program. Jeff was telling anyone who would listen that he wanted to start an underwear company. While most people thought he was a pervert, Jason was intrigued. Brought together by their belief that business has an opportunity to have a positive impact on the world, they spent the next two years examining every aspect of the apparel industry, and developed a new kind of business model that would combine design, sustainability, activism, and internet technology.

Yves Behar is the founder of the San Francisco design studio fuseproject, and acts as the Design Director for PACT. Yves is focused on humanistic design and the "giving" element of his profession, with the goal of creating projects that are deeply in-tune with the needs of a sustainable future, connected with human emotions, and that enable self-expression...For Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization, fuseproject designed the world's first $100 "XO" laptop aimed at bringing education and technology to the world's poorest children.
SF: How has running a business, and building a brand online worked for (or against) you?
PT: People get so much of their news these days online and we received a lot of press online when we launched...[...] Interestingly though, some of our highest traffic and sales have come from articles appearing offline in really large publications (such as the New York Times or Wall Street Journal)...This highlights just how fractured the online media world is -- online media can be highly targeted but we miss a huge amount of people who just don't see the blog post...New York Times may not be targeted but the vast readership means we reach potential customers who we never dreamed of reaching.
SF: What is the best thing about running an online business like yours?
PT: An online business eliminates the need for sales reps and management of individual retail accounts which requires a huge amount of time...The downside is that retailers offer great exposure to customers who don't know the brand is online...
SF: Are opening retail locations or selling your brand in stores a possibility, or in the pipeline?
PT: Besides being available at www.wearPACT.com, PACT is currently available at August in Mill Valley (1 El Paseo) and will be available at EcoCitizen in San Francisco (1488 Vallejo) for Holiday...We'll be featured in the Wired magazine and Save Fashion pop-up shops in New York...Other retail partners are a possibility in the near future.
SF: What was the inspiration for your brand?
PT: Jeff has always been interested in fashion and style, and this idea first came about 4 years ago when the extent of "eco-fashion" was oatmeal colored hemp t-shirts. A fashionable dude could not get anything well designed, let alone underwear! Jeff was working in China and in a lot of factories and saw the opportunity for improving the way we make things...He believed that we could make products more responsibly and that those responsibly-made products could be well-designed, high-quality unique products that consumers would want.
SF: Describe, if you can, PACT typical clientele?
PT: It's pretty wide. For men, it's generally between the ages of 25 and 45. But for women it skews about 30 to 45...We expected to appeal to the post-college urban crowd and that seems to be what is happening.
SF: What is your brand’s philosophy?
PT: Our motto is "change starts with your underwear" and we live it every day...The PACT brand is all about combining design, business, and sustainability in a new unique way while promoting positive change in our world...Ten percent of every sale goes to support our nonprofit partners.
SF: What is your ultimate goal (aside from success, which is a given)?
PT: We want to prove that new business models that combine design, sustainability, and for-profit business CAN work...We can do good while doing good and there are a lot of unique ways to get there...We're an apparel company -- and underwear comes first -- but we want to get large enough to take on new innovations in sustainability at the factory level and develop new sustainable textiles...We want to use the power of business to make real and positive change in our world.
SF: How do you choose the artists who design your underwear prints?
PT: Sometimes the nonprofits we work with are already connected to great artists and those artist love doing work for those nonprofits...Other times the artist themselves have ideas for nonprofit partners...Then other times, there are just some artists we love and think would do great work for specific nonprofits.
SF: How do you choose the non-profits your brand helps to support?
PT: The most important thing about the nonprofits we work with is that they must be focused on achieving real and tangible positive change...And they have to be cool enough to partner with an underwear company!
SF: What are your top favorite 3 online brands in SF?
PT: You mean SF based websites? I read: SFist.com, ecofabulous.com, SFGate.com (but the comments that people leave [on the latter] are terrible!)
SF: Can you give us three words that best describe PACT?\
PT: Design, business, sustainability
SF: What makes your brand unique?
PT: There is simply no other brand out there that is combining design, sustainability, and giving the way that PACT is - certainly not in the underwear category...We're fashion-forward and fun but our styles and cuts are democratic so everyone can love them...Environmental and Social responsibility is baked into the DNA of PACT from the very beginning...PACT is a great story and we are excited to keep adding new products to continue telling our story in new ways.
SF: Anything else you want to tell us?
PT: For anyone that reads this on SFist.com, here's a coupon code for 10% off and free shipping: "SFist10f"
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