An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Perseverance will get you furthest. Starting a company takes grit, but it also takes determination and flexibility to keep moving forward without having full clarity from the start of what the outcome might look like. When one door closes, you find another one to open, or you switch gears and find a different path toward your goal.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Erin Houston of wearwell.
Erin Houston is the co-founder and CEO of wearwell, where she’s committed to changing the fashion industry for good. Before wearwell, Erin led the partnerships division at Devex, a global development media company, from infancy to high growth. During this time, Erin held multiple roles, served on the company’s leadership team, and worked with corporations, NGOs, and agencies to build partnerships, alliances, and communication campaigns to help organizations amplify their message. She also consulted for Kate Spade & Co.’s ‘on purpose’ division, their social impact product.
Erin graduated from The College of William and Mary, where she earned her bachelor of arts degree in Government and English and continued her education at American University School of International Service, where she earned her master’s degree in Social Enterprise.
Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I never imagined myself co-founding a company. Several years ago, I reached a point in my life where I had figured out how to live impactfully in many different ways, from my purpose in my career to the ways I was shopping for everyday items like food and cleaning supplies. But, when I tried to carry these values into my clothing and accessory purchases, it was too complex and time consuming to do, even as someone who had spent nearly 10 years of a career focused on impact.
At that same time, I was heading up the partnerships division at a media company, where my role was to work with large companies to communicate about the impact of their supply chains in developing communities. At first glance of our client list, you could see that the only industry missing from this discussion was fashion and apparel. I began to realize from both my professional and personal experiences that this industry was not only ripe for change but wouldn’t change unless consumers began demanding it with their purchasing power.
When you begin to peel back the layers further, 75 percent of the 65+ million garment workers are women — many of whom face unfair wages and unsafe working conditions. I chose this career path because I believe in the promise of what change in the fashion industry could mean for millions of women around the world.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Revolutionizing the fashion industry will take collective action by consumers using their purchasing power to vote with their dollar. As a society, we’re not there yet, but we’ve made major strides over the last decade. When this type of unity in purchasing power takes place, the outcome is meaningful — it means that emerging brands who are walking the talk in ethics and sustainability are supported in their growth, which allows them to deepen their impact. Wearwell is disrupting the industry by being that key online sales channel where ethical and sustainable brands can gain more visibility and grow to improve outcomes for both people and the planet.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The funniest mistake we made in the beginning stages of wearwell was, hands down, how much energy we took to pick a business name. As we were preparing to launch, we landed on a name we loved, only to discover just a few weeks before our go-live date that a new upstart company focused on a similar demographic had launched just a month prior. Our team had the craziest brainstorm sessions and lists going, waking up in the middle of the night with new ideas and more. It’s laughable now to think about the options we were considering. The lesson, of course, is that a name is what you make of it!
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
My greatest mentors have always been women who have paved the way before me. I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from and connect with leaders in the fashion and apparel industry, investors, and other entrepreneurs. These women have made an impact by always carving out time to dig in when there’s an immediate business need. I have many women in my life who inspire me, but one woman, in particular, stands out. She is impacting my life — and others — by hosting a small group of women entrepreneurs in our community to her home every couple of months for dinner. This community allows guests to hear new perspectives, and has served as a space to talk openly and honestly about the challenges we’re facing — encouraging a supportive environment to solve problems with innovative ideas.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
A lot of entrepreneurs want to disrupt an industry because they want to “change the (entire) world.” Building a business that increases equity for marginalized populations is a great virtue, but when executed without an immense amount of background and context, good intentions can cause harm. An example of this is TOMS Shoes. During the first couple of years, their business model of providing a pair of shoes for every shoe sold collapsed local economic systems in the communities where the “shoe drops” occurred. To their credit, they’ve done a lot to revise their business model and impact. If you disrupt without considering the ramifications to the populations you’re aiming to benefit, the result is not positive.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Perseverance will get you furthest. Starting a company takes grit, but it also takes determination and flexibility to keep moving forward without having full clarity from the start of what the outcome might look like. When one door closes, you find another one to open, or you switch gears and find a different path toward your goal. For example, we pivoted wearwell in our early days because of customer feedback and because we saw an opportunity to make a more significant impact. We persevered and sought another path, which has landed us in a better spot than what we initially anticipated. This is one big example, but persistence is something that enters into our day-to-day, from fundraising to delivering the best experience possible for our members.
Spend your time with the people who believe in you. Your energy is too important to focus on trying to change the minds of people who doubt you and your idea. Feedback and candor are a must-have, but think carefully about the source and be sure to really listen to your biggest advocates and champions. Especially early on in a business, everyone has an opinion. We met people who couldn’t empathize with our target customer or who didn’t get it. Had we listened to their advice on building our businesses, we would have been long gone by now. Instead, we choose to listen to the advocates who believe in our mission and believe in us as founders. Sometimes their feedback is the hardest to hear, but that’s when you know it’s really important!
Move fast, but not too fast. Get your ideas out into the world, lean and fast. But do also take time to listen to your customers, mentors, and advisors. Instead of only heeding the “move fast and break things” trope, move fast and take a quick minute before taking the next step forward. You’ll build a responsible, flourishing, and less reactive business in the long run.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
We’re not done until we see a completely revolutionized fashion industry, where it’s the norm that workers are paid fairly and that environmental impact is minimized. Wearwell has always been focused on the positive impact in the making of an item. Over the past year, we’ve also taken steps to highlight how purchasing power can build equity in society. The steps we’ve taken means showcasing and partnering with women-owned brands, BIPOC-owned brands, others that demand dignity in the lives of their makers, and those creating more wealth for more diverse stakeholders in the industry.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
You’re always underestimated. In 2020, only 2.3% of venture capital funding went to women. That means that women have to work 49 times harder than their male counterparts to earn investment. When women have to build extremely lean businesses because of the lack of access to startup capital, their businesses most often grow a bit slower. Because of these funding barriers, you’ve got to have a lot of grit, perseverance, and support from family and friends to be able to give it your all.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I read Start With Why by Simon Sinek while in grad school, which is where my co-founder, Emily Kenney, and I met. Put simply, Sinek explains that people don’t care what you do or how you do it, they care about why you do it. As founders building a company focused on purpose, Start With Why has had an enormous influence on everything from how I communicate about wearwell to constantly reinforcing our north star values as a company. It always comes back to the ‘why’ for us.
Coming back to the ‘why’ directly played into the business model we chose for wearwell. Every step of the way in our early prototyping, we returned to our reason for wearwell’s existence. We tested out many ideas, and we chose the business model that actually solved the problem for both consumers and ethical brands. We chose the route that tapped into the ‘why’ of what we do day in and day out — make it easier for people to discover and shop for ethical and sustainable brands.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We’re working on the movement! Wearwell’s movement seeks to inspire people to live out their values each and every day by using their purchasing power to vote for the kind of world they want to live in. We believe it’s unacceptable that the burden is on individuals to weed through greenwashing and tirelessly seek out brands that align with their values. Wearwell is building a movement where everyone can find ways to support fair wages, environmental sustainability, and meaningful causes each time we make a purchase. This movement is so much more powerful than a transaction. It’s collective action that leads to greater wealth distribution and policy change to protect both people and the planet.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I love the quote, “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” When one is focused on success, they’re chasing praise. Contrarily, those focused on creating value instead serve others around them — whether it’s their customers, friends and family, or your community.
How can our readers follow you online?
Follow wearwell’s journey on Instagram @shopwearwell
Thank you so much for these insights! This was very inspirational and we wish you continued success in your great work.
Female Disruptors: Erin Houston of wearwell On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.