Steady Go (慢慢·开始) founders Yvonne Chua and Max Foong seek to solve the issue of fast fashion waste and change the local image of preloved clothes. Through their primarily online-based business, the couple promote slow living, mindfulness, and environmental care by encouraging consumers to start with their wardrobe.
Photographs courtesy of Steady Go, unless otherwise specified.
Denise: Can you share how Steady Go started?
Yvonne: It was a little unexpected, actually! Before venturing into this business, Max and I worked in the travel and tourism industry. When the pandemic and MCO happened, we had to stay at home and couldn’t work. Financially, we were hitting a bottleneck.
Around the same time, we stumbled upon an article on fast fashion pollution. It was from there that we learned how an item of clothing could cause so much harm to the environment. So, we thought, why not try tackling this? If we’re going to start a business to help ourselves financially, why not start something that creates social value for our community, too?
Right now, many preloved stores in JB import second-hand clothes from overseas. Sourcing locally? Not so much. We didn’t go the importing route for two reasons. First, we wanted to bring out the fashion style we have here in Malaysia. Second, our country is overflowing with clothes already. A lot of us tend to think that, when we don’t want our clothes anymore, we can just donate them and they’ll all get taken somewhere useful—but where is this “somewhere”?
A lot of us tend to think that, when we don’t want our clothes anymore, we can just donate them and they’ll all get taken somewhere useful—but where is this “somewhere”?
Yvonne chua, steady go founder
The problem is, there’s an excess of clothing everywhere. Think about it, our local sellers can import clothes from Japan because the people there didn’t want their clothes anymore. Most of the time, unwanted clothes are basically transported from one place to another, and eventually, landfilled. If it isn’t in our country’s landfill, it’s in another country’s landfill. That’s why we decided to focus on local clothing waste.
We named our business “SteadyGo (慢慢·开始1)” because we believe that, with all things, starting slowly yet steadily gives change a chance. During our initial market test, we were surprised to see that market acceptance was greater than we expected! People thrift not just to be eco-friendly; they find the process fun, too. It’s almost like a treasure hunt, where you’ll never know what you’ll find. What’s more, it’s mostly the younger generation who show greater acceptance toward clothes thrifting.
Denise: On Steady Go’s online platforms, you often adopt the term “unused (闲置)” to describe the clothes. Can you explain more about that?
Yvonne: There’s a reason why we avoid using the term “second-hand.” Let’s say you stay at a hotel: the bed you sleep in, the towel you use—they were all used by someone else before you. The hotel would certainly reassure you that the items are sanitized, so that you know they’re safe to use. But you don’t think about how you’re sleeping on a second-hand bedsheet or using a second-hand towel. Your mind doesn’t make the connection of how everything in the fancy hotel room is second-hand.
So, what we want to do is have second-hand clothes project the same positive image. We want to remove the preconceived notion that “second-hand” implies old and wrinkled, or dirty and low quality. That’s why we use “unused” as a form of rebranding. It’s similar to how some stores call their second-hand clothes “vintage” because it conjures the image of style and taste, whereas the term “second-hand” tends to cast the items to a lower grade in people’s minds.
When your body shape or lifestyle changes, your clothes’ lifespan doesn’t have to end even if you can’t fit into or use them anymore. The clothes still have value and quality. They’re just kept in your wardrobe, left in a good, but unused, state. So, why not use a different term to introduce a new concept to the public, and to give people a new way of viewing the clothes?
Denise: What were some of the challenges when you first started?
Yvonne: The first round of collecting clothes was unimaginably overwhelming and horrifying. We would collect almost one tonne of clothes each trip. I thought I was going to lose my sanity back then [laughs].
Plus, how we operate goes against the traditional model of commercial business. Commercial businesses seek to fulfill the demands of the consumer by giving in to whatever they want. But in our business, you need to educate the customer on why things can’t be done in a way they’re used to. Therefore, some people would complain, “Why are you so troublesome?” Yet, we know we can’t fulfill all their requests for convenience. Otherwise, it’ll defeat the environmental purpose of our business.
Another challenge is receiving a lot of strange items. One time, there were eggshells in a box of clothes. Worse still, the eggshells had egg remnants on the inside! It was a disaster for us because the whole box of clothes became an unusable, putrid mess. There are also times when people treated us like an all-in-one waste collector. They think, “You’re already collecting second-hand clothing, why can’t you take other stuff as well? Like cardboard?”
Overall, the entire process was very exhausting. We knew we couldn’t go through that again and needed to find new ways of collecting clothes. That’s why we now team up with Kawan Guni and direct people to drop off clothes at their recycling event.
Denise: How do you process the clothes received?
Yvonne: During the filtering and selection process, we pick clothes that have a more classic look. We craft our in-house style this way and also hope that, with a timeless design that never goes out of style, the garments can stay with their new owner for a longer time.
Besides the design, we also look for potential defects and damages. For example, there may be some yellowing in hard-to-notice areas, lint and pills in pockets, and so on. The process is very labor-intensive because you can’t use machines to do the job. Manually evaluating the details of each garment can only be done by humans.
After we filter the clothes, we wash, sanitize, and iron them. Ironing, especially, injects new life into them. An item of clothing might be very wrinkled at first, but after ironing, it looks brand-new! When it comes to photographing the clothes, I also look into ways to present them so that customers can feel the potential and life of the garment through the image. I want people to look at them and say, “Hey, that doesn’t look second-hand at all!”
I look into ways to present [the clothes] so that customers can feel the potential and life of the garment through the image. I want people to look at them and say, “Hey, that doesn’t look second-hand at all!”
yvonne chua, steady go founder
For some clothes that are in relatively good condition but not suitable for sale, we’ll either donate or export them. Before donating, we filter them once more to make sure the items fit a nonprofit’s needs. The truth is, in places like orphanages or old folk’s homes, they don’t need that much clothes. What they do need is financial, medical, and educational assistance from the public.
Denise: What are some of your future plans and goals for Steady Go?
Yvonne: As a social enterprise, what we want to give back to society isn’t monetary donations. As we move forward, we want to focus on education. Clothing waste is a critical, pressing issue but not a lot of people are aware of it. In fact, they might not even care—“Why should I worry about how my clothes are a major source of pollution? It’s not important to me.” That’s why we’re positioning it differently: clothes are an immediate part of your life, and we all know too much of it takes up your time and space. It’s through this personal angle that we hope to deliver our message and concept of living in the moment because we’re all not short of clothes, what we’re short of is the time to pause and simply be.
In the future, we hope to open a physical store. Online content can emotionally move someone for a moment, but a physical store is where people can fully experience the environmental message we hope to communicate. We want to normalize thrifted clothing as a fashion style in the local scene. Our online platform serves as the starting point for people to think and consider; our offline storefront is where they can physically see and experience what it all means in real-life.
Denise: What can people do to join in the movement—the work you’re all doing?
Yvonne: I think there’s a lot of talk about the need to be eco-friendly, but the everyday person may feel that the idea of integrating environmental consciousness into their lifestyle, or taking real action about it, is perhaps too noble of an undertaking. People feel that it’s something beyond their reach.
For example, we hear about icebergs melting but since it’s happening far away, we don’t feel or witness it ourselves. Similarly, we have fast fashion pollution, over-consumption, and the human rights issues that go along with it—cotton is planted with the use of child labor, cotton farm workers in poor, developing countries often develop cancer2—yet when we buy the finished garment, we don’t directly feel the suffering and injustice that goes behind the industry.
So, I think to be part of the solution, is to put the focus of life back on yourself and to live in the moment. Be conscious about how and why you consume—do you “need” or “want” it? When you know what you truly want out of life, you won’t fall back on material possessions as a means to constantly fulfill your emotional wants. Rather than emphasizing natural disasters and human rights issues, we’re encouraging people to look into themselves and reflect on their outlook on everyday life.
Although it may feel a bit of a stretch to link buying clothing to the philosophy of life, but think about it, if you’re emotionally unbalanced and troubled, it’s unlikely you’ll think of caring about the environment and engaging in environmental consciousness. It’s when you settled your thoughts and are feeling positive, only then you can extend your care to the world around you.
Notes
Links: Steady Go Official Website | Facebook | Instagram
1. 慢慢开始 translates to “start slowly yet steadily”
2. The farm workers develop cancer as a result of chronic exposure to pesticides. Conventional cotton is the “world’s dirtiest crop, because it uses more chemical pesticides than any other major crop.” (Environmental Justice Foundation, “The Casualties of Cotton“).
This interview was originally conducted in Chinese. English translation by Denise Lim.
