Brand Feature
Supported by greater demand, sustainable fashion is more accessible than ever before, which also translates into a larger range of stylish options available to the conscious consumer.
Vegan, unisex watch brand Time IV Change has been at the forefront of this shift, offering sustainably minded shoppers access to quality and fashionable timepieces in alternative-to-leather fabrics, since 2015.
Owner of the vegan watch company, Kristen Barr explained in our interview that getting involved in a brand that reduces harm to animals, people and the planet was a “no-brainer”.
“At Time IV Change we always vow to put people, animals and the planet first. And we’re proud to offer positive alternatives that reflect your values.”
With more people moving to a vegetarian diet , the well-documented human rights issues in fashion and environmental impacts of production, there’s still a lot to consider when making a fashion purchase.
Co-founders of Time IV Change, Monique Medved and Marko Stevanja set out knowingly to disrupt an existing belief system, and become the original vegan watch company. They established the concept for the brand with the ethos –
“staying on trend shouldn’t come at the cost of the planet.”
A view that was backed eagerly by customers in their 2016, 162% funded Kickstarter campaign.
Current owner Kristen is growing on the company’s established values, and aims to show that for TIVC, sustainable fashion will always be stylish.
“We are committed to creating timepieces that represent elegance and minimalism all while keeping in mind our ethics of living a cruelty free and compassionate life”
With the core value of no harm to animals, TIVC’s styles have been designed using innovative and vegan fabrics like Pinatex (pineapple leather) and Eco-Suede (recycled polyester).
A continued commitment to sustainable innovation, Kristen says she is currently working on introducing brand new sustainable fabrics to the range, and growing their range of vegan leather goods – we can’t wait to see what’s to come!
In our interview, we asked what it took for her to take the leap into the business, what challenges arose, and what is their focus for the future…
Interview with Kristen Barr, Owner of sustainable, vegan watch brand Time IV Change:
Who created Time IV Change?
The business was created by Monique Medved and Marko Stevanja in 2015. I purchased the business from them in June 2018.
What motivated you to work with this brand?
The business was started after a search for a leather alternative watch band that wasn’t made from PVC or other nasty chemicals.
I’ve always had a thing for watches and absolutely loved what the business stood for so when I came across it, it really was a no-brainer to get involved.
We’re excited to learn more about the stories and people who make our fashion. For TIVC, can you tell us about them and your relationship with them?
We’re actually working on bringing this to life as we speak! We love the people behind our brand and the stories that they bring to our watches.
Our starting point is that we will always pay a fair price for any work performed through our supply chain. We know that us paying a fair price doesn’t necessarily directly translate to the workers being paid so we back this up with codes of conducts, contracts and reviews to ensure that the workers are being paid above statutory minimums and also above the minimum living wage.
Our main manufacturing partner in particular is very engaged with us around these issues (and also our views around sustainable practices and our cruelty free stance).
You work with some seriously innovative materials in your range, how did you choose them?
Yes – we have the most amazing suppliers! Our team spend a lot of time on product research to make sure we get the right fit.
Our starting point is looking for animal free and cruelty free products – meaning that we don’t use any animal by-products in our watches and also don’t use any suppliers who perform animal testing. Ideally, these products will come from businesses that adopt the cruelty free philosophy throughout their whole business.
We then look to ethics and sustainability practices. We only work with suppliers who share our philosophy on ethics and treat their people fairly. Likewise, we source the most environmentally friendly options available. Once we are comfortable with the origins of the material we will then move in to sampling to ensure that materials look great and can hold up to treatment as a watch brand.
What are your plans for the future?
We are currently sampling some new materials so stay tuned for more world firsts! We’re also planning to bring out some new designs and colours for both our watch faces and bands (all in limited batch production) and relaunch our vegan leather goods range towards the end of the year.
From an entrepreneurial perspective, what’s one tip you’d give to someone thinking of starting their own business?
Go in with your eyes wide open! The highs and lows of working in your own business are so much greater than when working for someone else. In particular, trying to run an ethical, sustainable business can be particularly challenging as sometimes the solutions that you need may not have been invested yet (or not available in commercial quantities).
You say – “At TIVC we believe that each and every individual has the power to shape the world around them.” – If people were to take one thing away from your business, what would you like it to be?
That even small steps can create big change and that when they are joined together these steps can be huge! Our watches are relatively small in comparison to the fashion world but we’re really proud of the difference that we have made so far.
Who or what inspires you on a daily basis?
It probably sounds a bit cliché but from a business perspective it really is our customers. We get emails pretty much daily thanking us for the work that we are doing and we absolutely love seeing our watches out and about when people share their photos on social media.
We also really admire the businesses that have grown to a significant size whilst remaining true to their values and we hope to follow in their footsteps.
Which person or brand would you love to collaborate with?
We have such a big list! We’ve previously collaborated with Coconut Bowls and would love to do that again. We all love the work that Spell is doing in the sustainability space so would love to be able to work with them.
A Stylish Way to Wear Your Values – Time IV Change offer a range of vegan watches for men and women, using sustainable materials, leather alternatives and recycled aluminium.
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Images courtesy of Time IV Change.
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