DOWNTOWN — A local startup will launch online this weekend with the aim to make it easier to buy ethically and sustainably made clothing.
TUTT, short for Tell Us The Truth, goes live Sunday in conjunction with a crowdsourcing campaign to raise $350,000 to improve company operations. Each product on TUTT’s website will come with an apparel “nutrition fact” so customers can see what it’s made of and where that material was grown and manufactured.
TUTT was created out of co-founder Nicole Ruiz’s difficulties finding transparency in the world’s fashion supply chain, she said.
Ruiz has been passionate about fashion and design since she was little, she said. She attended fashion school but changed directions to study business and entrepreneurship. In 2019, Ruiz decided to follow her dreams to start a sustainable clothing line that would support women in Cambodia who overcame sex trafficking, she said.
The problem: “I was so frustrated because I could not find where my cotton was coming from,” Ruiz said.
Cotton itself is a sustainable ingredient, but its production has been controversial and linked to exploitative labor conditions.
About 20 percent of the world’s cotton production comes from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China, which has been discovered to use forced slave labor, according to The New York Times.
The victims of these forced labor camps are mostly China’s Muslim and other ethnic minorities. These people are forced to endure “dreadful conditions” where they receive little pay and are not allowed to leave, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2022 now bans all goods from that region.
Other countries that have been found to use forced labor to produce cotton include India, Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Benin, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, according to federal data.
“If I was making an ethical and sustainable line, I needed to make sure my cotton wasn’t sourced from there … and I just could not get a straight answer. And the name TUTT came from my own desperation,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz and co-founder Melissa Smith launched the company last year out of 1871, a technology start-up incubator inside Downtown’s Merchandise Mart.
The website will have about 100 vetted items from 21 brand partners that customers will be able to buy starting Sunday. TUTT will also feature several up-cycle vendors and small-batch sustainable boutiques, Ruiz said.
TUTT vets each item. All will be made from organic cotton or linen and must be Fair Trade Certified or GOTS Certified in addition to providing confirmation of where the item is manufactured, Ruiz said.
“For the consumer, we want ease of use, we want simplicity. … Pick something up, buy it and you know it’s good for you,” Ruiz said.
One of Ruiz’s favorite brands that will be featured on the site is The Big Favorite, which uses 100 percent Pima cotton to make undyed, natural-fiber underwear.
The Big Favorite also has a buy-back program where customers can send in their worn-out products for store credit. The company partners with textile recyclers to turn the old products into yarn for reuse.
Smith hopes the simplicity of TUTT’s online shopping experience will attract the “granola curious,” those who may already be using or are curious about sustainable products.
“The granola curious is for the person that goes and buys organic berries, but they also pick up Cheez-Its on the way out. … That is most of us. We want to do better, but we’re also all overwhelmed with so much going on these days. … You don’t have to feel shamed for not being sustainable, but we can really uplift and say progress, not perfection, make the little steps and that makes such a big difference,” Smith said.
In addition to the site and crowdfunding launch, TUTT will host a clothing swap 2-5 p.m. Sunday at The Hoxton: Working From, 208 N. Green St. In partnership with the West Loop Community Organization, a community nonprofit, attendees will be able to bring five to 10 pieces of clothing to exchange with others.
To register for the event, click here. Space is limited. TUTT’s website will launch Sunday.
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