2023 Update: Change is Constant!

2022 was certainly challenging, but we're excited to welcome the new year with fresh ideas, new designs, and projects on the horizon. Tonlé has been going through a period of transition, and one thing is consistent: change! 2022 was one of our hardest to date, yet we're still proud of what we have accomplished as a team, no matter what shape tonlé takes in the future. Today, we're celebrating our wins and continuing to be shaped by learning through challenge. We'd like to share a bit about what we've learned and how we're supporting our community going forward with your help.

WINS AND CHALLENGES

PWYC IS BACK

We're hoping to get production up to speed after significant setbacks last year (read more about it here) If you'd like to support our team in getting back to stability, you can support us through placing an order, purchasing a subscription box, joining a paying tier on the discord, or supporting our gofundme. Our Pay What You Can sale is available only this week (January 9th-15th.)

WHY NOW?

We are doing this PWYC sale now to help generate sales in a time that is notoriously difficult for brands. Our goal is to provide consistent income to our team and partners throughout the year, so sales in January are helpful to reaching that goal. 

PAY WHAT YOU CAN DETAILS

Providing fair wages and benefits to our team both in the US and in Cambodia is the framework for how we create our pricing. We’ve always tried to provide our clothing at accessible pricing, but the costs of doing business has been going up and in recent years we have to take on debt to pay salaries. 

If you are a customer who has found our prices to be difficult relative to your own salary and ability – we hope you’ll see one of the higher discount levels as a way to support our work and our people while at the same time getting something you will love at an affordable price point. If you’re a customer who has had more privilege, we hope that knowing what you are paying for will help encourage you to choose one of the lower discount tiers – as the full price is really what we need to earn to sustain our business and help keep our pricing affordable for those with less access in the future.

HERE IS A BREAKDOWN OF OUR PRICING, WHAT IT COVERS

With PWYC we make the following discount codes available to make our pricing accessible. The PWYC sales do significantly contribute to our work and help to smooth out cashflow during slow seasons, at all pricing tiers. To participate in this sale, use the appropriate discount code at checkout. 

A FEW QUICK NOTES ABOUT PWYC:

• PWYC discounts are available from January 9th through 15th
• PWYC discounts are available for everything on the site.
• Because of the fast nature of these sales - our response times to questions on the samples will likely not be immediate – please be patient with us as we have just one person working on customer service. 
• We cannot accept returns on sale items, but feel free to submit them through open closet.
• PWYC sales can be applied to subscription boxes and will be applied for 2 months.

CHANGING THE WAY WE USE SOCIAL

One of the first things we're changing is how we engage with social media. It’s long been known that many social media platforms are not good for our mental health, and our community’s well-being. We’ve been unsure of how to navigate these dynamics but also haven’t seen other options. We're going to be trying a few things differently this upcoming year: 

We'll be engaging less on social media platforms and using them more as a showcase and a portfolio. We'll be sharing more of our long-form educational content here on our newsletter, on our blog, and through the Just X Fashion platform. 

OUR NEW DISCORD SERVER: JUST X FASHION 

We have also teamed up with Isaias of Queer Brown Vegan to form a discord that we aim to use as a place to build a more intentional community and nurture opportunities to connect, learn from each other, and share resources. We will also provide professional resources to emerging designers for zero-waste design and sustainability in our paid tiers. 

Whether you’re a budding ethical fashionista, a knowledgeable industry expert, a student looking for deeper understanding, or a founder looking to grow, promote your brand, and deepen your circularity knowledge, you’re sure to find a subscription tier that will support you on your journey. Plus, subscriptions support our team and other creators who we will partner with. Once we reach 150 monthly subscribers, we’ll be able to start partnering with other creators monthly on exclusive content and community calls.

Join the discord for free or support our work on an ongoing basis through one of our paid tiers:

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...WE'RE STARTING A NEW PROGRAM TO PARTNER WITH EMERGING DESIGNERS...JOIN US!

Are you a designer seeking to grow your brand or find new production partners? We are seeking designers who are interested in partnering with us on designing, producing, selling, and distributing their collections. We are in the initial planning stages, but we are looking to work with 5-10 designers at different stages of their journeys throughout the next year and beyond. We will work with designers on a profit share basis that will be negotiated according to your needs, and find creative ways to fundraise that both support our team and do not require up-front capital from you. We will be selective about who we work with in order to find the group who can have the most success with us and represent different stages along the journey of entrepreneurship. 

THE END...OF THIS BLOG POST!

WHEW...that was a long one! thanks for sticking through with us and with these updates, as well as supporting our work. We look forward to being continuing partners in changing this industry together.