“There’s a perception of the crunchiness of sustainable clothing,” says Charlie Morris in his Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment, which doubles as his menswear brand Fanmail’s headquarters.
If anyone can make a sustainable and eco-conscious brand hip it’s 30-year-old Morris, whose line is sold exclusively at Opening Ceremony.
“The clothes don’t feel or look like a typical eco-fashion line,” says the store’s men’s buyer Jesse Hudnutt. “They’re sleek and modern.”
The year-old brand melds fashion and sporty, and uses organic materials such as cotton and hemp. The fabrics are custom-dyed in Los Angeles, and the clothes are then manufactured in New York.
Morris used to work as an assistant stylist, which opened up his eyes to the wastefulness that can occur in the industry. “I didn’t feel comfortable using all this fur and these exotic things that ultimately are terrible for the environment,” says Morris. “The way in which fur is produced, no amount of green washing can make that into a sustainable business.”
Fanmail was born as a reaction to that wastefulness. But Morris’ naming of the brand after a TLC album is telling — the clothes aren’t bogged down with politics or limited by its eco-ethos.
“Whenever people touch the clothes or try them on,” says Morris of his super-soft garments, “it immediately communicates what Fanmail is about.