ORIGINS
We create all-round performance apparel from the strongest material on earth to empower you to live a boundless life. We believe in quality, not in quantity. We believe that gear should last you a lifetime.
Back to Science 101 and the Scientific Method: Ask a question / do background research / build the hypothesis / experiment / confirm if the proposed solution works / analyze the data / communicate. This was paramount for what comes next.
THE QUESTION:
In 2017 we arrived at Hong-Kong (we are made in Chile) and decided to solve a problem. A simple problem. Beaten by the “lack of space” almost everybody struggles in this exciting but densely populated city we started looking for ways to improve the use of it. The first thing we noted was that we had too much… stuff… especially clothes. The question appeared: Why do we need so many clothes?
RESEARCH AND HYPOTHESIS:
The reason behind the massive amounts of clothes we had was that almost every garment was thought to be used on one particular occasion (going out with friends, hiking, traveling, business-casual situations, etc.). There was a lack of truly all-round apparel (not only in our closets but in the market as well). The hypothesis was made.
EXPERIMENTING:
When we started the researching and experimenting on the why’s and how’s we always finished crashing with “materiality”. After several thousands of hours of research, a promising material appeared in their radars. Graphene. This material was discovered in 2004 and even though it shined with incredible properties there was no real use of it so far, and even less, used to actually improve something.
CONFIRMATION, ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATION:
With a problem clearly identified and a potential “winner material” the procedure indicated we needed a manufacturing partner who had the balls and quality record to jump on this venture of trying to build truly all-round clothing. It was miraculously found and after two years of 3:30 am waking up (we had other full-time jobs at the time) the first product was born. The Alpha Series jacket.
The venture needed a name. With brand names like “The Boring Company”, “Superhuman”, “Brandless” and “#legend” we had a real hard time defining a unique name that would stick. Graphene-X was chosen. It referred to the game-changing material while the “X” has always been the searched element when trying to decipher a problem. It also shares the “X” with SpaceX which is really awesome.
Next issue on the list: How to sell jackets? To whom? We didn’t have a network of connections that would be of use here and once again the marvels of the internet smiled on us. Kickstarter. The biggest crowdfunding platform seemed like the perfect place to launch a revolutionary jacket. It worked. More than 2.000 backers from over 70 countries across the globe believed in us, agreed that truly all-round clothing was needed, and backed our first ever product launch. They made the very existence of Graphene-X possible.
OUR VISION AND MISSION
Mission: Develop unparalleled all-round apparel sustained by materials science.
Vision: Become the brand that revolutionized the clothing industry through the integration of graphene and by shaping the DNA of the brand by involving our backers on a whole new level.
CLIMATE NEUTRAL
Right from the beginning, Graphene-X has been Climate Neutral certified. But, what does this mean in practical terms?
Climate Neutral is an independent non-profit organization which in a very pragmatic way has developed a method for individuals and businesses to offset their carbon emissions. The process looks to first measure how much carbon we are responsible for emitting, then focus on trying to reduce it with well-defined and measurable actions and finally to zero out the rest by purchasing carbon offsets.
Carbon offsets are investment projects that either prevent carbon from being emitted, like renewable energy or remove carbon from the atmosphere, like planting trees.
After working closely with the Climate Neutral team, it was defined that Graphene-X’s year 1 footprint estimate was equivalent to 10 t CO2. To get to this estimate we used economic input / output modeling to get the number above; basically, every dollar we spend represents some amount of carbon — this makes sense because our economy is, essentially, carbon-based.
The project where we purchased our carbon offsets was a project from South Pole’s climate protection group: The Huóshui Small Hydropower project. This project consists of multiple small-scale hydropower plants that generate renewable energy for rural Southwest and South-Central China. By supplying clean hydroelectric power to the local grid, the project displaces greenhouse gas emissions, helping mitigate climate change and improving the lives of local people. We offseted 250 tons rather than only 10 in an effort to go further and show a real compromise with Climate Neutral.
The Huóshui Grouped Small Hydropower project is made up of 95 hydropower plants with a total combined capacity of 215.71 MW that generates clean energy to help meet China's mounting energy demands sustainably. Together they supply enough renewable energy to power over half a million average Chinese homes each year.
Becoming Climate Neutral Certified is just a step in a long sustainability journey, but it’s a step in the right direction. We encourage you to become part of this great project which is led by awesome people that are truly committed to making a difference. Check the details here.
BUILDING A GLOBAL BRAND
The rules have changed. Dramatically. This means we have to think outside the box (cliché: yes, valid: yes as well).
In our aim to become a global brand we are trying things no other brand has dared to do before (we have to as it's the only way of opening up some space for us in a dramatically crowded industry).
We believe in the power of passionate individuals and in the limitless possibilities of the connected world we live in today. We also pride ourselves in being a "backer-centric" brand so we are happy to put our money where our mouth is.
That's why we developed the first-ever Backers Board of Directors (the BBD) where backers become part of the company. These backers (between 3-10 each year) contribute with their special talent in exchange for 1% of the brand's revenues. Normally the backers and supporter’s importance in the growth of brands is not fully recognized and that's bananas! They are the ones that make brands real and they should be on the central axis of every one of them.
We are also fully transparent on the fact that our best marketing should come from our backers sharing the experience they get with our products. This is called UGC (User Generated Content) and we believe is the holy grail of marketing. Every month we launch a new UGC campaign encouraging people to share their best content with us and the world.
This is our way; this is our identity.