Episode 258: Creating a Sustainable Protest Brand with Jerry Wheeler, CEO of Kastlfel
With more than twenty years of experience in the apparel industry's retail, wholesale, and manufacturing sectors, Jerry Wheeler brings a unique perspective to the business.
In 2008 he founded EcoCentric Brands, a sustainability consultancy built on the premise of an integrated bottom line that equally values human, natural, and financial capital. EcoCentric Brand’s F.A.S.T. methodology (which stands for Fair, Accountable, Sustainable, and Transparent) is used to embed sustainability into a company’s DNA to achieve tangible results and align with today’s ESG reporting requirements.
While still speaking and consulting in the sustainability space, Jerry co-founded Kastlfel and is the CEO. Kastlfel is a leading sustainable apparel brand in the resort and specialty retail market, and now brings its product and expertise to the promotional products industry through a partnership with S&S. Kastlfel was designed and built on the F.A.S.T. platform and can align with a company’s sustainability initiatives turning corporate or promotional apparel into a no cost sustainability program that provides tangible data and benefits.
Prior to founding Kastlfel, Jerry was a co-founder of the SRC Group. Focused on the custom-private label, corporate uniforms, and promotional apparel, SRC launched the 1st organic cotton promotional tee in 2003 and built sustainable corporate apparel programs for brands including Chipotle, DirecTV, and Qwest Communications.
Today we take a deep dive with Jerry into topics like:
Transitional cotton
How Kastlfel is a protest brand in the sustainability space
And Jerry shares some really solid advice on how you can tie in sustainability and apparel to your customer’s initiatives without being an expert in cotton
Mentioned in this episode:
Kastlfel Brings Your Customers Sustainable Styles and A Promise (as featured on The PRES&S)