Meet The Holy Grail of High-Waisted Sweatpants
There’s a rare kind of sartorial magic that happens when high quality materials merge with a high waistband. Your stomach feels supported, your waistline is casually accentuated, and your skin is delightfully swathed in soft and breathable materials.
We all know sweats and athleisure have been having a moment due to the couch potato days of the pandemic, but this particular sweatpant designed by sustainable fashion company The Waight is actually the perfect transitional pant that you can wear in a myriad of ways as we move into the warmer and more social months—as evidenced by my video at the end of this article.
I came across this new slow fashion brand *shockingly* via Instagram and was drawn to The Waight’s elegant tailoring and warm, neutral color scheme paraded across their feed. Luckily, I was able to connect with the founder, designer and former fast fashion veteran, Courtney Levi Hunter to try a pair of The Waight’s hand-dyed, organic cotton Highest Rise Sweatpant and I’ve been living in them ever since.
I recently spoke to Courtney about the challenges of building a company during the pandemic, how we can all make small eco conscious decisions every day, and how she’s working to normalize the concept of pre-ordering clothing to cut down on excess waste.
And if you want to pre-order their new botanical dye sweatpants, join the waight list here.
What inspired you to create The Waight? What were some things you learned from your past work experiences that made you feel ready to take on this endeavor?
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and thought I might want to have my own line at some point. Through my journey towards slow and sustainable fashion, I became very mindful of not wanting to just put more stuff into the world. I didn’t feel good about creating a brand until I was struck with the idea for The Waight.
Because I’ve worked as a designer for 16 years, I felt confident on the product and design side to take on this endeavor. But I knew that I wasn’t—and I am still not an expert in—all aspects of starting a business. I joined a sustainable fashion incubator called Factory 45 to help fill in some of the gaps for me as far as what it takes to launch a business. It was really helpful in tackling some of the biggest hurdles from creating my social media audience, building a website, and pricing my products.
During the height of Covid in New York City, I was working from home for the first time in my life and I started to miss the way my more tailored work wardrobe made me feel. I also liked getting dressed in the morning out of pajamas and into real clothes. It was a ritual for me and set the tone for the day.
But, sitting at home all day on Zoom calls at my kitchen table also didn’t inspire me to want to put on pants with an actual waistband. I was craving something that had gorgeous details and the fit of my old work wardrobe, but was still incredibly comfy and cozy to be in all day. I found myself doodling these little sketches of super high-rise sweatpants with deep front pleats in the margins of pages I was working on. Then I saw avocado tie-dye on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. I was so fascinated by the insanely gorgeous pink color that comes from avocado pits! It opened up my eyes to an entire world of natural dye and that is another very unique part of The Waight: we only use natural dyes and I hand dye all the pieces. So, the idea of the unique natural dyes along with the new elevated silhouettes for sweats felt exciting.
When did you first realize how damaging fast fashion is for our environment and how did you subsequently change your shopping habits?
One of the very first eye-opening things that really made an impression on me was the documentary The True Cost. Prior, I knew fast fashion wasn’t great, but I looked the other way because I found it so fun, addictive, and affordable. But after seeing that documentary I was more informed and aware. My first step towards giving up fast fashion was in 2016 when I gave up shopping at Zara for my New Year’s resolution. It was actually hard for me and to this day I still occasionally linger at the windows a little too long. But after that year I realized I could do it and soon after, I added H & M, Mango, and several of the other fast-fashion retailers to my personal list of places to avoid. And then I started finding alternatives. I’ve donated or resold a lot of the clothes that I did’t wear and going forward I make mindful purchases from smaller, slow-fashion brands. If I need something more commodity, I go to a more transparent brand that is trying to do a better job by using better materials. I am still working on building out a great list of go-to sustainable brands, so that it isn’t so time-consuming to research when I need something new. Two other things that have helped replace fast fashion for me are thrifting and having a Rent The Runway subscription. Thrifting is something I used to do a lot of in college and more recently I’ve found so much pleasure in searching for gems in vintage shops. There are quite a few really good ones in my neighborhood. David Ownes and Edith Machinist always have amazing finds.
What's been some of the most challenging aspects of starting a clothing company?
The hardest part of the launching process was finding a partner willing to work with me in small batches who was interested in using the pre-order model. My first small batch was meant to be pre-order only, but it ended up being a hybrid of about 70% pre-order and then the balance was units I had to commit to in order to meet minimums. We are currently sold out of that small batch, so I know that I committed to a responsible amount of inventory, but I am working towards being 100% pre-order. My biggest challenge now is normalizing pre-order and also working to shorten the lead times to make it more appealing.
In addition to choosing clothing that is mindfully made, how else do you approach your lifestyle in a "slow" way?
I approach a “slow” lifestyle by being mindful. I think the best approach is to slowly change habits and introduce new ones so that when you look back, you have made impactful changes that are sustainable. At my home, here’s how I’ve been rethinking when it comes time to make a new purchase:
Replace cling wrap with reusable beeswax wrap
Have stacks of reusable cloth kitchen towels available so you don’t reach for paper towels
Buy a basil plant rather than buying plastic packaged cut basil at the grocery store. I have finally started to compost food waste and it was so much easier than I thought. I do it in small batches and walk it over weekly to a community compost site.