THE STORY

Over a phone call to catch up during Covid-19 Shelter At Home here in California, Adriano and I began talking about ideas, and that’s where the concept for the TYPE ONE TEE was born.  We were anxious to give a positive message, and the time at home  stimulated us to think about new ways to create a business starting from nothing. 

THE PROBLEM

Your average cotton tee shirt is traditionally a weak product.  When living in tees (like we do these days) we’re wearing and washing them often enough to understand that they break down over time.  

Growing cotton also presents other issues, including the environmental impact from large amounts of water used for irrigation and  the chemicals and pesticides used in most of these crops.  Garments that aren’t long lasting end up in landfills.  

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, although efforts are being made to recycle discarded clothing, this only accounts for 15% of the apparel that makes its way into landfills today.

THE SOLUTION:

We’ve created a tee shirt that brings together the most eco friendly fibers in nature, Hemp and Tencel.  

Hemp is a naturally strong fiber with anti-microbial properties.  When hemp is blended with Tencel (made from fiber that comes from wood), the finished yarn is stronger than cotton and produces a durable long lasting fabric.  

On top of our fiber sourcing that creates a longer life garment, we went a step further with our dye processing.  Our colors are made from chopped up old clothes that are ground into powder becoming new dye for our tees.  Our goal is that you’ll fall in love with our TYPE ONE TEE.  Designed with the earth in mind, and so soft that you’ll never want to take it off.

AVAILABLE COLORS

TYPE ONE TEE SIZING

SOURCING STRATEGY

PRODUCTION & DELIVERY CALENDAR

WHAT GOES INTO OUR PRODUCT: 

HOW WE WILL USE OUR FUNDING:

A successful Kickstarter Campaign will not only allow us to work through our first production run, enabling us to finance and deliver product to our Backers, but it will also help to prove the concept for our earth conscious brand, Ace Gold Green.

Risks and challenges

If you watched our Kickstarter video, it’s clear that we’re not kids. In addition to the years of combined design, product development, and production experience that Adriano and I bring to this project, we have assembled a team of the best resources available to produce our goods. Just like in any relationship, open communication (always sharing what’s working and what isn’t) is the key to identifying solutions when challenges come up.

All of our resources have committed to focusing on quality as our #1 priority with this project, and making sure that we’re involved and informed about each step of the manufacturing process. Bringing materials together from around the world can be challenging at any time, and clearly becomes much more complicated during a global pandemic.

Our suppliers have committed to our raw material deliveries, but none of us can for-see things that are out of our control like countries being shut down/ shipments being stopped/ or other un-knowns that could impact our planned calendar to ship your finished Type One Tees. Between our experience, our team of best in class suppliers, and our goal to bring you our Type One Tee, we’ll do everything in our ability to ship your product on time

Environmental commitments

Visit our Environmental Resources Center to learn how Kickstarter encourages sustainable practices.

Long-lasting design

Combining Hemp fibers with Tencel adds to the overall fabric strength of our tee shirts, giving it more durability through standard wear. Building Education around alternatives to standard home care (using cold water for wash cycles and air drying) also adds to both energy savings and extends the life of our tees.

Reusability and recyclability

Our compostable mailers are made from a combination of PBAT, a bio based polymer which is compostable, and PLA which is made up of plant materials such as regular field corn and wheat straw.

Our use of PLA makes up barely 0.05% of the annual global corn crop, making it an incredibly low-impact resource. Read on for further certifications and information.

The bags are certified by TUV Austria; meeting American, European, International and Australian standards – including certifications for your domestic home compost. To gain these certifications, the product must break down within 90 days in commercial compost and 180 days in domestic compost conditions, including worm farm compost. After degradation, they must leave no harmful residues behind.

Sustainable materials

The fibers for our tee shirts are produced from a blend of Hemp and Tencel. Hemp grows 4 times faster than cotton, it doesn’t require any pesticides, and uses at least 50% less water than cotton to grow.

Tencel comes from Tree Farms (which are re-grown) and its fibers are extruded from wood chips. The “Recycrom” dye-stuffs used for our tee shirts are created by Officina +39 from post consumer waste apparel. That means they take old clothing, sort it by color, then chop it up into small pieces. This is then ground into a powder which is re-used to dye our Ace Gold Green tees.

Environmentally friendly factories

Based in Los Angeles, we’ve selected our cutting, sewing, printing and finishing facilities within a local radius of each-other. We have long standing relationships with the factories, and we’ve considered how they treat their employees as well as their industry reputations for in our decision to place our Ace Gold Green products with them.

Sustainable Distribution

Our first consideration regarding fulfilment was actually about our direct to consumer mailers, and making sure we had a compostable envelope that wouldn’t add additional pressures to our landfills. Instead of managing fulfilment through a large facility, we’ll be managing all of the packing and shipping to designated services ourselves via Prius.

KEEP IN TOUCH 

Kickstarter is a great platform to launch products in many industries – though our industry has not really taken full advantage of it. It enables crowd funding of projects to enable them get on their feet . We would request our readers to contribute whatever – even if a small amount – to support this great project which can be an inspiration for many young designers and fashionistas to launch unique products with shoestring budget. We all need to make this succeed !
Kickstarter link
Also follow Acegoldgreen.com for by putting up your email address for updates on the project .

When the going gets tough – the tough get going !
Adriano Goldschmied and Ace Rivington founder, Beau Lawrence, have come together during the lockdown to discuss the business model of the future. Inspired from the need for simplicity and durable products they decided to launch a brand built around an iconic item, with earth friendly materials and with the mission to inspire future designers and brands on how to build something with little money.

Ace Gold Green^TM is introducing their first product, TYPE ONE TEE, on Kickstarter in early June 2020. Both coming from strong backgrounds in the jean world, they couldn’t steer away from their heritage of indigo by adding a signature true indigo binding at the neckline that will fade down with every wash and wear. The t-shirt is also built with a blend of natural fibers and finished with RECYCROM dyestuffs created from 100% recycled textile materials supplied by Officina +39. For updates, follow the brand launch by signing up at their website: AceGoldGreen.com

What makes Ace Gold Green^TM TYPE ONE TEE unique:

• THE PROJECT THAT IS COMPLETELY DESIGNED REMOTELY DURING THE LOCKDOWN
• ACE GOLD GREEN^TM REDEFINES THE NEW MARKET TO NOT OVERDESIGN
• WE’RE BRINGING TO THE MARKET A RELEVANT SIMPLE T-SHIRT
• THE T-SHIRT IS MADE WITH THE MOST SUSTAINABLE FIBERS; A BLEND OF HEMP AND TENCEL
• THIS ONE IS THE FIRST T-SHIRT THAT IS 100% COTTON FREE
• HEMP IS ONE OF THE MOST ANTIBACTERIAL FIBER FOUND IN NATURE
• TENCEL IS THE LEADING SUSTAINABLE FIBER
• TOTALLY RECYCLABLE AND BIODEGRADABLE
• PERFECT BASIC FIT THAT IS GENDERLESS
• MADE IN LA RESPECTING PEOPLE AND ENVIRONMENT
• WE DYE IN LA USING ONLY RECYCROM COLORS OF OFFICINA+ 39 MADE OUT OF RECYCLED COLORS
• LOWEST CO2 IMPACT
• CATERING TO THE NEW ERA OF DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION

ABOUT ADRIANO GOLDSCHMIED: 

Recognized as “The Godfather of Denim” Goldschmied is known well throughout the apparel industry for innovation and creativity of the many brands and businesses he has helped to launch throughout his career.  In the early 1980s his business incubator, Genius Group, founded Diesel, Replay, A Gold E and many others.  Settling in the States in 2000, Goldschmied lead the industry creating many of the most recognizable brands we know today, including AG Adriano Goldschmied and Goldsign. In addition to his current design and branding work at Genious Group LLC, he and his partner, Vincenzo Marrocco, also oversees denim and knit supply business through “House of Gold”.  HouseOfGold.la

ABOUT BEAU LAWRENCE:

Beau Lawrence, Founder and President of Ace Rivington, has over 20 years of experience working in design and development of men’s jeanswear. The former Director of Men’s Denim at Guess Jeans, and VP of Design and Merchandising at Neff Headwear, Lawrence ventured out on his own to launch Ace Rivington in November of 2013. Ace Rivington is a men’s and women’s premium denim brand based in Santa Barbara, California.  Launched on Kickstarter in 2013 with an iconic sweatshirt, the company has expanded to include a full collection of denim lifestyle products and operates its own retail store and wholesale business.AceRivington.com

ACE GOLD GREEN^TM PRESS CONTACT: tephy@acegoldgreen.com

Sandeep:
First of all I want you to thank you for joining this discussion it’s such a pleasure and honor for me.

Adriano:
It is an amazing opportunity- thank you very much .We are experiencing first hand what it means to be digital . It is a good exercise because it looks like this will be our future.

Sandeep:
Absolutely, I agree with you.So how’s everything in LA ? Is it getting better than before?

Adriano:
The situation in LA is very similar to other parts of America, but better than New York . Let’s say, every business is closed and only essential facilities are open. People might need to stay home long time, which is not a good thing. Basically, we are suggested to stay at home, but free spirited Americans are still going around. In Italy, for instance, is different because they can pose heavy fines if you disobey a state/federal mandate. We hope Americans who love freedom & independence understand the importance of staying home and can contribute to everyone’s safety.

Sandeep:
Absolutely, because it’s for everybody and it’s totally unexpected and we all are actually trying to find a way out what to do .We have to find a way out of this situation. First of all , I really hope that all your friends and relatives and family , everybody is okay and healthy.

Adriano:s
Everybody is fine including my staff. Let’s say, I really care about my team. They are the biggest value of the company. I ordered them to stay home even before the California government ordered people to stay home. We are working remotely from home, but all our mills in China are reopened and operating at 100%. Our business is already very digital. That is why we can adapt easily to the new situation. But we do miss the touch & feel portion of our business. This is a big moment of responsibility for us all. It is in the hands of every single person to help and to try to arrive to a good conclusion.

Sandeep:
So what do you think of the situation ? how it’s really going to affect all of us because we are seeing massive issues going on, the stores are closing down , bankruptcies are coming , the supply chain is getting totally disrupted. What is really going to happen in fashion industry and denim industry in particular ?

Adriano:
My feeling is that we do not realize the magnitude of this disaster. Everyone is very uncomfortable. All the stores are closed, all the companies are closed. We are doing our best to do our work remotely at home, but I don’t think we realize the real consequences of this situation in our business. The reality is that we don’t have a complete vision on the impact on our business. The work has turned more towards a digital platform. This is very difficult for my generation. Personally for me, I am used to having physical contact with the people, with my team. Working digitally is something we are all forced to learn today to maintain business. I think this is a positive thing. What we have done in the past by physical contact can be done digitally & remotely today saving a lot of time. We will continue to work this way even after we get back to normal. The current mood right now is very emotional and the only button that we have in front of us is the panic button. Instead, we need to be ready to press the restart button. This will require us to have a better vision of how the situation is revolving. The consequences of the coronavirus will change the way we make business decisions. This situation is going to have long lasting effects and we have to think to take on a bigger moral responsibility.

I believe this will forcibly push our industry in a positive way towards sustainability & circular fashion. It will also push the consumers to buy products that are more durable, more valued, in a more responsible way. The consumers will indicate to the mills and manufacturers to go towards this direction. Next year for sure we’re gonna be down in our business at least by 50%. It will have a terrible impact in the organizations of all supply chains globally. It will hit dramatically in countries where textile is a big part of their economic sector.

I don’t want to be negative, but the denim business has been changing the social life in a lot of countries. Particular in developing countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan & many others. So my mind is going to the millions and millions of people that rely on manufacturing jobs not just as work, but also their livelihood. They don’t have other options and their governments have limited means to assist them. When we overcome the coronavirus and go back to normal, we will have to adjust to a new “normal.” It will not be like switching a light on. The industry has to find a formula to understand the new reality and reinvent the way we work. Even though it is difficult for all, for countries like America, it will be easier to be able to help people. Unfortunately the poor will be the ones who will pay the biggest price.

Sandeep:
It is a really very tough situation and I don’t know if you are not able to think about solutions , it is really very difficult for us to really think about solutions.There seem to be no way out but in terms of consumption patterns by the consumers what changes do you think will happen in terms and the end of the consumer? What would they look forward after these crisis?

Adriano:
It’s clear we face difficulties, but I’m positive that life will go on. Everyday we will have a new morning. The reaction to the new normality will be different in Asia (especially China) & in emerging countries. People are at home for a long period of time and they are anxious and probably the reaction for them is to go shopping again. It will probably be a shopping party. On the other side, in America & Europe, consumers will reconsider their way of shopping.

The consumers are more mature and not afraid to change the approach that they have to shop. All the digital shopping is going to be booming but they are going to reconsider shopping in a more responsible way. They will buy less and buy better. Transparency will be more evident and help the consumer make better choices with the information provided. This is the direction that we have been pushing for for years and years.

Sandeep:
Do you think fast fashion will move out? Is Fast fashion is going to finish ?

Adriano:
We have different reactions from different parts of the world. One way is that fashion will be more important. Fashion has an important role because it is creating an emotion for the buyer. Fashion is stimulating this approach that the consumer is thinking that they cannot live without the new fashion. Consumers of fashion are interested in new products, fits & washes all the time. In my opinion, the market will change.

The rule was that we come to the market with new products every six months. We need to change our method of work and to be more open minded. There is no obligation to make 40+ piece collections. We should bring new products to the market when it is interesting for the market. This way will be much more simple.

We need a more digital approach that is available anywhere, all the time. The other way is that the consumer is going into more basic, simple & clean products. Basics is not all about price. As transparency is more available, they will choose products with more value and durability. Our consumers are ready for a lot of different price points. The price will reflect the real value of the product.

I am one of the original leaders of premium denim. I remember when we could take a mediocre quality denim and put a hefty price like $300 dollars and call it “premium.” That is fake premium. It was taking advantage of the emotion of the consumer and not providing a real premium product. Now consumers have information and choices to select better quality products. Recycling and reuse of garments is taking a lot of attention. When we come out from this pandemic, we will have a new face of our business.

Sandeep:
Well as we see the reports, we understand that this situation in some way will continue for at least one year or one and a half years till the time we have really have a vaccine.So do you think with so many people working from home will also affect the kind of clothes the people will be buying ?

Adriano:
I think there are a lot of things that can be done digitally. For instance, I am a partner with MYR , a digital platform to design & develop remotely. With this technology, you can control the development and production digitally and remotely.

This is a very important step to reduce cost and is much more sustainable. On another level, the trade shows will play a different role as we work with at digital platform. This will save us time & money. Think about design, with a digital platform we will be able to have a closer relationship with the vendors.

This will also enable us to have a closer connection with the market for a faster exchange of ideas. We don’t know how this will work, but for sure it will be the new way, our new normality. The current situation is like a tsunami. Only the good & strong will survive. The panorama of the mills will be reshaped by acquisitions with companies that understand the need to switch to a more digital platform.

Sandeep:
I really want to thank you for your wonderful views and people are really happy to watch you speak and understand from you what’s happening around.So I really thank you for everything that you know.

Adriano:
Thank you very much. I wish to our people and all the humanity to be healthy and that this will pass soon. We need to be ready for big changes and find a way to make our business better. I hope the industry will think in a much more moral way and think about all the affected people to guarantee a better life and not just about the profits. Thank you very much and good luck.

Hi Adriano , once again welcome to Denimsandjeans. Its always an honor to speak to you and very excited to be a part of a conversation about a great  sustainability project – Wiser Wash –  that you are associated with. Please tell me a little about the journey of Wiser wash and how it was setup 

It is a kind of Trio, Kevin Youn that was working with me when I started AG is the lucky inventor of the process. Fuat Gozacan understood the potential of the patent and with his company Wiser Globe, he created in Amsterdam Wiser Wash giving the structure, the vision how to operate and obviously putting the money to make it happen. I come in because I really love the wash that I consider a game changer because three main reason 
1) Makes superior washes, much better then traditional 
2) Because is sustainable more than any other.
3) It is cheaper than traditional.
So we made together a very strong team where i develop new products  and research and I using my network to promote the business around the world. I am not a sale person, I promote things where I really believe in

No Stones, no chemicals and only a cup of water to wash a jeans ! How is it possible to wash this way ? What role do electrified water and Ozone gas play  in the whole process.

It is just a special use of the ozone machine and I confirm that in the decoloration process, that for others is Chlorine or potassium, we use 200ml of water when the others are using 15/20 liters of water

What kind of collaboration you had with Pepe Jeans and how it has affected them in terms of products , investments, innovation and long term gains. 

We gave to them an exclusivity on the process for a certain period of time, we had a co-branding and we co-marketed the product. The most important thing is that we had a very good response from consumers that love the product that is nicer and more sustainable

You already have partner laundries in Turkey, Portugal  and USA. What do these laundries need to do to be a part of  Wiser Wash ? Does Wiser Wash give them licence to operate. 

We own directly the laundry in LA that is our development center and Izmir that is for the training of staff of our partners and production too. In Portugal it is a partnership with Pizarro, The rest of the world the business model is a licence contract. Wiser wash partners need to share the vision and operate with sustainability as most important goal of the company and obviously they have to sign a license contract.

Are new partnerships coming  up in other regions ?

We already  signed important license deals with Arvind in India and PPJ in Vietnam and Elleti in Italy. I am just coming back from a trip in South America where we are expecting to sign in Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay. We are targeting partners in the near future in Mexico, Pakistan and China with more to come.

Sustainability always has a cost which is more than that of traditional methods of doing things . This gap is probably one of the reasons why many still find a strong urge to stick to the former. Does Wiser wash intend to reduce this gap and make sustainability more democratic ? 

Yes, the big game changer is that Wiser Wash is much more competitive than a traditional wash as we save in water, stone and chemicals and the process is much more simple. This will be a booster for sustainability as is making sustainability affordable for everybody.

You keep going on so strongly ! Please do let us know about the other projects you are currently involved in. 

I am very involved in many projects that are about innovation and new technologies in the textile segment. I am pushing to make progresses with Tictorium, Smart Indigo and the new dyeing indigo system. I am also a lot in the introduction of new fibers and collaboration with Lenzing. For what is regarding the design the major focus is to make the jean really circular.

Besides sustainability , what do you think are the other major factors which are affecting or will affect  the trend direction of denim . 

It is true that sustainability , bio technology,  saving water and growing new fibers in a smart way are major points but they are just part of a bigger picture where right ethic in business, social respect, livable wages and safe working conditions are very important part of the equation. We have to fight for all of them.

What do you think about the Japanese market and where does it stand in the  plans for Wiser Wash .

Japanese market since long time is been leading the indigo and denim business blending the indigo Japanese culture and tradition with the American vintage. The result of this is an incredible and unique denim culture that is been inspiring us all the time and for sure will continue with the generations to come. However the global business is changing dramatically in term of distribution, numbers, innovation, technology and product development. This obviously has an impact also in Japan and requires that the domestic industry and the brands find new answers. Those answers are coming now also from a different method of work, they are not coming any more from one of few brands but from a “work together  system where we share research and technology and we bring benefits to all. In particular the sustainability and circularity are a challenge that are in the hands of all of us. For many different reasons I feel that Japan is a little bit behind in the eco projects, So my approach bringing Wiser Wash to Japan is, as a first step, to show the potential of this technology applied to Japanese fabrics and brand and then to develop collaborations that can bring to the traditional strength of denim market a new important segment that will be the future for all of us.

Much younger persons than yourselves like me find it difficult to have the energy and passion that you have at age of 78 . Would you like to share some secrets so that it can inspire us to contribute more to the industry and society like yourselves   

First, I am only 76 ! What is driving me is the passion for the business and that I  feel that I have to contribute up to my last minute to inspire people and make our world a better place for the new generations.

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