Brad Jeffery's transformative travels through Africa and South Asia ignited a passion that led to the creation of MADE FREE®, a U.S.-based social enterprise in the apparel and accessories industry. Alongside his wife Katherine, who shared his deep commitment to social change, they established a brand that transcends traditional fashion norms. MADE FREE® stands as a testament to the power of dignified work, aiming to combat the root causes of slavery, human trafficking, and poverty. Focused on holistic sustainability, the brand integrates ecological, social, and economic principles, ensuring fair compensation and ethical treatment of artisans while using eco-friendly materials. Each purchase not only contributes to a day of freedom from exploitation for those involved in its creation but also supports Brad and Katherine's ambitious goal of empowering one million people through self-sustaining jobs.
Brad: Sure, about 16 years ago, I felt this calling. I was doing well in business, but something was missing. I didn't just want to make money; I wanted to impact the world positively. This realization hit me hard. I was learning about human trafficking, slavery, and poverty, and it was troubling how these issues persisted despite efforts.
My daughters, who are millennials, were into brands doing good, which got me thinking. Despite efforts, poverty and slavery weren’t diminishing. Researching this on the World Bank’s website, I saw that despite significant aid, poverty levels in Sub-Saharan Africa hadn't changed in 20 years. That made me think: that giving money isn’t enough.
Then I noticed a shift in consumer trends – people wanted to do good with their purchases. This wasn’t a thing 40 years ago, but it was becoming big. I realized there was a place where my passions for business, branding, and fashion could intersect with solving these global issues.
So, I wanted to create a brand that leverages this consumer desire to do good, focusing on dignified work to combat poverty and slavery. That's how the whole idea started.
Brad: Setting this up was tough. In fashion, the common approach is to focus on environmental sustainability, not labor practices. It's simpler to use recycled materials and ignore labor conditions. But that wasn't our aim. We wanted to truly help people out of poverty and prevent slavery, which made establishing manufacturing challenging.
The people we aimed to help weren't skilled in making products like backpacks; they were struggling with basic survival. So, the first six years were really about building teams that could craft quality products at the right price. We established three small factory partnerships in South Asia, especially in India.
These factories employ people highly vulnerable to trafficking. For them, this job is transformative. They learn skills like stitching and working with leather, but it's a continuous challenge. These people initially might not have the skills for manufacturing, so there's a lot of investment in training. It's been a long journey, but now we're here, making high-quality, competitive products and truly making a difference.
Brad: Funding is one of the toughest challenges we face. Building a company and raising brand awareness requires a significant amount of money, which many times means going into debt and investing heavily in advertising and marketing. Unfortunately, we do not have that kind of funding at our disposal. Therefore, we have had to resort to grassroots channels to promote our product and get it into the hands of the public. We sell our products through small retail outlets and boutique stores, of which we have around 80. We also sell through various online marketplaces. However, our most successful channel has been direct-to-business sales in the promotional products industry.
This means that we focus on logo gear and providing promotional products to businesses as a way to grow our brand. This channel allows us to receive larger orders, generate a positive cash flow, and put our brand in the hands of more people. For example, when we sell 1000 bags to a company with 1000 employees, we gain.
Brad: Our slogan is "Every purchase supports a day of freedom from human trafficking through a dignified job." As consumers, we should strive to buy high-quality products that support the livelihood of the people who make them. By using our purchasing power, we have the ability to change lives and make a positive impact. Our products are both competitive and sustainable, so you don't have to compromise on quality, price, or ethics. We believe in a holistic message of sustainability that includes not just the environment and materials, but also the livelihoods of those vulnerable to human trafficking. Therefore, we are committed to creating sustainable products that uplift and empower the makers.
Brad: I believe that our biggest challenge is to create awareness about our brand. Since everything is primarily based on Google and search engines, it's a constantly changing machine of algorithms. If we don't show up in the search results, we can't expect to be noticed.
Therefore, search engine optimization has become a more complicated task, and we need to improve our skills in that area. We need to take advantage of it and ensure that we appear more frequently in the search results for the average person.
Additionally, there is a lot of confusion surrounding sustainability and improving the lives of makers. There is a lot of deception going on right now, and it's not a joke. There is a growing interest in caring for the planet, climate change, and sustainability, which is a noble task.
But there's another really important topic: slavery. Currently, slavery is at an all-time high, with over 50 million people affected. The industry generates more revenue than some of the world's largest corporations combined. It's a troubling reality, and if you ask anyone of sound mind about slavery, they would agree it's horrifying and that no one should be subjected to it. However, the issue continues to escalate rather than diminish.
Brad: I am very close to our friends in India and we communicate regularly. Being up close and personal with them on a daily and weekly basis keeps me motivated because they keep me informed about what's going on in their world. It's something that cannot be ignored. Even though our partners are in opposite time zones, I talk to them all the time. Knowing that the need is so great and hearing about the benefits of our work and the impact it has on people's lives keeps me going. They share stories with me about how our work provides employment opportunities and how it positively affects the lives of people.
Brad: It has been a challenging year for us. Our target clients are businesses that require branded products, but their sales and purchasing have decreased, which has affected our sales as well. However, I am optimistic about the future. This year has been an opportunity for us to invest in greater awareness and larger sales channels, which takes time to build. We have established new partnerships with major distributors that sell directly to big companies like Google, which will be powerful for us in the future. Although our sales have not met our expectations this year, we have set ourselves up well for next year and beyond.
We have taken the long-term view and focused on establishing partnerships rather than short-term results. We believe that this approach will pay off in the long run.
Chris: Cool, great. Thanks for sharing your story.
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