News article previously published at O Estado de S.Paulo
By Fernando Scheller

Entrepreneur Oskar Metsavaht, one of the main references when it comes to the association of fashion and sustainability in Brazil and founder of Osklen brand, says that brands should embrace the sustainable cause without losing sight of the financial viability of the business. It is better to climb a mountain little by little than to try to reach the top in one shot – consequently not backing down the search for less polluting practices nor is the company forced to close its doors for good. 

The concept embraced by Metsavaht is called “as sustainable as possible”, that is, a performance as sustainable as possible. He recalls the case of a prototype, years ago, of an Osklen T-shirt made from 100% organic cotton, but whose final price – even for a premium brand – was not viable for the customer. After that, Metsavaht realized that it is better to take smaller steps to achieve his goals. 

“We had two options: either to discontinue the sample or to do it in another way. With a solution of 80% regular cotton and 20% organic cotton, we saw that the final sample was viable ”, remembers Metsavaht. “The important thing is to be transparent: it is about the customer looking and having the proper information about the textile fiber content of that piece.” 

Osklen’s sustainable approach began in 1998, following a partnership with Embrapa (The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) to grow organic cotton. Since then, the company has evolved its production chain to work with a variety of raw materials and alternative processes – such as textiles made from recycled PET bottles, fish scale “leather” and the development of natural dyes – and the brand has received several international recognitions for this work. 

Although Osklen was sold to the Alpargatas group – which also owns the Havaianas sandals label-, Metsavaht continues to act as the brand’s creative director. He not only gives guidance on the latest fashion trends, but also continues to touch on projects to expand the company’s sustainable footprint. 

Brazil + France

Transparency is also the name of the game for French brand Veja – which is known in Brazil as Vert. The company- a success among young hipsters in Europe- has outsourced its entire production chain in Brazil. Its cotton use is organic, grown in the Northeast, and the rubber is extracted sustainably in the Amazon rainforest. “But that does not mean that we are perfect. And we make it very clear ”, says Beto Bina, manager of production chains and brand innovation. 

In addition to looking closely at its production chain, Veja is also careful that its sales success does not end up having an inadequate impact on the environment. “The company’s growth was very organic, it was never leveraged by outside investors or put money into marketing to bring consumers artificially,” he says. “We will never work with paid advertising.” 

The concept also extends to the issue of governance and the treatment of employees. The fact that Brazil has strong labor laws influenced the choice of Veja for the country. “This would be way more difficult to do in China or India, for example,” explains Bina.

Osklen leveraged its brand exposure by investing in technology for its e-commerce. Conceived by Oskar Metsavaht, the company is based on the pillars of sustainability, lifestyle, design and fine art that guide its business to quality and sustainable products – all aligned with the DNA of innovation.

Now, with its digital revamping, the company’s challenges aim at orchestrating its e-commerce with a focus on offering an innovative shopping experience, bringing customers closer and engaging them in a cascade of entertainment, education and information. Through the Oracle Commerce Cloud (OCC), Osklen managed to have a unified and more agile online sales platform, thus ensuring that its customers are reached organically with content and merchandise of interest.

Alicia Billberg, Global E-commerce manager at Osklen, explains that the path to digital presence is something that the company already has as a premise to offer more quality service options to its consumers. “Osklen has been a pioneer in the industry since its inception in 1988, and we want to continue- as we always did- to bring luxury aligned with sustainability. Therefore, our e-commerce is a tool to expand our mission in offering style based on genuinely Brazilian products. The partnership with Oracle made this possible, as we now have a robust tool that will allow us to scale future demands “, Billberg commented.

This is the opportunity to apply cloud technology on the brand current and future changes – something that retailers always demand. The path to digital presence is something that has no return and change is necessary to ensure market competitiveness. Osklen’s use of Oracle CX Commerce is paramount to leveraging the company’s business, as well as engaging its customers in e-commerce and preparing for future demands. 

With a three months speedy implementation and its e-commerce up and running since January 2018, Osklen already has benefits and positive numbers that reinforce that the change was satisfactory. In addition to having a robust system with a server that supports high demands, Oracle CX Commerce allows the segmentation of the website layout for each customer, provides an organic flow through its search system and reduces the pages loading time.

In addition, Billberg says that there was an improvement in Osklen’s internal team. “As we have many already automated and implemented processes in OCC, our E-Commerce team can be even more dedicated to the business. With this, we have increased productivity, availability to outline new strategies and think about new business opportunities”. 

Among the implementation highlights are the following: 

• 20% increase in customer loyalty and retention rates

• 20% increase in time spent on the site 

The next steps for Osklen include to double sales in its digital market in a two years period and branch out the brand to the US, with the opening of a store in Miami. “We are focused on expanding Osklen and continuing to manage the brand from Brazil. Collaborating with Oracle allows us to have a multi-site, domain, language and currency platform, which facilitates our international strategies to promote our merchandise in other markets,” Billberg concluded.