Talking with Vanita Badlani Bagri; Activist, Entrepreneur, CEO & Founder

Today I am talking with Vanita Badlani. Vanita is a sustainability activist, entrepreneur, CEO, and Founder of LaBante London. She has an MBA in International Business from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Business in Arizona, USA. After a career in investment banking, she switched to her true love – pursuing her childhood passion for fashion and worked her way to making fashion sustainable and cruelty-free.

 

Key points addressed were  

• Unpacking Vanita’s efforts to base Labante’s ethos of sustainability into the brand and products social message
• We also discussed some of the difficulties in finding vegan leather products that did not contain harmful ingredients such as PVC as she went into manufacturing her products

 

This series features conversations I conducted with individuals who have dedicated their work and lives to Vegan research, businesses, art, and society. This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media.

 

TRANSCRIPTION

*Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors

 

[00:00:00] In this episode, I speak with activist, entrepreneur and founder of the Vegan handbag line called Libonati London Vanita Badlani. Key points addressed were unpacking vanity's efforts to base Labonte his ethos of sustainability into the brand and products social message. We also discussed some of the difficulties in finding Vegan leather products that did not contain harmful ingredients such as BVC as she went into manufacturing her products. Stay tuned for my fascinating talk with Vanita Badlani.

 

[00:00:40] My name is Patricia Kathleen, and this series features interviews and conversations I conduct with experts from food and fashion to tech and agriculture, from medicine and science to health and humanitarian arenas. Dialog captured here is part of our ongoing effort to host transparent and honest rhetoric. For those of you who, like myself, find great value in hearing the expertize and opinions of individuals who have dedicated their work and lives to their ideals. If you're enjoying these podcasts, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as founders and entrepreneurs. Fasting and roundtable topics they can be found on our Web site. Patricia Kathleen .com, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.

 

[00:01:37] Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I'm your host, Patricia. And today, I'm very excited to be sitting down with Vanita Badlani, she is an activist, entrepreneur, CEO and founder. You can find out more regarding what we talk about today, as well as her products on Labonte, a dot com.

 

[00:01:52] That is L.A. b a n t e dot com. Welcome, Vanita.

 

[00:01:58] Hi, Patricia. Thank you for having me on your show.

 

[00:02:01] Absolutely, I I'm excited to climb through everything that you're doing with Liban Day and your products as well as your history for everyone listening.

 

[00:02:09] Who hasn't listened to my podcast before. I will offer you a quick roadmap of where the line of inquiry will be coming from and going to the podcast today. And then I will also read a quick bio on Veny to give you a platform as to where she's coming from. The roadmap that today's trajectory will follow is we'll look at events, does academic and professional background, and then we will look at unpacking her vegetarian slash Vegan journey. As it stands on a personal level, if it is not already tied into her aforementioned information, then we will look at unpacking Libonati and the logistics around her company when it was started. Who? What funding? All of those things. And then we'll start unpacking the ethos of how she embraces a specific philosophy with a company. We will also address goals for the brand and how that ties into vegetarian and vegan endeavors. We'll look at who her customer is and then we'll wrap everything up with future work that Venita looks at having over the next one to three years. As promised, a quick bio on Vanita. Prior to asking her questions that Neeta. But Loni is a sustainability activist, entrepreneur, CEO and founder of Libonati London. She has an MBA in international business from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Business in Arizona, USA, after a career in investment banking. She switched to her true love, pursuing her childhood passion for fashion and worked her way to making fashion sustainable and cruelty free. So, Venita, I know that and we kind of crawl through everything quickly. I'm hoping that you can kind of divulge just a little bit more information about your academic and professional background and how that catapulted you into launching Libonati.

 

[00:03:52] Absolutely.

 

[00:03:55] To start off with, I was born in India, and through my years I actually worked in fashion in my uncle's business on and off and all my summer holiday. So I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I guess by the age of. Thirteen, fourteen. Quite young, Ben. And I always say the single minded focus grew into like a business I did a undergrad in business. And then after working a couple of years in India, I went to. Came over to Arizona, where I graduated international business from Thunderbird, which is ranked number one for its international business program because I knew. While I was working in my uncle's office, working with a fashion merchandizers designers, we used to supply two big box retailers like Calvin Klein, Macy's. So it really wasn't my blood from a very young age. And when I landed up doing the international business degree, I did it in finance because, as you know, the backbone of any business is cash flow and how it performs. Not only on profitability, but also at the same time keeping all the fundamentals in the black.

 

[00:05:22] Yeah, after that relationship as well.

 

[00:05:26] Cash flow as it goes. I'm interested about the relationship between cash flow and sustainability as we speak later on. But go on.

 

[00:05:33] Yes. Yes, I did. And I will cover that when we discuss a bit more about sustainability as well. But when I graduate from business school, it was straight after 9/11. It was really hard to get a job at that time. But finally, after six to eight months of really Grilli like really trying really hard and managed to get a job in investment banking in Chicago. Whereas working for Bank one, which then later got acquired by JP Morgan. So I moved I worked originally for in Chicago, loved, loved Illinois and then moved to New York. Where I worked for JP Morgan. But I had to move to London, where, again, I continued in investment banking with Commerce Bank and Dresdner Kleinwort, where I worked in strategy and the strategy team for the CEO and CEO's office to help get prisoner Kleinbaum to be bought over by Commerce Spang.

 

[00:06:38] So that was really where my professional life. When did was purely numbers oriented? But always, Patricia. There was like a niggling feeling in the base of my stomach that my calling was always to do much more. And I saw a window of opportunity when I decided to have a baby. And I said, OK, it's now or never. It's now or never. I'm going to do it. I took all my savings and I put it into a brand called Alabam. Take Lavonte by the waste comes from the Sanskrit term to truly achieve where it means. It's about the circle of life. It's more about giving back than it is taking from the planet. And that really became the ethos of the pillars of the brand that I set up.

 

[00:07:27] So when you launched Liban today, did you have a clear idea of the product that you were building and the direction that you were headed, or did it kind of gradually unfold?

 

[00:07:39] I think it's a that's a great question for show.

 

[00:07:42] I knew that as a brand, it's always going to be easiest to spread the word about sustainability and cruelty free fashion if it's a bit more in your face. So handbags don't have a brand name on them. Whereas with clothing, it's a bit harder where the labels are hidden.

 

[00:08:00] So originally, because I had only started with my own capital, my hard earned money that I put into the business, I did not take any outside investment. I started a really small way, the sterling silver ethically made jewelry business, which I supplied into big box retailers. But as I grew that business, I knew that the trend would be to go into handbags next. So I had planned it so that I would launch the handbags with a bit more capital. So as the business grew, I was able to take that into the handbags business and build a line which I knew really from the beginning would be Vegan cruelty free and sustainable. Because, you know, Patricia, I don't know if you remember, there was the days when you would go shopping and you would try to local, beautifully crafted handbags and which were cruelty free. But quite frankly, only thing all you found on the shelves will ever handbags. And if you will look for the non leather bags, they would be like the P you the cheap feeling kind of quality. It looked tacky and looked like not so great. The top felt like plastic. And that's not what I wanted our brand to be. I wanted it to be premium. I wanted to have the same craftsmanship as the leather bags. But I don't want to give a quality to the customer. But I knew that in order to get this true to the right customer base and spread the sustainable message, it would have to be at an accessible price point where most department stores or stocks would be happy to stock it so that there's enough potential in their return.

 

[00:09:46] They get enough return on investment as well for the retail space to give to us. So. So that was a gradual transition into handbags. And then coming up with the handbag line, which also took a year or two to get the esthetic of the brand looking and feeling the right way that it should be, because that was we did quite a bit of research, really find the best materials. That was what was time consuming and that was really what makes the essence of the brand.

 

[00:10:13] So when did you what year was it that you were shopping for materials and how did that curation process work? So we haven't spoken to too many. I will say we are speaking with a few more Vegan handbag makers currently and for the podcast, and a lot of them are in different parts of the world. So it's interesting to find out how your experience in the UK was. But when you went shopping, first of all, what was the year and what was the material selection and is it different now?

 

[00:10:44] Yes.

 

[00:10:45] So when I went so when I would sort of go about it was about twenty thirteen. And by the time we launch the first time my collection was twenty fifteen.

 

[00:10:55] So took two years really to get that process perfectly nailed. Because what happened. Patricia, is that in the shopping process. We found that there were lot of materials available, but a lot of them contained QVC. Now PDC is nothing but plastic. So the whole planet can block these PDC handbags will be flying in space. I mean, it's that ridiculous of a material. And that's something I did not want to contribute towards because I cannot say that we truly Vegan cruelty free, which means we don't harm animals. We're truly sustainable. Which means we don't want to harm the planet. And then I go about making handbags, which my which put PPC in them. And then essentially I'm harming both the planet. And essentially, there is no point in saying that because then I'm not being true to myself. If you care about the animals and you care about the planet, then it's like a circle. It's like the circle of life, which is technically what Levante also stands for. I mean, the three pillars. We are very, very clear on our view Vegan, because we believe no animal needs to be killed in the name of fashion. We're ethical because we believe that our workers have the right to correct wages as a great working conditions. And we are sustainable because we believe we all have a responsibility to reduce the amount of waste in the world. So that's what our pillars are. So I'm coming back to your question. It took us two years to get the process of the right fabrics because now we use a bunch of vegetable leather, we use apple leather, we use premium. The other recycled materials are premium Bluestar, Vegan leather. So we have a couple of combinations.

 

[00:12:37] And the second part of your question was what? Remind me again, Patricia.

 

[00:12:44] It was just that. It was when. How is it different as Europe as it would have been before in Europe?

 

[00:12:52] Yeah. So basically, we took really classic styles which everyday women can take to the office and be proud to wear. And that's where we took Solomont. They makes a lot of classic fashion. So it's something you can wear on a regular day to work. You get married in the evening when you go out. We tend to do, you know, similar cuts.

 

[00:13:14] But with beautiful Hardway, our our devil is in the detail. We pay a lot of attention to the hardware. Everything is custom made for us. And that's really what the lavonne, the woman and the Levante bag is. It's plastic. It's beautiful. It's sustainable. The insides are made from recycled plastic bottles. We put a little empowerment messages inside which are sustainability related in our women. Empower empowerment related because I think these women have a tough enough.

 

[00:13:41] We need some, you know, really. Go, go, go. Kind of our empowerment messages as well. And that all comes from me because I guess that's a part of what I stand for and what the brand stands for, really.

 

[00:13:57] And that's what I want women to enjoy. Just having these really beautiful pieces that they go into work in the office or just a regular day out.

 

[00:14:06] Absolutely. I'm interested. Stella McCartney is probably the most famous handbag designer from the UK that I see most in the United States, particularly on the West Coast where I'm currently located. And I am an avid fan of Stella. For those people who follow me on Instagram, they know that I can't I can't get enough. I think it's nearing an addiction standpoint of Stella. But I'm curious with what your data says, what is your acceptance and popularity and growth in the United States with Labonte in London?

 

[00:14:41] That's a great question, Patricia. So Stella has been doing this a lot longer than us. And I will come back to the US part of the question in my second half of my answer. So originally, I'd like to sort of talk about the UK because that's where the brand was born. And just so that, you know, we've been part of the fixing fashion bill, one which was discussed by the Fabio network, which is a think tank for the UK government to encourage the UK government to take more stands to help sustainable businesses in the United Kingdom. So I have been a part of that. And I will also tell you that, I mean, I was asked by those ladies to join that network. It was along with members of parliament, with the curator of of BNA Museum and quite a few of the fashion sustainable CEOs.

 

[00:15:34] And I was asked to that conference and that fixing fashion bill only because our handbags are more excessively priced than the other brands in the market. Because what I was also told that which I didn't realize, which with me make complete sense in retrospect, is that not everybody can afford these expensive brands. The idea is to have a larger group of people wearing sustainable cruelty free bags, but which are also accessible pricing. And that really had hit home to me because I was inadvertently really trying to do that for quite a long time. But she put it in such beautiful words and really made me feel very happy because I'd really worked really hard to make such a beautiful, you know, a really expensive, sustainable product and pretty much charge what I think is a very fair price for such a sustainable product. And I think it's very important for us. And then the second part of the question is about the popularity in the US. I think that's a great question. Be launched in America late December, twenty eighteen, January twenty nineteen. So we've only been going in the states industry for a year and a few months, given Koban ninety nine.

 

[00:16:52] I have to say the response from America has been great. We have now stockists in the States. We're going to be part of QVC next big find and we're going to be launching on QVC on our 200 million home in America. In August this year. So what I would be very happy to tell you maybe in a month or two is a very well-known brand in the States. But I would like to say. But just a month away.

 

[00:17:19] Yeah, I know a lot of designers kind of it's up there on their Everest. You know, it's Europe has like this great ability to share in film and information about designers.

 

[00:17:29] All of my girlfriends in Dublin are aware of the latest Greek designer or Italian designers. But finally, you know, kind of permeating the United States is is it tends to change people's growth factors a great deal just for the sheer scale of people. I like the idea that you kind of attach and not kind of directly attach sustainability and accountability, environmentalism with your brand. And so, you know, an individual carrying one of your handbags is certainly attached to your brand and to those ideals. Do you find it difficult to make that connection or do you feel like when someone hits your website and experiences what it is and realizes that it's a Vegan handbag made with recycled plastic, plastic lining and things of that nature that it's already implied? Or do you spend a great deal of time educating people to those facts?

 

[00:18:21] I think that's a great question. We hope that our Web site does educate our customers because our customers do appreciate and know that they are buying into a sustainable Reagen product. Now, the only part that we think we need to do a better job of is to bring in the people who are not Vegan minded but are sustainable minded as well, because they need to understand that there is a core relation and we hit all the sweet spot. So that's one point, which I think is something that we've really been trying to tackle as to how we can communicate that better.

 

[00:18:54] Yeah, absolutely. That's a. A key connection, too. And I like that you guys are doing it. I'm wondering about growth, about future growth. Surely you have a one to three year plan and surely over the past four months that one to three, your plan has changed with the dial up covered 19 pandemic.

 

[00:19:12] It sounds like QVC to hit. That is going to be an incredible marker of change. But do you have other things on your horizon? Do you have more products that you're designing, things of that nature for the next one to three years?

 

[00:19:25] Absolutely, Patricia. I'm glad you asked me that.

 

[00:19:28] So 19 has obviously made a huge impact on all the retailers business plans. But we still what we are doing is that we have not we're not slowing down, but we're very now strategically placing our products so that we're introducing new collection, slow and steady, much slower than what we would have done without the Koven 19. So that's been a way of just, you know, still getting feeling the market, making sure that we're still on the right fit. But the good news is because our products are affordable, customers are still coming back to us. And that's what's great, especially now that the economies are opening back up. But yes, we're introducing our apple leather collection for fall this year, which is going to be made, which is made from apple core and apple skin, apple waste. And it's completely biodegradable. We're also introducing men's laptop bags. So we're trying to improve the product categories. And a lot of men shop on our Web sites for their or for their better halves. And we think it's a great way to get them into that opportunity to buy sustainable as well. And of very soon, we're going to be looking at introducing leather jackets and then gradually drawing this. Absolutely.

 

[00:20:40] Yeah. I've wondered how long a line the line apparel would come because you've got your hands so deeply entrenched in these, you know, alternative leathers that have been brilliant in coming out over the past five years. I'm curious, as a designer, I know that you probably keep, you know, your ear to the line as to trends and things like that. Do you think that some of the more major and luxurious brands will start coming out with Vegan alternatives to their bags, or do you think they'll still just hold that old guard? I don't know of anyone who thinks that wearing leather or buying a leather handbag is sustainable or friendly anymore. You know, I think people do it for ideas of durability and all of these old guard arguments. But I'm wondering if you think that some of the traditional brands will start to kind of bow down to the idea of sustainability and Vegan alternatives.

 

[00:21:30] I think, Patricia, some of the older I would say, what's the right word, old luxury old luxury brands like maybe Louis Vuitton would not do it. But I think I've already seen in Macy's, Calvin Klein do it and they write the Vegan option.

 

[00:21:48] But it's very interesting because buyers because we're stocked in stores now and buyers have given me feedback, is that they don't know if a brand, which is generically a leather brand, actually understands the nuances of producing a Vegan bag and a sustainable bag. So they will probably call something Vegan just because they do not use animal skin on the outer element. But there is a lot of nuances which go into Vegan bag, including having Vegan free glue, animal cruelty free glue into the eyes of reinforcements. We check every single part of that item, which every small Hotan and small hardware like a nail in the bottom of the bag. We know where it's coming from and what's gone in it. Let me put it that way. So that level of detail is not something every brand can do. So, yes, you can go ahead and buy this Vegan bag from this generic leather brand, but you generally don't know what you're getting. At least I know it works as a brand.

 

[00:22:49] And if you put that in perspective, which is a purely Vegan sustainable brand, because then you know that the PWI Vegan, they've got all these certifications there. We sort of signed documents that none of our products are going to contain any animal animal products.

 

[00:23:06] So with your sustainability activism, do you get into that playing into the manufacturing arm as well with Levante London, where are you manufacturing and how do you kind of safeguard some of those practices?

 

[00:23:21] I think on the sustainability element, what we do is we actually know where our suppliers are getting the fabrics from and we have all of that certified. We've gone and pretty much landed up at headquarters and said, OK, this is what we need, this level of certification. So that's the level of detail that has gone into it. So absolutely, when you say that is the sustainability part sort of featured into your production process, a lot of that has been so everything comes from a nominated supplier. So, for example, when a factory is manufacturing, they cannot actually just get one of our fabrics or anything from any supplier, from anything which looks similar. They actually have to show us invoices of that. It's come from our database of suppliers. So everything is is really detailed, that level.

 

[00:24:10] That's wonderful. Are there conventions or any opportunities for you to get together with other Vegan or vegetarian lines based out of the UK or in Europe, the United Kingdom?

 

[00:24:21] It kind of reaches our borders where you can kind of caucus with these individuals and share ideas and incentives and things of that nature. Is that kind of in the distant future?

 

[00:24:30] I think that's actually even the very near future. And that's something which actually I don't know how you got this insight information. But we're actually looking at doing that quite quickly because as the need for sustainable cruelty free brands grows, it makes sense to start getting everybody have a dialog, come together and show ourselves as one enough unified front where a lot of consumers can have an auction and understand that this is this is regulated. This is you know, this is a common platform where like minded brands and like minded brands are available. So this is something it's actually a work in progress and it's something we're looking to rule out relatively quickly.

 

[00:25:09] That's exciting. I can't wait to hear. I think great things come when people share information and best. Absolutely.

 

[00:25:16] You know, and I think that the old days of the competition scaring those things, those kinds of practices offer gone. So I looked at the collaboration of minds and things that come from it. Well, you know, we are out of time. Vanita. But I want to say thank you so much for giving us your time today and talking with us about Libonati, London. Your line. I think the product is beautiful and exquisite. I encourage everyone to get on and have a look at it. The hardware and things, I haven't seen them in person, but I can imagine when people, you know, kind of tell it something about their products. I find it to be true because otherwise everyone's going to discover otherwise. And I really do appreciate you coming on and enumerating all of these different areas and details about what it is to have like this Vegan product handbag line.

 

[00:26:00] Thank you so much for your show, for having me, it's been such a pleasure.

 

[00:26:03] Absolutely. And for everyone listening. I have been speaking with Vanita Badlani. She is an activist, entrepreneur, CEO and founder of Labonte, a London.

 

[00:26:12] You can find her products and more information about her brand and her philosophy on Labonte dot com. That is L.A. b a n t e dot com.

 

[00:26:21] Until we speak again next time. Thank you for giving me your time. Remember to stay safe, eat well and always bet on yourself. Slainte.