In 2016, ZERRIN’s CEO Susannah Jaffer found herself stuck in a sartorial rut. After years of working as a magazine editor and consuming fast fashion, the thrill she’d once experienced from buying into trends began to fade. Becoming more comfortable with her personal style, she began to seek out quality over quantity and more unique products rather than cheap clothing at ‘throwaway’ prices.
Learning about the colossal impact of fashion production and consumption on our world (a few of those facts here!) inspired her to seek out brands that cared about people and planet, not just profit. This led to discovering a wave of cool, independent designers and other fast fashion alternatives which proved that style and sustainability could co-exist. The issue? These brands were under-the-radar, under-represented and underrated.
With a passion for storytelling, a conviction to help people choose better and a desire to share change-making companies with the world, Susannah launched ZERRIN in 2018 at her kitchen table with 14 Asia-based designers spanning clothing to skincare — and a very active blog! Fast forward to today, ZERRIN is a 60-brand strong platform with a physical boutique in Singapore, as well as an online magazine sharing regular guides, interviews and resources that help you create a more sustainable relationship with fashion.
Our vision and mission
More than a marketplace, our goal at ZERRIN is to reshape the narrative around fashion consumption and our connection with clothing. We want to take the ‘sus’ out of sustainability, demystifying the slow fashion movement so you can ‘find yourself’ within it. We want to help you find joy in dressing more consciously — whether that’s supporting a sustainable brand, or choosing secondhand. And true to our name, which means ‘golden’, we always strive to spotlight emerging talent and voices driving change. Join our community — all are welcome.
FAQ’s
How do you curate your brands?
Good question. When it comes to the labels we work with, we take pride in ensuring great design and sustainability go hand in hand. From fashion to skincare, we curate all of our brands against our Better Brand Framework, which looks at a company’s approach to our 5 P’s: People, Planet, Product, Packaging and Principles, and benchmarks their efforts against international certifications and accreditations. Working with small businesses and entrepreneurs, we acknowledge that sustainability is a journey and all brands are at different stages given differing resources and connections. As an ecosystem enabler, we do what we can to help our partners on their journey so they can become better. A rising tide lifts all boats!
What other ways does ZERRIN practice sustainability?
We take pride in being a business that does things differently. Beyond only working with brands paving the way for a better future, we also:
We power our website on renewable energy sources.
We have a ‘no plastic’ policy when it comes to our e-commerce package, and opt for recycled, recyclable or reusable options.
Due to their environmental impact, we choose not to carry any virgin synthetic clothing on our marketplace, something we only ever curated minimally and phased out in 2021. The only synthetics you’ll find are recycled options from certain product categories where it’s still needed for function, like activewear or swimwear.
We’re all about being nature positive. We contribute to reforestation efforts in Indonesia through our impact partner Handprint. To date, we’ve planted almost 700 mangrove trees in Indonesia alongside local social enterprise Yagasu.
While we’re proud of the efforts we’ve made so far, there’s much more to do. As a platform, we’re continually on the look out for other meaningful causes we can support and ways we can better measure our impact. In 2022, we’re starting to look into B-Corp certification to hold ourselves even more accountable to our commitment to put both people and planet first.
Do you have a physical store where I can try on styles?
Great news if you’re looking for sustainable fashion in Singapore — yes! Zerrin Lounge, our concept store, became a permanent fixture in July 2021. Located upstairs at The Social Space cafe at Marina One, our brands rotate every two to three months. Shopping online? You can also select ‘local pick up’ at checkout to pick up your purchase in store. We also ship worldwide, with customers in Europe, the US, Malaysia, Hong Kong and more.
Beyond our retail showcase, Zerrin Lounge is all about connection and community. We hold regular pop ups, events and workshops within the space to bring you fun, engaging experiences. Remember to keep an eye out here for our latest ones!
