Combining Sustainability and Gen-Z Fashion: An Interview with Isabelle Lieblein of Altered Perception
As told to Maddie Walker
Courtesy of Altered Perception
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Isabelle Lieblein, the creator of the clothing company Altered Perception. Isabelle strives to uphold sustainability values with her company while still creating fun, trendy, and colorful clothes.
SM: Tell us about yourself and Altered Perception!
IL: My name is Isabelle, my pronouns are she/her, and I am currently a college student. I started Altered Perception when I saw people online reselling thrifted clothes and thought, “I could do that!” When I began to do research about the fashion industry, I learned that fast fashion causes quite detrimental harm to the environment. There’s so much overconsumption and just a lot of bad practices in the industry. From there, I took my idea of selling thrifted clothes and switched to starting a business that sets a standard and does it completely different. All the things that I see the fashion industry doing wrong, I want to be able to do right. When doing the research on sustainable companies, I found that all of the clothing was very plain with lots of neutrals. I don't dress like that––I dress with tons of colors all the time––so if I wanted to buy things, what was “sustainable” on the market didn’t consist of anything that I would like. Now, there are a lot more options, but in 2018 and 2019 there were a lot fewer. I wanted to make it so if you align more with brands like Forever 21, DollsKill, Boohoo, et cetera, you can purchase clothing with a similar aesthetic, but sustainably. Another big thing that I saw in the industry was all these “sustainable” companies that really weren’t sustainable. I took all of these ideas and I made it into the pillars that I set my business around.
SM: Were you always interested in fashion and thrifting, or was it something that came about later in your life?
IL: I've always been really interested in creativity. I have sketches of clothes I designed when I was little and I've always loved art. I highly considered choosing art instead of going into engineering like I do now, but I never really thought of fashion as something that could be a career when I was younger. I honestly didn't even care about fashion until maybe my junior year of high school. I went to public school in South Carolina, and since elementary school we had to wear uniforms. That was another thing that kind of hindered me from thinking about clothes. When I started thrifting with my mom in high school, that's when I got really into fashion and posting different outfits on my personal Instagram. I just like really keeping up with the trends and that's how I stumbled upon reselling clothes.
SM: What sustainable practices do you perform in your company, and how does your Altered Perception help define sustainability?
IL: I define sustainability as something not having a harmful impact on the environment from its creation to its end of life. I take only second-hand materials––but I did do one line once with a 5% recycled crewneck and I will never do it again because I just really want to stick by everything being 100% recycled. Because there's so much waste in the world, there is no reason to have any new materials. All of my items (except for that one crewneck) are either made from 100% cotton, 100% reclaimed waste, or they are upcycled from thrifted clothing. When it comes to thrifted clothing, I try not to go to a thrift store first and try to go to outlets like the Goodwill bins instead. When items have been on the shelf for a month at Goodwill, they're taken to the Goodwill bins and they get a last look before they're taken. Sometimes they're sold, but a lot of time they are taken to landfills to be incinerated.
The next thing I saw in the fashion industry that was really lacking was being zero-waste. Many of the companies I was doing research on when I started that claimed they were “zero-waste,” but weren’t really. My thought process was, “If I am taking clothing out of landfills and giving it a new life, then I shouldn’t be putting anything back.” Everything that I use is put back into new clothing. I have absolutely zero waste going back into landfills! If it can't be recycled or reused, I save it and make it into art.
I also do carbon neutral shipping because that one's just really easy. Shipping is generally just another thing that causes a lot of pollution. There are programs in place so you can make the shipping carbon-neutral by offsetting the carbon emissions that are made from the exact amount of shipping from that item. This is done by planting trees and protecting seedlings. I offer that for free with all my orders now. I’m looking into a really good take-back program for my clothes––as of now, there is a lifetime warranty with everything that you buy. So, I can fix it if you stain it or paint on it for free when you send it to me, just as examples.
The last two things that I saw wrong with the sustainable fashion industry was sizing and lack of genderless clothing. My sizing ranges from XS to 5XL so that everyone can have an item that fits. All my clothing is genderless and I have what would be traditionally men's and women's sizing but in my opinion, you shouldn't have to go to the store and then decide between the two binaries.
SM: All of this is amazing! I heard of the concept of a takeback program but I've personally never seen it in practice.
IL: Thank you! I’m trying to figure out how to do it in a cost-effective way because I'm not a large corporation.
SM: Definitely. What does sustainable fashion mean to you? You touched on this a bit, but if you’d like to elaborate, feel free to do so.
IL: To me, it means not over-consuming. I see a lot of people buy tons of clothes that are both thrifted or made by fast fashion companies. In any sense, it's still not good––even if you're over-consuming “sustainably,” it's still overconsumption. Chances are that you're not going to wear everything that you buy. In my opinion, the best option is reusing what we already have. Also, I shop only sustainably for myself, but I will never buy something that's organic cotton because to me that isn't good enough––it's still a virgin new material that took a lot of water to grow. There are so many places in the world right now covered in textile waste because we already have so much.
SM: Do you have any personal sustainability practices that you perform in your daily life?
IL: I stopped buying from fast fashion stores in 2018. I have since expanded so I will support small businesses. I try to support ones that are women-owned, queer-owned, and BIPOC-owned. More recently, I have just been trying to consume less and be really conscious about what I buy. I invested in reusable items like a safety razor and reusable floss. I know not everyone can do that, but luckily I am in a place where I can invest in something that is reusable and that I don't have to replace often.
SM: What are some companies that you look up to and admire in terms of sustainability?
IL: When I started, I modeled my business a little bit after a company called Tunnel Vision. I also like For Days––all of their clothing is made out of 100% recycled materials and they have a wonderful takeback program. For shipping materials, one brand I'm just thankful to be able to purchase from is called Eco Enclose. All of their shipping products can be 100% recycled.
SM: Are there any last thoughts? Anything you want our readers to know?
IL: The most sustainable item is the one that's already in your closet! However, if you're looking for something new (but used) to add to your wardrobe, look into Altered Perception.
