Girlfriend Collective

Frustrated by a lack of sustainable activewear on the market and keen to make a dent in the global plastic epidemic, Seattle-based wife-and-husband duo Ellie and Quang Dinh launched Girlfriend Collective in 2016 – offering up functional, style-driven pieces made from recycled water bottles, fishing nets and other plastic waste. So how did they do it? Co-founder Ellie Dinh fills us in.

Frustrated by a lack of sustainable activewear on the market and keen to make a dent in the global plastic epidemic, Seattle-based wife-and-husband duo Ellie and Quang Dinh launched Girlfriend Collective in 2016 – offering up functional, style-driven pieces made from recycled water bottles, fishing nets and other plastic waste. So how did they do it? Co-founder Ellie Dinh fills us in.

Take us back to the beginning… how did Girlfriend Collective come to fruition?

Like a lot of people, we were overwhelmed by the amount of plastic piling up all over the globe and wanted to do our part to make a dent in this epidemic. We had a few ideas floating around — Ellie was having trouble finding minimal, sustainable activewear while Quang was exploring fabrics made from recycled PET plastic — and they all came together when we realized you could make an amazing, high performance activewear fabric from recycled post-consumer bottles.

What’s your background?

I was born and raised in Ontario, Canada, but headed to Vancouver to study graphic design in my early twenties, eventually moving stateside to Seattle when I met my husband (Girlfriend’s other co-founder, Quang).

Tell us about your brand ethos…

Our core values are Recycled Materials, Ethical Manufacturing, Performance, and Inclusivity — but at the end of the day, it all comes down to accessibility. We strive to be as accessible as we can through the types of products we create, keeping the price point as accessible as we can, and making great activewear in a size range that will continue to expand. All of our clothes are made from recycled materials in an SA8000 or WRAP certified ethical factory by people who are paid fair wages in a safe, healthy workplace. We are also working toward full recyclability or biodegradability in all of our clothes. Right now, we're able to take back all of our customers' old Girlfriend Compressive pieces and recycle them into future leggings through our ReGirlfriend program.

"Everything we create is made from recycled post-consumer waste. Our most popular fabric, Compressive, is made from 79% recycled post-consumer water bottles; our GF OTG ripstop material is made from 100% recycled post-consumer water bottles."

Who makes up your community?

We’re lucky to have an amazing and diverse community. Our community is made up of people from all over the world who do so many things in our clothes, from long distance trail running and multi day hikes in the same pair of our leggings, to spinning class and hot yoga, to relaxing at home. We also have an amazing maternity community since we launched our Maternity Legging last year. I developed it while I was pregnant with my son — I wanted to make something that was sustainable, stylish, and felt like you were being hugged all over throughout your pregnancy.

And your team?

Our team is small but mighty with 12 passionate full-time employees covering everything from product development to graphic design.

How would you describe the Girlfriend Collective aesthetic?

Minimal, active, and stylish — always with a healthy balance of both fashion and function.

What materials do you work with and why?

Everything we create is made from recycled post-consumer waste. Our most popular fabric, Compressive, is made from 79% recycled post-consumer water bottles; our GF OTG ripstop material is made from 100% recycled post-consumer water bottles. Most people don’t realize polyester is made from PET, which is the same kind of plastic that makes up single-use bottles. By recycling these used bottles into our clothes, we’re not only diverting waste from landfills, we’re also giving our customer a quality, performance fabric with all the sweat-wicking and compressive benefits they love from non-recycled fabrics. We also love using ECONYL, which is made from recycled fishing nets, and cupro, which is made from a cotton waste bi-product.

Tell us about your leggings…

Our bestseller by far is our original Black High-Rise Compressive Legging — it’s made from recycled post-consumer water bottles, sweat-wicking, 100% squat-proof, and offers the highest compression for muscle recovery post-workout. We also make limited edition collections every season that continue to sell out really quickly.

How do you ensure ethical production?

We exclusively use factories certified ethical by SA8000 and WRAP, and make regular visits to ensure ethical production. We also aim to be as transparent as possible and feature videos of the factory on our site and on our social media channels.

Can you talk us through your image methodology?

Our goal is to represent as much of our amazing community as we can through our imagery. Our size range is XXS-6XL for leggings and XS-6XL for bras, so we have an amazingly diverse community. We know we have a long way to go towards full representation, and are always working to do more.

What are your daily rituals?

My daily rituals currently revolve around my two young children, Max and Margaux. Since having them, I’ve had to let go of a lot of my old routines, but a few things I’ve clung onto are always taking time to sit and eat breakfast and shower in the morning, and washing my face before bed at night. It sounds insignificant but the mums out there know what I’m talking about.

And your workout style?

I love hiking. Seattle has some really pretty hiking trails if you drive about 30 minutes east towards the Cascades, and when I need to get out (preferably during the warmers summer months) this would hands down be my top pick.

What’s next for the brand?

We have so many exciting things coming in 2020, from new styles to new categories, and lots of things for mums-to-be. We’ll also be rolling out a few new sustainable solutions, similar to the Microfibre Filter washing machine add-on we released in Summer 2019.