Julie Pelipas Does It BETTTER

HUR CONVERSATIONS

Feb 13

Julie Pelipas

Julie Pelipas Does It BETTTER

By Bonnie Langedijk

Julie Pelipas doesn’t follow fashion’s archaic rules. The creative director and founder of BETTTER is building a cutting edge upcycling system, changing the fashion industry one garment at a time. After spending almost two decades working in fashion media, and launching the highly celebrated Ukrainian edition of Vogue, Pelipas realized she couldn’t change the existing structures. In 2021, BETTTER was born with the mission to upcycle the fashion industry’s deadstock on an industrial scale, and create something new from what already exists. Combining fashion know-how with technology, and with it creating a platform that supports and educates designers, consumers and brands in sustainability.

With her background as a stylist and Fashion Director, Pelipas understands how to create aspirational branding – something many sustainable-first businesses lack. BETTTER’s take on tailoring paired with an injection of Pelipas’ wit, makes its products appeal to the modern woman – creating clothes for working instead of for Instagram. With sustainability becoming a vital part of every brand’s business model, Pelipas understands the last thing the industry needs is another fashion brand. She’s building a new system instead.

Bonnie: We've never actually talked about BETTTER and what the system is. When I was doing my research, a lot of articles still reference it as a brand.

Julie: I tried so hard to convey the message that it's a system. There’s a specific meaning behind this word 'system' that I really want to put in the minds of people. And still, it’s a brand from the perspective of classic media.

They’re framing it in a way that they understand.

Julie: BETTTER is a system because we’re not just a collection of products. We’re also developing technology and we’re a platform. We build this platform so that designers, young designers especially, can come and get all the tools, all the information and experience needed to develop these algorithms and to invent new products, but never be dispatched from that invention. Each designer who develops a design algorithm receives royalties from the product he develops. That's why we have physical passports for our products, but we also want to launch digital passports. It’s the easiest way to link everyone involved in the process.

“Each DESIGNER who develops a design algorithm receives royalties from the product he develops.”

I think what the problem is with fashion – and maybe why some people might not understand what you're trying to do – is the industry tries to mask doing 1% better as change. We’re seeing that the old systems don’t work for today’s world any longer. It’s a real opportunity to rebuild the industry and the systems as a whole.

Julie: I always almost consider myself newly born when I launched BETTTER. I feel there are two Julies now. The Julie who launched Vogue Ukraine and Julie who launched BETTTER. And it's sad that people only remember street style aspects of my life rather than all those covers and visual languages that were created there.

They were great covers.

Julie: Bringing it back to the media and to this situation where we've tried to tune this little aspect rather than rebuild the whole entity. That was exactly my mindset when I left Vogue. That's when I realized that big moguls are less likely to make a change. It's a paradox of the industry where they are the exact ones who have the power and capacity to make the change, but they won’t. During my time at Vogue, I felt like I would never be able to change the system. With BETTTER I’m in charge of building the right system from scratch.

I believe the roles that different players within the industry hold are shifting. Who those gatekeepers are of information or how things are shared or who owns things is also being completely restructured, which might be scary for some of those legacy people…

Julie: They're scared and that's why they're so protective. It's the biggest bottleneck for my system. To upload my technology I have to work with big moguls and big brands who sit on stock. Even the word deadstock disturbs them. That's another reason why we don't have that much information about what deadstock actually is.

I remember when Vogue Ukraine launched and it was different from anything that was out there. And I think you've done the same for BETTTER, where there's a sense of humor in it, which is rare in fashion. The short videos you did on the treadmill, for example. How did you develop the branding around BETTTER?

Julie: It's a complete continuation of myself. I’ve asked myself whether that’s the right approach, because the brand is bigger than me. It’s like a kid. They grow bigger, they leave the house and they don't need you. That's going to happen with BETTTER. But for now, it’s still a small kid that is very related to me. I'm a very funny person, actually. On the outside you might see this minimalist person who is very precise, modest, et cetera. But on the inside I have this raver slash surfer and this sense of disruptiveness for everything. That’s a necessary element in the brand.

*Julie Pelipas surrounded by suiting references. Courtesy of BETTTER.*

That’s cool.

Julie: I left Vogue being so skeptical about classic fashion where we create this abstract world of supreme women who are so far from real women. I always said, why do we focus so much on those ladies in jets with Birkins? Why don't we talk about girls who work 9 to 5. Why don't we bring them into our narrative? Because they're actually a huge part of the industry and we never put them into advertisements. The cool, badass girls that do all the work are kind of invisible. We’re actually launching some campaigns where we use this term ‘the invisible influence’ which I really like. It's not about quiet luxury. I like to be invisible in the crowd, which is opposite to what I often achieve because of my height and look. And yes, I am a personality, and there are certain features in my look but it's not loud. There are many women that you will meet during your life that will be in the corner of the room or quietly sitting at the table, but when you have a conversation with those women, they're true heroes. They're legends actually with what they do with the foundations they create, the initiatives they start, the jobs they do, the books they write. And these women who do the real stuff, from politics to entrepreneurship, the real badass women who work are the women I would like to focus on. Not the woman sitting on the beach.

Pilates moms

Julie: I mean, I don't judge. There are many brands serving that client, but they're not serving this real woman. And there's a big gap between this hyper luxury and mass markets and cheap. I get inspiration from walking the streets and seeing these true office people who are just there smoking, drinking coffee, wearing ties and messed up white shirts.

I agree. In celebrating that 9 to 5 or real woman, is that why you chose tailoring as your base?

Julie: The quality, the craftsmanship, there are many elements in tailoring that are true to our values and true to the pledge I made in the beginning when I launched BETTTER. Tailoring has this long life span, which I think is a basic aspect of sustainability. It’s a great foundation to build from, you can add other products like knitwear, outerwear, sportswear, you can even add silk. I work with men's tailoring because I don’t really consider women’s tailoring as tailoring. I want to close the gap in tailoring developments for women. There’s such a history to men’s suiting. When you look at women's suits, there are a few ladies who did it well, but they still served this feminine side of tailoring rather than bringing just a perfect construction.

The closest you could get in terms of a woman wearing suiting well is Fran [Lebowitz]. It's very masculine and strong. But as you said, when I think about Bianca Jagger or other iconic women’s suits, there's always something feminine about it. I would rather just go to the men’s section.

Julie: And that's what we historically do, we'll buy the men’s suit. The problem is that when you go deep into the construction, the measurements of a man’s body are so different. Our first stage of upcycling is refitting every piece according to women's measurements. With men’s blazers for example, they have a wider chest, wider shoulders. And it's okay to have wide shoulders, but in combination with the wider chest, you just look boxy. If a woman is smaller, she might say, I would never wear a blazer. They absolutely can wear a blazer, it should just be right for your measurements. That’s why we’ve created a special algorithm where you can readjust the blazer so it will fit you perfectly.

Somehow men's style in general, whether you're talking about a suit or even street wear, there's so much more depth to it. Guys get to get nerdy, while for women it's always so broad or you need to know a bit of everything. I would love to get nerdier.

Julie: It's the influence of the industry. When brands launch with a singular product – which is fantastic because it’s the field to get nerdy – the buyers will push them to build out the merchandise. If you make dresses, you have to do suits to compliment your dresses. But why wouldn't you stay in this field to be the best brand for silk dresses or to excel in knitwear? I absolutely agree with you here, because menswear is actually so well developed and so substantial in terms of quality. That's why I love to convert menswear, when you see all these stitches, all the seams inside, everything is done so perfectly well. Only in maybe couture or very luxurious lines, women have this luxury of having perfect quality. But it's not attainable for those girls who work from 9 to 5. That's where I truly believe upcycling could be the solution. You take something that was discarded and then you bring value to this product again. Of course, if you upcycle very luxurious brands, there is no space to downgrade. I want to grow to the scale where I will be able to bring those quality products to an audience with less income. Today, it's black and white, there’s mass market and then there’s luxury.

What is the most important lesson you've learned since you launched BETTTER?

Julie: People that work with their hands are very important. You can't build a team with such a great mission without investing into their personal evolution, into all aspects of their education and their skills. We built something so new that requires continuous education. There’s an endless amount of knowledge you can get from other fields of economy, other industries, other elements of society. It's about product design. It's about industrial design. It's about engineering. It's about so many other aspects rather than just creating clothes. The other big lesson is nothing is impossible until you work as hard as you can. There is no magic in this industry. You have to be an extremely hardworking person to achieve anything. In business books, they highlight the struggles in business, but in fashion, you only see this beautiful part of the designer's life. It’s such a failed narrative.

I agree. It seems that with BETTTER you get to explore all the different facets of yourself. As a business, you’re rebellious and trying to change things. But then you also have the wit in the branding. But then you also have great style, you can sprinkle that in and it's such a great mix of who you are as a person.

Julie: Sometimes I have these conversations with very experienced people in fashion and they say, you have to have this brand identity that's a hundred percent consistent. BETTTER is upcycled tailoring, that’s the foundation. But this lady in her suit can wear her wetsuit under her blazer or under her coat and go surfing. Or she can put this huge oversized denim on and her child's vintage t-shirt and go on the rave. It's still the same woman. I really don't see the future of BETTTER with such a narrow style narrative. I want to develop our tailoring until it’s perfect, but in terms of the worlds of BETTTER, there are so many. It shouldn't be snobbish. It shouldn't be this boring, minimalistic, luxury woman who sits on this expensive couch. It's so outdated to me. When I see another very well curated feed of a brand, I wonder how many of you do we need? We are disruptors. We are those people who put a raver in this tailoring world.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.