Why Supermodel Candice Huffine Started a Sustainable, Size-Inclusive Athletic Brand
#FashionCrisis is a series that kicks off Teen Vogue’s commitment to educating our readers about sustainability and fashion. We chat with experts, influencers, designers, beauty and fashion brands about what it really means to be sustainable in 2020. In this story, Gianluca Russo chats with supermodel Candice Huffine about her sustainable, size-inclusive brand Day/Won.
For two decades, supermodel Candice Huffine has been advocating for size inclusivity and representation in fashion with mind-blowing results. Now she’s a leading curve model with IMG; has appeared on the covers of Glamour and Vogue Italia; has walked in nearly every season of New York Fashion Week since 2017, and has starred in major campaigns for brands like Lane Bryant and Torrid. But in 2016, Huffine took on a new challenge, one she never anticipated would be in her deck of cards: She started her own size-inclusive activewear brand, DAY/WON.
Earlier in 2016, before she started DAY/WON, Huffine found herself in a rut. Seeing the need to shake things up, her husband recommended she do something completely foreign to her: run the Boston Marathon. At first, that sounded impossible to her, but Huffine accepted the challenge and began training. What she quickly found, however, was that she didn't have the tools necessary to win.
"I couldn't find clothes that I could comfortably walk in that weren’t distracting," Huffine tells Teen Vogue. "I honestly stopped so many runs because I was just uncomfortable, and would turn around and go home. How am I supposed to cover any distance if I’m constantly fussing with stuff?"
At the time, it was difficult for Huffine to find brands that carried sizes large or extra-large. She recalls that she began running in yoga leggings — her only option — and had to cut a hole in the waistband to hold her phone while running.
"Here I was, on the fashion side of things for nearly two decades, really fighting for extended sizing, inclusivity, and for ready-to-wear brands to see us and represent us and give us more options,” says Huffine, “and yet I had no idea that the same issue was happening in the fitness world but was [even worse].”
In the months before the 2017 Boston Marathon, Huffine shared her frustrations about the lack of inclusive activewear with a New York-based manufacturer who then created a prototype outfit for Huffine to wear in the marathon. It was a risk: The prototype could have backfired and fallen apart midway through the run. But it didn't; it was precisely what Huffine needed. After the race, she went back to that manufacturer with a plan to change the future of inclusive activewear.
"The fitness world had a misconception of what the curvy athlete was capable of," Huffine says. "The performance aspect of activewear became an afterthought because that body is not ever portrayed and celebrated in an active space."
"It took me actually lining up for one of these races to realize that when I looked around me, every type of body is running marathons or crushing their goals,” she adds, “lifting weights, dancing their asses off in a class, doing the downward dog—whatever the hell they want to do."
In October 2017, Huffine launched DAY/WON, with a size range of 0 to 32. And she didn’t stop there: After being educated about the topic by her manufacturer, Huffine made the brand sustainable too. With sustainability now a core value for DAY/WON, Huffine has created a brand that is truly rare in plus fashion, focusing on fit and environmental impact.
DAY/WON is constructed locally, in Upstate New York, and inventory is made on an on-demand basis, cutting down the excess waste of unsold products. Some products, including the sweatshirt from their fall collection, are made from deadstock fabric — leftover fabric that can’t be used so is sold off rather than burned in a landfill. Many other products are made with recycled materials, all sourced from within the United States.
DAY/WON also sets itself apart from others in the market with unique prints and colors, and those features are focused on sustainability as well. Any product with color or print is created digitally — never dyed in water — to completely eliminate any impact on the oceans.
Switching to a sustainable setup may be difficult for some, Huffine says, but the process was quite smooth for DAY/WON because the manufacturer had years of experience in the market. Through the manufacturer, she became knowledgeable about the subject and realized how vital it was for DAY/WON to be focused on zero-waste and the least amount of environmental impact possible.
“We keep everything quite local and our footprint as small as possible. Because we design and manufacture locally, it helps us to stay more in real-time based on trends,” Huffine explains. “We don’t have to design half a year out; we can add in what’s hot right now.”
Finding sustainable plus-size clothing — especially activewear — is often an impossible task. Because a majority of brands still do not offer extended sizes, customers above a size XL are often left with no choice but to purchase pieces from fast fashion companies. It’s a dilemma that can’t be escaped: How can you only shop sustainably when there are no zero-waste options available in your size?
That’s precisely why DAY/WON is so vital, and why the brand’s impact has been so profound. With over 13K followers on Instagram, Huffine says the brand grows each time a new launch is released, and the feedback she’s received, especially on how durable and practical the products are for fitness and training, has been largely positive and supportive.
“It gives me such joy to click on an item, whether it’s on our own website or [one of our retailers],” Huffine says, “and see the size bar drop-down so long and give you every option. That’s the greatest victory for me.”
DAY/WON’s mission of inclusivity and sustainably clearly sets it apart from other brands, which is second nature to Huffine, a plus-size trailblazer. She hopes that DAY/WON inspires women of all shapes and sizes to know that their body type should never limit their capabilities. Whether it's running the Boston Marathon or taking a Zumba class, she wants all women to feel inspired, motivated and prepared to tackle their goals — as they truly deserve to feel.
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
