I’m now focused on making a product that lasts a lifetime

Meggan Simpson is a Material Trims Developer at Patagonia

Quick profile on Meggan

• Ventura, California
• ~9 years since graduating from Western Oregon University in Criminal Analysis
• Material Developer — Trims at Patagonia, with past experience at Under Amour, Portland Accessories (licensee for New Balance), Nike, Summit Accessories (licensee for Converse), and Grenade Gloves
• Meggan collaborates with a group of Patagonia’s supply chain partners to research, source, develop, approve, test and specify raw materials that meet Patagonia’s quality and performance requirements. She’s most familiar with working in trims such as elastics, heat transfers, metal, and plastic hardware such as buttons or zippers.
• Interview date = May 29, 2020

How did you get to where you are?

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do when I was young, I think I leaned toward wanting to be a scientist and finding a cure for cancer. From a holistic viewpoint, I knew I wanted to help people in some way and do something for the greater good. My drive has always been rooted in helping others, and doing what is right or “good.” This means asking the difficult questions and making conscientious choices with every step along the way. As I progressed through school, the one thing that interested me most was the criminal justice system, since it was based in helping others. By knowing I was very analytical early on, I began to forge my path more in that direction through criminal justice. A couple of my high school teachers, who I viewed as mentors and leaders making impact in their communities, exposed me to this area. I pursued my degree in criminal justice and my focus was in preventative crime. More specifically, we focused on crime analysis by utilizing data to find hotspots or crime trends and then worked with police officers to put them in those areas to reduce opportunity from crime.

Criminal justice was the path that I went with in school, and it’s quite different from where I am now at Patagonia, but I’ve been able to utilize a wide toolkit along the way.

As I went through school, I realized the criminal justice career path was not something I would fully flourish in. As I got deeper into understanding the system, I saw how truly broken it is and realized the work itself can be pretty dark and depressing, which can be a lot to cope with. I did an internship with the police force for three months and that was one of the main reasons I pivoted away from the field. One of the largest factors was that budget and spending was not allocated to preventative crime. I am grateful for the experience though, because it gave me perspective into an area a lot of individuals are not exposed to and allowed me to have a lot more empathy for criminal justice in general. Overall, I did not feel that I was going to make an impact in that field in the way I wanted, but held onto searching for ways to help in other capacities.

After college, I threw a net out to simply gain employment and hoped to land on my feet in a tough economy. I was fortunate to land at a snowboard apparel company, Grenade Gloves, in Portland, Oregon. I started with domestic shipping and logistics, all of which I was capable of doing because of similarities to the crime analyst program where there was a heavy emphasis on data mining and excel. I also worked retail while I was in college, which helped with the product knowledge component. The most impactful part of this job was working with a small team. I was able to sit with everyone and learn what they did, while building mentorships and friendships with a lot of those people. The domestic logistics evolved to international logistics and I was working with factories overseas. Then, that evolved into product development. I grew within the company and industry and learned primarily through trial and error, which I feel is the best way to learn since not much else can truly prepare you. Due to the high turn-over at Grenade Gloves, people would shovel as much information they could to me when they were leaving the company. I did my best to soak it all up since the environment wasn’t really as structured as it probably should have been, but that was extremely helpful in the learning process for me. I then built processes and had enough knowledge to just make it work while also leaning heavily on the factories and their worker’s expertise; this initiated my collaborative and partnership-oriented mentality with any oversea vendor.

It was when I hit product development that I had my a-ha moment and knew this was what I was meant to do.

Product development brings together being super analytical and also being creative while problem solving. These were all of the components that initially interested me in criminal justice, but the product development role was far more flexible and creative from a personal growth perspective. It is also very rewarding to have an actual, tangible product to work on. At that point, I thought, “This is it. I’m going to pursue this, and put all of my energy into it.”

Growing up, I knew that I wanted to move away from my hometown in Oregon. The city felt small and restricting. After Grenade Gloves, I worked with a couple companies that were east coast based while still living in Portland. That’s what got me exposure to the east coast mentality; it’s far more fast paced and they constantly set new trends to push the boundaries. I felt like I needed to be around some of that energy to evolve and become even better at what I’m doing, while also challenging me personally by moving across the country. When Under Armour gave me an offer, I was immediately willing to move out there to Baltimore. I really did enjoy the east coast, and Baltimore, since I met some of the most talented creatives. But, being so far from home did wear on me. I more recently made the shift back to the west coast, to come to Ventura for Patagonia. It feels like I’ve gotten back to my roots here.

How would you explain what a Material Developer for trims is?

A Material Developer is an umbrella role and you can either be a Fabric Material Developer or a Trim Material Developer, both of which compile the materials of a garment. While working as a product developer owning the full development lifecycle, I realized I obsess over the little things and get excited about the small pieces on a product or garment. That passion led me to honing in more on trims.

Trims, in general, are the embellishments on a product. It’s a loosely used word, so a lot of people ask, “What’s a trim? What do you do?” Trims are your zippers, elastics, buttons, drawcords and basically anything that is not a body fabric.

Within trims I source to figure out where the component will be developed from, cost it to make sure it will hit the margins that the product needs, and then test and commercialize to make sure the trim will work on the garment and won’t fail. Failure means falling off, breaking, or color migration.

I organically started focusing on trims and it wasn’t something I needed to navigate into too tactically. Prior to working for Under Armour and Patagonia, I was working at small companies which really, really helped me gain exposure to cross functional areas. When you work for a small company, you are not very siloed and tend to touch every aspect of the business in some way or another. It’s quite common to do fabric and trim development for a product, if you’re in product development at a smaller company. This would be completely different in a large entity where fabric and trim development are more distinct. While juggling hats in product development, trims came more naturally and was something I was able to pick up very quickly. So, I did consciously make the decision to continue down the trim development path as I continued in my career.

How do you define social responsibility, within the context of your work?

In my job now at Patagonia, the biggest area of focus is environmental responsibility. This is not to say that social responsibility is not a focus; Patagonia has partnered with some of the best vendors and maintains those relationships as they grow and build their own communities. When it comes to environmental impact:

• The largest culprit is typically the material being used. Right now, we’ve focused on utilizing recycled, environmentally-friendly fiber contents.
• There is also upcycling, which is when a supplier or vendor works on a product and finds ways to utilize the waste so we don’t have to discard the scraps.
• Another area we look at is the recyclability of a garment, or end of life. This is a big topic now when you hear people talk about the lifespan of a garment. If you think about recycling a garment when it’s done being used, you need to be aware of the garment as a whole and how many pieces of content are on it. When it comes to recyclers, usually there are only polyester, nylon, or spandex recyclers. If you have a lot of mixed content, it is very difficult or impossible to recycle.
• At a larger scope, it’s also about reducing carbon emissions, as well as the reduction of water usage and using minimal chemicals while producing a garment.

These are the big areas we’re working on right now because the impact is immense. One huge shift I noticed at Patagonia compared to where I worked in the past is that we spend much more time testing and validating garments on people. The wear testers at Patagonia are pretty wild and some of the most active people I’ve ever seen. There’s so much more time involved in getting their feedback and incorporating it back into the product. At other companies, it’s more of a churn and burn. You’ll produce something and then just keep moving. Since joining Patagonia, my whole philosophy shifted — I’m now focused on making a product that lasts a lifetime. This means the function shouldn’t diminish, and if it does then it can be recycled to another product that will last.

Here, at Patagonia, there is so much thought and energy put into everything and the garment is actually supposed to last forever.

When I started in the industry, the conversation centered around ethics. Environmental impact wasn’t a priority since recycled items were super expensive and you could never hit your margin. As a result, we focused more on social responsibility. The first job I worked on used factories that definitely did not treat their workers well. Ethically, it was very difficult for me to work on that product and even kept me up at night. I knew the next step for me would be to align more with social compliance, and treat all workers ethically, fairly, and responsibly. As I progressed into larger companies, they worked more with 100% certified fair trade factories where workers are getting paid a fair wage and have safe working conditions. It’s such a dramatic difference to the quality of the product you’re getting as well. Fast forward to now and it’s moved beyond just the certifications and audits. It’s also people from these companies visiting these factories on a regular timeframe who care and have stronger relationships. We’re not just looking for those that can show off a certificate to say things are good. We’re also partnering to make sure workers are supported and validating what we’re hearing is actually true. The fair trade certified factories are a big part of what we do and it’s not as socialized from a consumer perspective that a lot of the bigger companies put energy and resources into this. This is one of the largest benefits of working for Patagonia. Once we find a new solution that works, we share that information to spread better practices across the industry instead of keeping it as proprietary.

In terms of who establishes these responsibility practices, it’s twofold. The company always has their initiatives and vocalizes them. For example, with Adidas, it’s about ending plastic waste and shifting to be fully recycled by 2024. Then the company creates realistic timelines towards accomplishing the goal that every single employee focuses and integrates into their role. The other avenue is the day-to-day conscious decisions that are made. As a developer, I make decisions on every single product I work on. If I can make a decision that impacts the environment positively in some way, then it’s a decision I’ll go forward with on my own. We’re at a time now where it is actually pretty cost neutral, so if a decision is not impacting the price, quality, or color, then it makes sense to be the voice to move towards recycled products. That was always something I did no matter what. It wasn’t about the story that could be marketed, it was my own personal manifesto.

At Under Armour, I initiated a core sustainable palette of recycled items, even though the company had not unlocked their story around recyclables yet. It’s one thing that I, as an individual, could do to help the transition to recyclables and quicken our response time.

From a vendor perspective, sustainability used to just be a buzzword and there wasn’t a lot of volume in terms of investing in this branch of product offering. Since it was a huge investment, the suppliers were not taking the time to learn where to source the materials, which machines would be needed, and how to produce in a more sustainable way. That drove the cost up for sustainable products. As there was more interest and people recognized consumers want sustainable goods, that’s when volume increased and suppliers started creating solutions to reach cost neutrality. Even from 5 years ago to now, there has been a huge difference in cost.

To have sustainable products 5 to 10 years ago, you had to make a product that was a super high dollar value. As a consumer, you would have had to pay $150 or $200 for it.

Now, even H&M and fast fashion can afford to think about more sustainable choices because the cost is neutral compared to before. This is fantastic since it’s accessible for many more people now. The volume and interest in sustainable products started when popular and large companies like Nike and Adidas started socializing changes they were making. Smaller companies then felt the need and pressure to be on the same level. I think consumers definitely wanted to buy in, but I really feel the big companies drove this. And, why wouldn’t companies want to make products that are better for the environment?

It’s important to think about these types of questions and sustainability issues now because we need to help protect the world which we all love and enjoy being in. With COVID, there is even more appreciation for nature since we’re unable to access the outdoors as much right now. We also know that the practices we have been doing are not sustainable and there’s now so much product that we need to make changes. Companies are understanding that if they don’t make these types of changes, there are going to be dire consequences. They need to opt out of those past practices, for the longevity and sustainability of their own company.

What are some challenges you’ve faced at Patagonia?

The biggest challenge I’ve faced is COVID-19 and the change and impact it’s having on the industry. It’s something no one expected or could have prepared for easily. We have to understand how much change there will be on supply chain. All companies have taken unfortunate actions like cancelling purchase orders because of diminished sales, which hurts our suppliers. As much as you want to protect them, there is only so much you can do, because you ultimately want to stay in business to then give them business in the future. Many companies are determining which regions they want to support. This will also alter supply chain since we’ll start resourcing differently into those regions. No one wants to make these decisions, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. We don’t know the impact COVID will have and it’s the most difficult thing I’ve worked on.

There are some silver linings though. Companies are determining what’s essential to them and which products define their ethos, which will drive down options in the future. That reduction of options will reduce carbon emissions and waste. I also think a lot of brands will start to share their supply chains and transparency and collaboration will be greater than ever. Also, we’ll better figure out what it looks like to work remotely. We’ll navigate fittings and meetings in a virtual way. 3D and virtual prototyping will continue to emerge and assist, which is another huge plus in lowering emissions and waste from how operations are done currently.

Right now, everything is based on the ever-changing forecast with where the supply chain or sourcing is headed. Things change weekly. As developers, we vocalize what areas we are worried about and it funnels up to the leadership team. They then have the more difficult conversations. For example, if we learn from suppliers that they are starting to teeter and they’re not going to make it, we then need to make decisions around if we want to double down and support or resource out. This is such a painful process and choice.

Outside of the challenges to the industry with COVID, a different challenge I have faced is being a woman in a male dominated industry.

Being a woman, in an action and sport focused apparel industry, has absolutely defined the way I approach many meetings and conversations in the workplace. I’ve had a lot of leaders who are men that I look up to, but minimal leaders who are women who held the personality and mentality that I wanted to mirror. I am very much an introverted worker and lean into how my work and work ethic can speak for itself. I advocate and speak up when it’s effective and when it matters, so I am constantly monitoring a room and my audience. This ultimately stemmed from not having my voice be valued as a woman. At times my voice has even been diminished, spoken over, or concepts/ideas have been taken by counterparts who are men. I want to stress that I have not softened my voice, but rather have become much more strategic as to when and how I use it, just like any tool. I have always led with empathy and emotional intelligence, which lets me gravitate to people who align with my values. This allows me to build a solid, collaborative team that focuses on driving impact instead of paying attention to ego or work politics. This is an example of how diversifying a company is vital to the work culture and success of a brand. There needs to be voices from every perspective to challenge and evolve the product and ultimately make meaningful changes. I will say that I have had excellent mentors and peers who are men, but this is moreso an overall corporate culture issue that I’ve encountered. Rose Marcario, who stepped down from being Patagonia’s CEO recently, is someone I think is excellent at being vocal when it counts and also leading with authenticity. She cares little about one-upping and more about sharing knowledge and educating the industry which attracts a lot of people to the brand. She also fights tirelessly for what she believes in and inspires me with passion to do the same.

What’s one of the most rewarding experiences you’ve had in your career?

The most rewarding project I’ve worked on was during my time at Under Armour. I was fortunate enough to work in the Team Sport category.

I worked with NCAA Football and Basketball teams as well as Global Football on uniforms (for on field, on court, or on pitch), travel attire, and training attire.

These were really technical pieces to work on, and also really visible. I had to fall back on being analytical and detail oriented because you really couldn’t mess up. If there was a misstep then you’d have something fall off on field or on TV, which would be really tough since it’s a representation of a brand identity. The bulk of a uniform is fabric, especially with football being twill dominant. However, I worked exclusively on the next generation of uniform decoration which was more seamless, light-weight, breathable, and fast. This meant we did not take the traditional approach of stitching everything down, which was very scary from a product development standpoint. We instead looked at bonded adhesives, which were heat applied, and new badging techniques to relevant the look of the uniform.

Under Armour Day 2018

Under Armor’s mission was to build a better performer. As a result, the garments were meant to help athletes be better at training and performing overall. In order to ensure this was the case, we would get product on athletes and teams to receive feedback about how they felt. We would make sure they still had positive mobility and that there was compression in the right areas. This initiative was rewarding because I could see first-hand how we could support an athlete, especially when they had trained their entire life in the sport. Everyone has their unique story and building products that lift confidence can help achieve and supersede goals, as I saw with these athletes.

What tips do you have on how to merge social impact with work?

When you align with a social cause that you want to start to incorporate into your work, it is something that you have to put a lot of time and energy into. You have to know that you’re truly passionate about it because it’s not easy or something that you can take lightly. You’ll most likely need to stand up and fight for it daily. You’ll also need to make sure you’ve done a lot of research and education about that area in particular because you’ll be the expert in that space as you merge it into your job.

A lot of people tend to think of lofty and dramatic changes they want to make quickly. If they don’t think they can accomplish this level of change, then they’re hesitant to get started. My biggest advice is that it’s all about baby steps. All the little things you do over time make the largest impact. It’s also the most logical way to approach change.

If you instead started off making big swings, you might see really bad repercussions downstream which others were not ready for yet. Instead, by setting micro-goals, you can see how your work accumulates over time.

If you work for a company that might have a larger scale you can also make a large impact, even if you make a seemingly really tiny change at that company. For instance, if you move into recycled fibers, the volume behind that action could make a significant change. If your company isn’t already doing some of these initiatives themselves, you could create goals for yourself to make that change, so long as it doesn’t impact business costs. Once they’re aware you’re making that change without negative impacts, they will almost always be supportive.

If you could change one thing about the world overnight, what would you do?

It’s something simple. It would be altering people’s ability so they would have more empathy and emotional intelligence about everything they approach — whether that’s personal or professional. Having more empathy will lead to greater good overall.

In a work environment, progress is reversed when work is embedded in ego and power. It is a waste of everyone’s time to get caught up in office politics. Oftentimes we get so divided, which moves the attention away from what really matters — and what matters is what keeps employees passionate, driven, and motivated. It’s no longer about being the best; it’s about what you do with the platform you have to have rippling effects of positive change for others who are unable to have a voice in the matter.

References

• Patagonia Environmental and Social Footprint
• Patagonia Sustainable Apparel Coalition
• Adidas end plastic waste — shifting to using 100% recycled polyester in our products by 2024
• Rose Marcario