Innovation

Patrick, Ian and Juan Carlos began to think about how they could be agents of change, generating an impact on the community, the planet and to be profitable at the same time. They didn’t want to create an NGO, instead, they wanted to create a company in which their core was to help others and be sustainable.

They defined their purpose before knowing what they were going to do and imposed the mission to help improve the quality of children’s life in high Andean communities.

They decided to build a brand on the concept of “buy one, give one”, concept that they read in a book of Blake Mycoskie, the CEO of Toms. This innovation starts in 2013, and it functions trough the idea of selling clothes and give one to the community and the environment.

They started making coats and vests, and for the purchase of one of those, they would give a coat for free to a child in the high Andean area of Peru at about 3,000m.a.s.l. so they can have more protection against “las heladas”.

Also, they started to sell t-shirts and shirts, and for every t-shirt sold, they plant a cedar tree in Omacha, Cusco, and this was achieved thanks to the partnership they have with the NGO Pachamama Raymi.

They understood the importance of the circular economy and developed the brand based on this idea. Their business core was not only to generate profitability, but they had a clear purpose, and they were going to undertake it, generating a positive impact on society.

As Juan Carlos Sznak told us in the interview, they based their business model over three pillars:

- Honesty,

- Passion and

- Vulnerability (continuous learning).

They understood that the purpose transcends the product: spreading warmth.

On the way, they encountered many obstacles, they understood that they had to learn not only how to make the children ‘s coats, but also to understand their needs and culture, so, they began to modify the coats according to their needs. One example was that children in the sierra of Perú uses “Chullos”, so the hood of the coats was never used, so they remove it.

They also discovered that the textile industry was the second most polluted industry on the planet. That is why they decided to change and have the B-Corp certification in order to have impact on the community and the environment. They had the idea of including recycled material promoting a policy of environmental and circular improvement, (coats for 100% recycled reversible, make t-shirts and shirts with organic cotton). They believe in the triple line of impact, society, the planet and profitability can coexist.

Their idea of “buy one, give one”, and “buy one, plant one”, gave them the opportunity of helping the community and the environment at the same time.

Inspiration

Juan Carlos, Patrick, and Ian got inspired after reading about Blake Mycoskie and the idea of “buy one, give one”. They decided to start a clothing brand in which they would make clothes for men, women, and children, and for the purchase of one they would give back another one for free to the children in vulnerable areas of Peruvian Mountains, and plant trees to improve the ecosystem and the quality of life of the people around it.

Overall impact

Hoseg goal is to improve children lives and the community throught the idea of giving them protection for the cold and planting trees to create heathier environment. Also, they manufactured their product with organic cotton and they are in the constant search to use recycled material and certified cotton that ensure the quality of the product and the care of the environment at the same time.

To show the real impact to the clients, each clothe has a code, so the client can check in the website what Peruvian kid get the jacket for the purchase of the clothe the client did. This action gives credibility to the company for all buyers and is aligned on Honesty, that is one of the three pillar the company has.

In the interview, Juan Carlos told us that one amazing thing of this is how grateful the community are. Every time they go to distribute the coats to the children, they received something in return, like a typical dance, food, performance from the children, etc. He sees a real impact on the community behavior, the happiness of the community and more importantly, that the children really use the coats.

Business benefit

Juan Carlos told us that this business is very profitable. They have corporate clients like Casa Andina, Sodexo, Scania, Marriot and more. This companies buy the clothe of Hoseg for all employees.

They have 11 stores, 4 in Lima and 7 in Cusco for the sales and in May of 2018 the launch the web page to buy online. They had alliances with DHL in order to have free shipping if the sales is more than 100$. This will increase online sells and benefits the company.

Social and environmental benefit

Their main idea of success is measured by how much we have help. They show online in their web pages the impact on the social and environmental benefits.

• Sheltered children: 7,573

• Planted trees: 2,182

• Recycled bottles: 5,930

Interview

Juan Carlos Sznak, Chief Executive Officer