During the social distancing and quarantining times of COVID-19, James Hammett of MASAMI and Kristen Pereira, the founder of Adalinda Sustainable Fashion, had a conversation over Zoom recently to discuss how this epidemic is affecting both of their growing businesses.
James and Kristen first met in February when MASAMI provided the hair care products for the Adalinda NYFW Fashion Show. Adalinda showcases designers that are committed to social progression and environmental awareness. Their main focus is connecting consumers to brands and clothing/accessories that are made ethically and sustainably. Kristen was looking for clean, vegan hair care for her ocean-themed show. James and MASAMI – hair care products that are clean, vegan AND formulated with a wonderful ocean botanical, Mekabu, among other good-for-you ingredients. It was a perfect match!
Below are excerpts from their conversation:
James: How are you personally dealing with the quarantine? How is it impacting your business plans?
Kristen: Great question. New York is now on pause. Only essential businesses are open, and everyone is advised to stay home. I’m currently working from my father’s home in New Jersey, which has it challenges for sure, but I’m making it work. Fortunately, we’ve been building a community at Adalinda for the past three years. Now is a good time to pull back and reflect. We’re pausing all our Spring events. Some of them will only happen online. We’re still confirming and working out the details. We’ve been.looking into our social media strategy. Ways we can get more involved in Pinterest, such as include Fashion Show content from our collaboration with MASAMI. Updating our website. Most importantly, looking at ways to keep things fresh. I’m confident that lots of opportunities will come out of this period. I’m just not sure how it’s going to look yet. How about you?
James: As you know, MASAMI only recently launched when we made our debut at NYFW. My co-founder, Lynn and I was working at the speed of light traveling across the country, meeting with potential partners to suddenly zero - grounded and confined to working from home. Now, we’re doing anything we can to keep the momentum going. It’s about refocusing our energy. We are trying our best to utilize our social media to continue building brand awareness. We’re leveraging women’s groups, men’s groups, natural beauty groups, salon and boutique partnerships, etc. A few Spring events that we had planned with the Atterton Store in LA, In Seven Words in D.C. and the Edward Tricomi Salon in CT is being postponed. And, our innovation pipeline will be delayed. We did just launch a new online promotion with the hair salon group, Spoke & Weal. With a $50 MASAMI online purchase, a Spoke & Weal stylist will provide a “live” complimentary color consultation with overall tips on how to style your hair while waiting out the salons reopening.
Kristen: Love this idea! Especially, since we’re all a few weeks away from finding out each other’s natural hair color!
James: Yes! Now is the perfect time to start your hair over with a blank canvas. Refresh with highlights, low lights, let your silver shine. Limitless choices. I’m also doing a series of live video chats on LinkedIn via Talk Shop. Showing different ways to style your hair with our products while working with your outgrowth. Helping people feel more in tuned with themselves. I feel people need to be inspired, need
to talk together.
Kristen: I agree. Community will get us through this even though we feel isolated. I’m looking into planning events for next year. I’m actually very excited about the potential opportunities. I’d like to work with independent designers to help promote the world of sustainable fashion. Helping independent artists cross-promote with independent designers. I have a “wait and see” kind of mindset. Still, embodying creativity and thinking how do support local, smaller, more independent designers that won’t get bailed out by the government in this crisis. I’m focusing my attention differently.
James: We will continue to evolve. I’m noticing that people are reading more, doing puzzles, creating new exercise routines, beauty routines, and cleaning out their hair care, cosmetics and closets. A time of rebirth. For the first time in 15 years, I can smell the East River! The fog of pollution in numerous cities has lifted. China has blue skies and Venice’s Grand Canal is clear. It feels like the Earth is being reset.
Kristen: Mother Earth was saying “Enough”!
James: Lots of prosperity can eventually come out of this crisis. A coming to Jesus. Don’t take anything for granted. Care about each other. The environment. Smallest ways are the biggest ways. Little things go a long way. We all need to make an effort. This is going to change people’s lives. MASAMI’s future, Adalinda’s future, all our future depends on it!
Be webcam ready! Get soft beach waves like the Adalinda Models.
Head to lovemasami.com for 20% off and free shipping when you use code ADALINDA.