Aaron Sanandres has a new passion project.
The chief executive officer of Untuckit today will launch Definite Articles, a performance brand with a strong sustainability message.
The brand will start with socks and expand into other product categories for the spring/summer season next year.
Sanandres said the idea for Definite Articles came to him during the height of the pandemic. “I needed to keep myself occupied and this started as a pandemic mental health passion product,” he said.
About a month into his home lockdown, he found that he was burning through socks. “Every time I’d throw a pair away, I was filled with guilt because I knew they were just going to wind up in a landfill somewhere.” So he set out to “build a better mousetrap.”
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In his research, Sanandres discovered that Tencels and Modals are sustainable, but not durable, and the most durable materials such as polyester were all derived from plastic. He also found that 3,500 trillion pieces of microplastics, weighing 3 million pounds, leak into the oceans from household laundry alone every year. And an additional 24 billion pounds end up in landfills — both of which take centuries to biodegrade.
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Sanandres said most apparel brands are focused on reducing their carbon footprint, but for him, “that’s just table stakes. You’re ignoring the whole issue of microplastics, which is horrifying to me and even more horrifying for my kids. You can use recycled plastic and call yourself sustainable, but that’s only half the story. I want to bring more awareness to the real impact of textiles and be part of the plastic solution.”
So he pored through the internet and found CiClo, a textile firm that had created an additive that is combined with polyester and nylon at the beginning of the fiber-making process that makes these yarns perform like natural fibers, allowing them to biodegrade more quickly. Sanandres said research has shown that polyester with CiClo actually biodegrades faster than wool. Nylon treated with CiClo showed a biodegradation rate of about 40 percent after one year, he said. Per their study, 74 to 92 percent (depending on whether landfill or seawater) was fully biodegraded in two and a half years.
“It had been out for several years, but no one was using it,” Sanandres said.
So he contracted with the company to use its product for Definite Articles in his quest to build a performance brand that creates zero waste and actively removes plastic from the environment. On the website for the brand, Definite Articles said this additive cuts down the plastic shed by 25 percent.
The brand also uses cotton under the Better Cotton sustainability initiative and the product is manufactured within 2,500 miles of North America, which lowers its carbon footprint. Definite Articles has applied to be a certified B Corp, which is a designation for social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
Sanandres said he doesn’t have a proprietary agreement with the textile company because he believes other companies should be using the technology as well.
He said the launch was funded by a $2 million round raised from friends and family, which helped pay for the launch of the website, the photography and the paychecks of five contract employees who are working on the brand.
The socks will retail for $16.50 for ankle or no-show models and $18.50 for crew socks. They’re also available in three packs for $47.03 to $52.73. They will be available in white, orange, navy and charcoal, and are being sold on the Definite Articles e-commerce site beginning today.
The marketing plan is similar to that of Untuckit with a focus on the digital and offline channels, he said. And he will also use influencers to articulate the vision of the brand.
Next year, Sanandres said the plan is to expand into other activewear such as yoga pants, seamless tanks, shorts and other products, all with the same sustainable message.
He will continue to serve as CEO of Untuckit and said he launched that business when he was working at PWC, so he has become adept at juggling more than one job at once.