style in progress 2/2022 – English Edition

Page 210

WHAT'S THE STORY

TR ANSFORM THE FUTURE

DEVIN GILMARTIN, THE CANVAS

“DECENTRALISATION IS THE ANSWER” The United Nation’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDG), presented as colourful pictograms, inspired Devin Gilmartin to start the fashion brand Querencia Studio with fellow high school student Tegan Maxey. Moving on to college in New York, their business grew into a nomadic store concept strongly linked to SDG, down to those pictograms. The Canvas only accepts small brands who can demonstrate the way they meet particular SDG, and then the store provides customers with meaningful information about the products. Now 24 years old, Devin discusses the power of decentralisation and physical stores, his alternative to trying to retain Gen Z’s attention, and what it is like to become your own professor’s boss. Interview: Petrina Engelke, Photos: The Canvas / Dr Cameron Smith

D

evin, why do you believe that if small brands do something together, they can achieve more than a large corporation? Well, for a start, large corporations are not achieving very much. In fact, they achieve more destruction than good, and they have created a system that makes it hard to fault individuals for. Corporate greed is structural, and incentives are not aligned with the incentives of a healthy planet and healthy people. So we need to change what success looks like. And I think that happens when you have independent creators with a clear path to monetary stability. I also think physical retail access is one way to do that. Secondly, the large brands have created supply chains and systems that are hard to change. Even going into companies like Zara and H&M as an executive,

208

style in progress

The Canvas co-founder Devin Gilmartin (24) has a vision of decentralising fashion and providing a path to monetary stability for independent creators.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.