TTM Looks Back On 2020

As we close out 2020, one thing is certain: this year was unlike any other. As our plans, routines, and even our attire changed, we’re so thankful that you were there with us, following along each step of the way. Here’s what TO THE MARKET has been up to this year...

 

We launched our new website.

The TO THE MARKET website got a makeover! We chose a clear, crisp design and an easy-to-navigate format to help showcase the things we do best. We wanted to highlight our values, our guiding principles, and the critical importance of understanding where your products come from and who makes them.

We worked with brands we love.

This year we had the exciting opportunity to begin working with brands like Madewell, Nordstrom Rack, Re-Inc, FabFitFun, Wantables, and Burlington. In addition, we were thrilled to continue working with longstanding brand partners like Bloomingdale’s and Every Mother Counts. At the same time, our Europe team has been building relationships with new suppliers, creating gorgeous products you’ll love - like ceramic, textiles, cork, wood, and leather. We can’t wait for you to see what they’re offering!

 

We pivoted to supplying PPE. 

This past spring, as the pandemic took hold, we pivoted from our usual focus on apparel, accessories, and home goods to supplying much-needed PPE for doctors, nurses, nuns, and farmers. We sourced millions of units of PPE, which kept many of our makers employed during an uncertain season when they might have otherwise gone without work. We also engaged with US-based union manufacturers to create a new, sustainable and reusable isolation gown, among other innovations that we’re incredibly proud of. Our founder and CEO, Jane Mosbacher Morris, was named one of  Fortune’s Heroes Of The Pandemic for her quick and impactful thinking that inspired our focus on rethinking our supply chain during the early days of the pandemic.

It was also important to supply PPE in places near our suppliers and where needed most.  We commissioned some of our makers in Kenya and Ghana to distribute masks to Kenyan women and  Ghanian children who had been going without. On the stateside front, we donated organic cotton masks to the International Rescue Committee so that they could be distributed to refugees in Texas.

We expanded our team.

This year we added several new team members, including in sales, design, and operations! (You may have gotten to know a few of them through our  Q&A series!)

In addition to our new US-based hires, we opened the TO THE MARKET Europe office in Lisbon, Portugal! We’re so thrilled to have a team in Europe expanding our reach to more makers, more clients, and more opportunity to increase ethical and sustainable sourcing in all parts of the globe. 

We grew our supplier network.

This year, TO THE MARKET vetted and established relationships with over 40 new suppliers in places all over the world, including here in the United States. We’re looking forward to continuing to bring you unique, responsibly made products from these new makers, as well as from our amazing existing suppliers and partners.

 

Jane released a new chapter of her book.

We closed out the year with the release of a  new bonus chapter of Jane’s book,  Buy the Change You Want to See. The chapter reflects on lessons of this unprecedented year, highlighting TTM’s pivot to PPE and offering actionable steps to better understand individual purchasing power.

Above all, we persevered.

This year threw challenges at each and every one of us. It wasn’t easy, but the one thing that helped us get through was being there for each other. Here’s hoping we can take that into the new year with us.

TO THE MARKET started with a simple premise: the idea that businesses and consumers can harness their purchasing power for good. We are on a mission to change the way retail manufacturing is done, to empower people, protect the planet, and ultimately source and manufacture better products. We hope 2021 is a year that helps build an even better and brighter path forward for ethical and sustainable sourcing around the world!  

 

With gratitude,

Team TO THE MARKET