KLOTH MALAYSIA SDN BHD’s first range of garments has prompted many a curious stare, almost to the point of disbelief. This is because they are green hijab. And no, we are not talking about the colour of the headscarves here.

The headscarves are made from green material, specifically recyclable plastic bottles.

Indeed, used plastic bottles seem to be the most unlikely items that can be transformed into garments.

But Kloth is pushing ahead with green garments, beginning with a collection of scarves manufactured and packaged with the environment at heart, under The Green Hijab brand.

Material for the scarves is produced by China-based Vision Textiles Ltd under the Waste2Wear brand. Kloth holds the exclusive right to market Waste2Wear products in Malaysia.

Kloth was founded in December last year by four college friends — Fattiadriati Mohd Tareh, Nik Suzila Nik Hassan, Nurul Izani Zulkifli and Sarahah Kedah.

Nurul Izani, who left her job in the shipbuilding industry, now runs the business full time. The others are balancing their day jobs with the business.

They launched The Green Hijab in June with an initial investment of RM50,000.

A box of The Green Hijab contains three scarves of soft chiffon-like material in light colours — violet tulip, placid blue and hemlock — and is priced at RM149.

Kloth’s website states that each scarf produced prevents two used plastic bottles from ending up in a landfill or the ocean.

Included in each box (made from recycled and biodegradable materials, rest assured) is a story card that tells the buyer the brand’s concept and mission.

The pitch is interesting: You can look gorgeous, fashionable and modest, and save the environment all at once.

The four have been taking the multi-channel approach to selling their products. Sales are conducted via their Instagram account and the popular fashion e-commerce site FashionValet.com as well as at bazaars and exhibitions. Some 60% of their inventory has since been sold, but it is understood that the business has yet to turn in a profit.

From hijab to everything

Kloth’s longer-term ambition, however, is to go beyond the green hijab. It aims to be a distributor of eco-friendly merchandise, be it apparel, uniforms or lifestyle products.

In fact, Nurul Izani is quick to offer a disclaimer. “Orang ingat kita penjual tudung! We are not just hijab sellers! We are introducing a greener textile that can be used to make anything,” she says.

So, why start with headscarves? It seems that every Siti, Nora and Fatimah is selling headscarves, catering for the middle-class Muslim consumers who are fashion-conscious.

“Every Malaysian woman, regardless of race, will at some point have a shawl because it’s a 1Malaysia culture,” Nik Suzila says.

Nevertheless, the decision to start Kloth with the green hijab was a move to show their capabilities to investors and the Malaysian market.

“So, Phase One is done. Now that we know there is a market for this, and Malaysians are excited, Phase Two will be other products for daily use and more,” says Nik Suzila.  

Next, Kloth is looking to approach government agencies for grants and funding to help it scale up. It was only after the four friends have validated their business that they felt confident enough to seek funding.

“We start first, then we get the confidence and develop our own clientele. Now, we’ll ask for money,” says Nik Suzila.

Kloth’s business straddles two large industries — apparel and eco-friendly products.

The global apparel business was worth US$1.7 trillion (RM5.68 trillion) in 2012, according to market research firm Euromonitor. Last year’s International Greentech and Eco Products Exhibition & Conference Malaysia (IGEM) generated an estimated RM466 million in transactions and business leads. This year’s IGEM purportedly generated RM1.2 billion.   

But, at the moment, this does not mean that Kloth has got into a business that can be immensely profitable and scalable. Fabric made from recyclable materials is still a novelty and will only be ubiquitous when, and if, large garment manufacturers include it in their supply chains.

The greener picture

Kloth does not see itself and its products as merely an eco-brand.

“We brand our products as green and innovative,” explains Nik Suzila. “We sell them as green products, but the big picture is that they are products of innovation. When people hear ‘innovation’, they are intrigued. But if we sell them only as eco-friendly products, people will doze off.”

The women behind Kloth also say they are not hardcore “greenies”, even though their business is in that tone. “We are just light green. Not extreme,” laughs Fattiadriati.

Their bigger mission is to support green growth and sustainability through waste management and resource recovery in Malaysia. They love fashion, innovation and knowledge, and firmly believe in their products’ potential in the domestic market.

Ultimately, if Kloth can ramp up sales, they want to go into production.

All of Kloth’s products are made in a factory in Shanghai. In the long term, they envision bringing the factory to Malaysia and producing their line of products locally.

“Before we can proceed to that stage, we must create the demand and come up with more products. We plan to have our own concept store, and once that is successful and more people start knowing about this, we can begin collaborating,” says Fattiadriati.

“We can get investors to build the plant here and turn the used bottles into fabric,” Nurul Izani says. “But for our mid-term plan, it’s more products and an outlet.”

While they insist that Kloth is not just another business selling headscarves, neither do they want it to be perceived as another social business tapping into the green wave. They want it to be the best.

“We don’t want to portray that we are just another social entrepreneur. We want people to know we are doing this because of government policy, which presents us with opportunities,” says Nurul Izani.

At the IGEM last month, Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia) signed a memorandum of understanding with Kloth. GreenTech Malaysia CEO Ahmad Hadri Haris said it was on a collaborative effort to promote eco-friendly fashion products.

Kloth’s business plan is in line with the Green Malaysian Plan 2030, a national strategy to implement green technology policies that will drive the change into a green economy, through the harmonisation of economic growth with environmental sustainability.

Next year, in collaboration with GreenTech Malaysia, Kloth will be launching a green marketplace on the web. The aim of the online platform is to boost the commercialisation of eco-friendly products by small and medium enterprises in Malaysia.

“Every SME or retailer that you see is selling its eco-friendly products or innovations in silos. They are doing it on their own. The government only helps in research and incubation, but not in commercialisation,” says Nik Suzila.

“The ‘push’ strategy is for an online platform. We are in the midst of discussion, but the big picture is that it will be a marketplace for the commercialisation of eco-friendly products.”

The partners are aware that they will not be making any profit in the first year, as their main intention is to gauge the acceptance of the green hijab by Malaysians.

“Now that we know, we are coming up with a bigger plan. So, it’s not just textiles made from plastic bottles, we are doing more. For instance, we want to create a marketplace and we know there’s a demand for it. It’s like kamikaze,” Nik Suzila says.

This article first appeared in #edGY, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on November 17 - 23, 2014.

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