Profile On Kayti O'Connell Carr, Founder Of MATE the Label

From vintage tees to leading the way in the clean fashion industry, Kayti O’Connell Carr has been making waves in the ecological space since 2013. Kayti O’Connell Carr dedicates her sustainable clothing line, MATE the Label, to prioritizing the health of the planet. She is well-versed in knowledge of a functioning human society, thanks to her sociology degree from Loyola Marymount University. In a world of fast fashion, Kayti gives precedence to creating high-quality, organic, and non-toxic clothing that will last for years to come. Based in Los Angeles, California, Kayti O’Connell Carr focuses her company around a 17-mile radius to reduce travel emissions and her overall carbon footprint.

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Emerging In The Clean Fashion Industry

Before MATE the Label became what it is today, Kayti O’Connell Carr ran her own vintage clothing line, MATE Vintage. When she began to assess the environmental impact of her business, MATE the Label was born.

With the use of attractive, neutral, and earth tones, Carr crafted an unforgettable fashion line that doesn’t sacrifice on visual appeal. With the reinvention of MATE the Label, she decided to make major changes to become a more clean and sustainable fashion source. Carr says she began to research books and podcasts for next steps in her journey into the clean fashion industry. With no interest in being part of the fast-fashion movement, her designs are timelessly fashionable and are created to withstand years of use. She created a movement for her business called reMate Circularity, which implements the idea that after a piece is returned, textiles can be broken down and reused in new pieces. Her innovative circularity strategy keeps her clothing out of landfills and lengthens the lifecycle of her textiles. 

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Mate the Label

MATE the Label joined the loungewear scene before the major takeoff of the style in 2020 surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of work-from-home culture. The style of the brand is minimalist, comfortable, and effortlessly trendy. 

With clothing waste up 220% since 1990, nearly 85% of all textiles end up in landfills or incinerated. It was crucial to Kayti O’Connell Carr to create a product that was not only easily recyclable but also uses less water during production and is plastic and pesticide free. Kati O’Connell Carr chooses materials that come from the soil and can be returned to the soil, such as organic cotton, TENCEL™ Lyocell, and flax linen. To honor her commitment to being plastic free, her clothing tags are produced with recycled paper and soy ink, then are attached with a copper pin. Though the effort is environmentally motivated, these small details give the products a high-end and personal edge to them.

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Her Mission

In early 2018, Kayti O’Connell Carr launched the Dress Clean initiative for Mate the Label. The Mate Eight are the promises she has made on behalf of her business; to reflect her values and vision for Mate the Label. She guarantees her products to be clean, essential, organic, ethical, woman-centered, plastic-free, circular, and local. The Dress Clean initiative manifests the values that Kayti O’Connell Carr has deemed to have the most pivotal role in her business’s sustainability. Along with being inclusive to body types from sizes XS to 3XL, a core value for the company is being anti-racist. Kayti O’Connell Carr uses her platform to collaborate with people of color and amplify black voices. Carr places an imperative value on giving back to her community. With every MATE the Label purchase, 1% of proceeds are donated to a charity of the customer’s choice.

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Certifications

Mate the Label is Climate Neutral Certified, which means Kayti O'Connell Carr has ensured her business’s commitment to sourcing organic, natural, and non-toxic materials. As a Climate Neutral Certified company, Carr prioritizes limiting her business’s emissions, measuring their carbon footprint, offsetting emissions, and strategically reducing their carbon impact annually.m MATE the Label offsets their annual carbon emissions by contributing to projects such as the Capricorn Ridge Wind Project in Texas, which saves wind as a renewable energy, and the Doo Doo Does More project in India, whose goal is to reduce methane emissions by supplying rural families with biodigesters.

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Key Takeaways

• Kayti O’Connell Carr is the designer and founder of the sustainable fashion line MATE the Label.
• She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Loyola Marymount University.
• She founded the Dress Clean Initiative for MATE the Label.
• She started the reMATE Circularity movement to produce clothing with accessibility to simple recyclability and continues to create new sustainability practices for her business.