I've always said that we should treat people as citizens before consumers, which is where we got our name Citizen's Mark. The idea was that as citizens, we make our mark through the decisions we make, as a company, and as consumers. 

We've been avoiding the crowdfunding world for a while, opting instead to run bootstrapped, and release small collections at a time.

Until we found ourselves walking down a product development path. 

We never intended to make our own fabric. Our skill was sourcing world-class fabric suppliers that were already pushing innovation, finding the most socially responsible yet high-quality factories in the nooks and crannies of the global garment industry, and giving them our business - and your business, to nurture a more just economy. 

But then we couldn't find a blouse fabric that met our basic criteria: luxurious, sustainable, and practical. We couldn't believe it. Then again, we can. That's why we exist. Because women's workwear and ethical fashion has for so long been an afterthought in the fashion industry. 

So without a formal financing plan, and wary of courting institutional investors that might force us to treat you like consumers before citizens, we started our product development journey.

In Switzerland, we found a weaving partner that made the product-development costs workable because he too believed in the importance of mainstreaming high-quality ethical fashion.

Now, our miracle fabric is ready: a luxurious, machine-washable blouse fabric made of 100% tree fiber and it's time to launch. After much thought, we chose to launch Better Than Silk for two reasons.

First, we'd rather answer to you, our community, than anyone else. And secondly, creating change in the fashion industry requires scale, and to do that, we have to make a powerful statement together as citizen-consumers. The industry needs to hear in a very concrete way that "yes, people want this." People want practical, sophisticated, good-for-earth clothes that last. 

So let's do this together. Sign up below to find out when Better Than Silk launches on Kickstarter.