Cameron Saul
Cameron Saul set up the social enterprise Bottletop, focusing on addressing sexual health issues amongst young people, using the mediums of fashion and music to raise awareness and funds . The Bottletop bag, made and marketed in partnership with Mulberry, marked the meeting of recycled waste with high fashion and emerged as a landmark non-profit product in the notoriously fickle fashion industry.Bottletop is really something that has evolved. I believed passionately in the importance of sexual health education having worked in Uganda for nine months when I was eighteen. Bottletop combines my beliefs with exciting products and events in order to raise money and awareness.
Why did you choose the fashion industry as a way of raising awareness of sexual health issues in Africa?
Fashion is one of the most exciting industries in the world! I was working for Mulberry whilst at university, and they got behind the idea of Bottletop, so it seemed like the ideal platform to engage people about the issues we were trying to highlight whilst fund-raising at the same time.
The fashion industry was extremely vocal in the eighties in terms of raising awareness of HIV/AIDS and yet collectively it didn’t appear to be pushing the message anymore, despite the severity of the global situation. AIDS, it seemed, had gone out of fashion and we saw it as an opportunity to push it right back on the agenda.
How easy was it working with a major fashion house like Mulberry on the Bottletop campaign?
Mulberry immediately saw the opportunity behind the campaign. At the heart of everything was a cause that they as a company could believe in - sexual health education – and tied to that cause was the unique and ultra fashionable Mulberry Bottletop handbag, which became the best selling bag of the season. Mulberry had an inspiriational CEO and Founder, Roger Saul, who completely grasped and developed the idea; they threw everything behind the campaign and we drew on everything they had, from the design and PR teams to their international sales distribution network. They truly believed in what we were setting out to achieve and the impact that we were aiming to have on the ground, through the education projects Bottletop supports. In return, they benefited enormously as a brand. They generated more positive publicity on the Mulberry Bottletop bag and campaign than on ANY other marketing campaign they had ever invested in. We reached every major publication from Glamour to Vogue in most European countries and many publications through to Africa and the far-east. No major fashion brands had made such a bold statement in terms of a social cause and although they did not profit directly from the campaign , they benefited considerably, which is also what made it a successful template to repeat.
What would you change about the fashion industry if you could?
I would make it less ‘dog eat dog!’ It’s such a competitive industry…much like the charity industry strangely enough, in that everyone is fighting for the last pennies from their target market, and as a result it is hard and fast but without the positive social outcome that the charity industry is based on. I would change the mindsets of key figures in the industry to enable them to fully engage with the opportunity to have a positive impact, in much the way that Mulberry did with us. Most don’t see that it can help them achieve their own objectives as brands, although there is a growing awareness of the need for change.
How important do you think networks are to helping young people develop their ideas and education?
Networks have been the reason that Bottletop has sustained itself and grown from being an idea to a brand over the past five years. Through a combination of wearing our hearts on our sleeves, knowing our stuff and through being doggedly determined as a team to make things work, we have generated contacts and networks of supporters to help us achieve our fund-raising strategies and develop our products. Networks are crucial, but you also need the ideas and the passion to generate the networks in the first place, so they go very much hand in hand. Having had the support of key industry figureheads and advice from seasoned professionals, has without doubt been the reason that we have succeeded thus far, despite being a young inexperienced team. Always seek council!!!
What would your advice be to a young person wanting to set up a fashion focused social enterprise?
I would say that if you have the passion and enthusiasm then go for it! I think following on from my last point, it’s crucial that young
entrepreneurs have people they can use as sounding boards for their ideas. I’m very lucky and have had support throughout, from my parents and several others; it saves you wasting an enormous amount of time and energy. That said you will generate interest and support from the most unlikely sources so the important thing is to learn through trial and error and to be upfront with yourself and others when you get it wrong. Give yourself a pat on the back when it works out and try to develop and build on the lessons you learn along the way. As I said before, fashion is one of the most exciting, not to mention fickle, industries in the world; it will be hard work but if your ideas are good enough and the link to your social project is clear and inspiring, then you have every chance of making it fly.
Bottletop launches it’s new ‘Sound Affects Brazil ‘ campaign featuring the new T-shirt design and ring-pull Bottletop handbag on the 21st November. Please visit www.bottletop.org.uk for more info.
