How did an entrepreneur take to his fashion company to benefits of 2 million a year with bags made from apples and without investors

Bags made of apple skin.Sun glasses manufactured from castor oil.A backpack made with ocean recycled plastic.

Create products with unconventional materials have helped Salima Viam to convert their sustainable fashion brand, Samara, a profitable business, without the need to look for investors.

Vocram had the idea of riding the business at the end of 2017, when he realized that there was no alternative to buy a "simple, elegant and free of cruelty" bag ".That is why it was aimed to create a brand released from any kind of ethical problems that usually surround the fashion industry, such as the environmental impact of products or cruelty that some animals suffer so that articles can arrive to the shops.

"We have evolved to create apple skin items because, if you realize, most of the vegan products are made with PVC, which is extremely harmful to the environment," Vieram explains to Business Insider.

The company's intention is to facilitate financing to a second Vocram company, soular, which supplies children from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania backpacks with lights that work through solar energy so that they can do homework without consuming fossil fuels.Vocram explains that 10% of Samara's profits are allocated to solar energy.

Samara Bags began with a small budget and a production of only 10 bags.Based on customer comments, the company finally left behind the name of "Bags" in its brand and began offering dresses made from bamboo, scarves made of recycled polyester and paper notebooks with linen covers of linen.

The conversations with the clients led to Varam to initiate an endless process of experimentation to find materials that had the same feeling of luxury as the materials they were replacing, but eliminating from the equation the environmental impact and cruelty with animals.

"I was trying to make coconut skin in my kitchen," says Varamram."We tested with pineapple skin because it is quite thick.Actually, we tried a lot of different things ".

However, the pineapple skin resembled the texture of the paper, Vocram has, while the skin of the mushrooms and even the grapes did not exceed the tests.In the end, he opted for apples skin that came from leftover remains of juice production in Italy.

"It is quite shocking to discover that there are alternatives if you try to push the wheel in the right direction," says Visram, "and of course there are better ways to do certain things".

Vocram explains that Samara is profitable and has been "from day one", and since then it has grown until it becomes a company that generates 2 million dollars a year (around 1.7 million euros at the current exchange rate)In income.She attributes this achievement to the limited production series, to her small human team she carries out performs all kinds of functions and the effort to try to do everything possible within the company, without subcontracting.

"We never had the objective of manufacturing 5 productions.000 pieces, "confesses Vocram."From the beginning we focus on designing very small lots.Even now we try not to assume great productions or manufacturing series because we do not want to generate waste ".

Vocram also explains that they have reduced costs managing projects internally that normally in other similar companies would be subcontract, such as photo sessions of Samara products.

In fashion, "it has become a rule that has to spend a lotwhat can be within the company ".

Samara has a template of 4 people, including Vocram's sister, Samara, to which the brand owes her name.As in any other startup, Vocram explains that this means that each employee has to assume many roles.

"When you are young as a company, everyone in the company should know how each scope works, whether creative, operations or customer service," says Visram."I think that all members of our team have dedicated themselves in one way or another to customer service".

Samara currently gets her factories from all over the world, but Vocram plans that the company also in the manufacturing game.He is currently in the process of establishing an "innovation laboratory" in Kenya, where he grew up, to study the manufacture of materials such as vegetable skins and nylon substitute.

Vocram does not see external investors in the immediate future of Samara, unless the company enters the retail world or has the opportunity to expand quickly.In addition, he explains that he has heard too many horror stories from friends from the world of startups who resigned from the control of their companies to access financing.

"It is many times growth at all costs," Critica Vocram criticizes."In our case, we want to be consistent, and at the same time, while we grow up, we want to make sure we are causing impact.".