Jason Grullón is the cofounder of Virtu, a sustainable fashion brand that produces most of its apparel in his native Dominican Republic. Please enjoy this episode of the Crossing Borders Podcast.
Outline of This Episode
- [0:25] Who is Jason Grullón?
- [1:51] What is virtu and how does the company work to change people’s lives?
- [3:08] Why Jason’s company uses employees from a slum.
- [5:06] Meeting the demand of the Kickstarter success.
- [8:50] The difference the company is making by paying the living wage for the Dominican Republic.
- [13:04] Finding producers in Bolivia and the organic process that happened.
- [18:01] Why the company is profitable because it is socially responsible.
- [22:14] How did Jason wind up going to law school and moving into fashion?
- [26:43] The business opportunities that exist in the Dominican Republic.
- [31:51] Jason’s predictions about the D.R. economy and business climate in the future.
- [34:39] The mistakes companies make when attempting a sustainable brand.
- [41:22] The social and PR benefits of having Virtu provide business uniforms.
- [45:09] Advice Jason would give to himself if he were starting over.
- [48:52] The response Jason’s friends and family had to his business ideas.
- [52:17] Streamlining and expanding to Haiti as the company moves ahead.
Resources & People Mentioned
- http://www.virtu.rocks/ - sustainable fashion
- Startup Chile
- GroupRaise
- Episode 5 of Crossing Borders with Devin Baptiste
- Kickstarter
- Tom’s Shoes
- Unicef
- U.S. Aid
- Guillaume Vaslin-Reimann - Jason's business partner and cofounder of Virtu
- Fabrice Grinda - Entrepreneur/Investor with tech team in Dominican Republic
- Instacarro - Brazilian startup with Dominican Republic tech team
Connect With Nathan
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