Boxers or Creative Briefs with Eleanor Turner of The Big Favorite and Argent Brandsplaining

This episode is a panty dropper. Oh man we are already sorry for writing that line BUT we promise it sorta makes sense given that today’s episode is all about underwear. And even wilder: recycled underwear. Keep your pants on while we explain: this week we spoke with Eleanor Turner, the founder and CEO of The Big Favorite, which is a company making super soft and circular understuffs (their brilliantly coined term for undershirts and underwear) for men and women. They are an innovative, thoughtful, and offbeat brand with an incredible mission to put a dent in the 11 million pounds of understuffs that go into landfills and incinerators every day. EVERY DAY, YOU GUYS. To use their great slogan: The Big Favorite goes places, just not in the trash. 

The Big Favorite is new to market but already making a big splash—being worn by the likes of Nicole Richie and featured in Vogue and Marie Claire among others.  Eleanor herself is a heavy hitter in the fashion design world, with iconic American brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch, and J.Crew on her resume. She also co-founded the direct-to-consumer company, Argent, where she innovated workwear with four patents pending and dressed trailblazing women like Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Glossier's Emily Weiss, and actress, Awkwafina, among others. 

We got to hear about how The Big Favorite was formerly a cotton workwear brand led by her great grandfather in the 30s and how she revived it using a lot of the original heart and story and adding in quirkiness, fun, humor, and intention.

Beyond the amazing backstory and mission, we gabbed about:
How undergarments are the one apparel category you can’t donate or resell. And how The Big Favorite is changing that with their zero-waste, plastic-free, circular, understuffs. The genius process of how TBF is recycling their own textiles How Eleanor created a Brand Personality and tone of voice for TBF that deviates from the sustainable fashion industry status quo and how that has impacted everyone from the models on her photoshoots to consumers. The eventual plan for these products to be carried at corner stores so that good quality can meet convenience. The creative strategy for people to experience joy when they interact with the brand.  The importance and payoff of taking risks with your branding. Not shying away from the funny/weird sides of your business  Eleanor’s mission to conquer textile waste, get her hands dirty cleaning up the planet...and have a blast doing it. Her time as the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Argent We also play a rousing game of Mascot Who? and riff on slogans that would convince party-going teens to ‘responsibly rage’ and recycle their beer cans. We know you’ll laugh and learn as much as we did, and for more from The Big Favorite you can check them out at thebigfavorite.com (there is a Thong Song/Sisqo joke waiting for you on the homepage. bless), on Facebook and Instagram @thebigfavorite on Twitter @the_bigfavorite and on Reddit at u/greatgrandaddyturner