Launching Innovations speaker Lily Scalf joined an Entrepreneurship and Innovation course on Oct. 19 and invited guests to learn about her sustainable dye company, Foraged Roots Apothecary
Growing up, Scalf loved to color and illustrate. As she got older, Scalf directed this passion into creating a sustainable brand that veers away from fast fashion.
With a background in fashion design, Scalf got a close look into the fashion industry at the beginning of her career.
“Within six months, I had my first 12-piece collection that I showcased in my first runway called Midwest Fashion Week,” Scalf said. “Within the next six years, I showcased at seven different fashion shows.”
Scalf showcased her work at Paris Fashion Week and Phoenix Fashion Week, where she styled models and was able to learn even more about the industry.
Though Scalf has always been into fashion, she didn’t have an interest in sustainability until years later when she was hospitalized.
While on a trip to Michigan with her mom and two kids, Scalf became very sick and went into septic shock, resulting in a four-day-long hospital stay.
When doctors told Scalf that she had to be on antibiotics for the rest of her life, she refused.
“This is going to cause much more problems than it’s going to help,” Scalf said. “With that happening, I thought there has to be something that is more suitable and all natural that can help me.”
After researching, Scalf found that oregano oil is an all-natural antibiotic. Within six months of taking the oil, her health improved.
With a newly all-natural lifestyle routine, Scalf reflected on her career and wondered what she could do to make fashion more sustainable.
“I continued to go down that rabbit hole and take in everything that I learned from fashion and runway shows, from the business aspects that I have learned,” Scalf said.
Testing out different fruits and objects found in nature, Scalf began creating different colors of all natural dyes and eventually created a natural dye kit for kids.
Scalf used Brave Launch, a virtual business accelerator program that promotes the growth of innovations and businesses, to get into another program, gBETA, which helps entrepreneurs pitch ideas to investors.
Scalf wanted to use these kits to help kids learn about sustainability. The education happens through different box themes such as the artist, the gardener, the scientist and wilderness warrior.
Through creating their own dye and seeing the natural process, Scalf hopes that people of all ages will improve their problem solving and life skills, creativity, confidence and more.
Scalf explained that the upcoming additions to her business would be creating a monthly subscription for different dye kit packages.
The price is $30 for a one month subscription box, $26 per month for six months and $22 per month for 12 months.
Foraged Roots Apothecary works in District 150 to bring dye kits to students and teach them the importance of sustainability.
Scalf showed the class a folding method called the shibori technique that she learned from a colleague at Phoenix Fashion Week.
Folding pieces of all sustainable fiber into different patterns, Scalf showed the class what a finished product would look like. She opened a steel pot to reveal a purple-and-white-dyed cloth that she let sit during the duration of the presentation.
To conclude the event, Scalf gave tips on how to start your own business and encouraged the class to follow their passions.
“Your business will grow faster based off of the connections that you make … continue doing what you love,” Scalf said.
