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Eco Heroes: Rob and Mart Drake-Knight

Sally Hill | 21.09.10

Brothers Rob (left) and Mart (right) Drake-Knight set up eco fashion label Rapanui in 2008 with £200 worth of savings, inspired by surfing and the changing environment on the Isle of Wight.

Despite humble beginnings, their success began almost instantly and the accolades have rolled in including a listing in the Top 100 Startups of 2008, the Future 100 List of Top young Entrepreneurs, and in May this year Rapanui became the youngest company to ever win of the Sustainable Business Awards.

Rapanui produces clothing that is eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable, extending to making sure the fabric that is natural, organic, Fairwear Foundation certified, and even manufactured within a wind-powered factory.

And how do we know this is the case? Rapanui's 'Supply Chain Traceability' initiative is a world first that provides complete transparency throughout every stage of the sourcing and manafucture of their products. In their words, it prompts their customers to think about 'what you're wearing, where it came from and how it was made'.

This year, the lads were asked to design a signature t-shirt for this year's Bestival so adapted their popular 'I ♥ Wight' design. With acts such as the XX, Zane Lowe and Professor Green wearing their designs, their certainly succeeding at their goal of 'making eco cool'.

Here's what they had to say for themselves.

How would you describe yourself?
23 and 25, green eyes, athletic build, GSOH, e/w, full MOT. Driven and passionate about being successful.

What is your mission?
To make a significant contribution to sustainability. Creating positive change and improving people’s lives through Rapanui, from the people who plant the seeds of our cotton right through to our staff on the Island and our customers.

What do you care most passionately about?
Rapanui Clothing Ltd staff football team,

Why is it important that clothing is organic, ethical and sustainable?
Because if clothing is not organic, not ethical and not sustainable, the environment, the people and the product itself have no future.

What do you think is the next big challenge?
Communication. It’s not that people don’t care about sustainable fashion, it’s just they don’t know – it is impossible to see where clothing comes from and how it is made in the 21st century high street. This makes it impossible for people to shop quickly, and with a conscience, and the inconvenience of going out of your way to specialist shops to find eco-fashion items is often rewarded with a limited choice of earth-mother style garments.

What would you like to achieve in your lifetime?
To build a group of businesses as big as Virgin, but with a green logo.

What top green principles do you live by?
Think it through logically – everythings different but most stuff is simple.

What one thing do you wish everyone did?
Buy Rapanui t-shirts all day?! And use a bit of brainpower more < being confident enough to make informed choices based on good research, knowledge and intuition when shopping. It would make all the difference

How long have we got to save the planet?
2010 is a good time to get cracking.

Who is your Eco Hero?
The £ sterling. Government, public figures, celebrities and law won’t bring about sustainability. The most powerful forces in the world are market forces. We need to harness them, and make ‘eco’ part of our currency.

You can get your fill of all the Rapanui boys have to say about sustainable fashion here:

Rapanui on Facebook

Rapanui on Twitter

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rapanui, sustainable, fashion, bestival, isle of wight, surfing, transparency, traceability