We had the good fortune of connecting with Kathleen Sheppard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kathleen, how does your business help the community?
Tiller Swim is a sustainable swimwear and apparel brand creating high quality, versatile swimwear made from earth-friendly materials. We operate on the mission to consistently be evolving our sustainability journey by innovating the types of materials we use, empowering people at ever stage of our supply chain and closing the loop in our processes.

With our Summer 2021 collection, we’ve launched with a line of products made in our home base of Los Angeles with a new fabric that is engineered to break down when disposed of in a landfill.This is one of the first instances of this technology in performance fabrics and is a huge step in the right direction for closing the loop in swim and activewear, an industry that uses mainly manmade materials that are created using petroleum and plastic based threads. Previously, our first two collections were created using repurposed materials from ocean plastics and post-consumer waste such as abandoned fishing nets, commercial rugs and plastic bottles that would otherwise stay polluting our oceans or end up in a landfill.

Additionally, we have launched an upcycling program that accepts any apparel or swimwear made from performance/spandex materials in order to create new products from existing garments and breathe new life into what would be disposed of otherwise.

We hope to continue our sustainability journey by prioritizing ethical processes in everything we create, creating multi-wear pieces that stand the test of time and innovating the materials we use to continue educating our community about sustainability in fashion and doing our part as a consumer business.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Tiller is operating with people & planet at the forefront of everything we do, which is a bit backwards from regular businesses starting who are looking strictly at the numbers and growth. We want to make sure that we are locking down our initiatives and following through with our goals before moving into the next stages and evolutions of the business. It is absolutely not easy starting a business! I am still learning every single day, sacrificing a lot and investing personal time, money and energy to make the vision a reality. The best advice I can give is to take everything one step at a time and keep making moves forward. No matter how big or small, continuing to push in the right direction is better than staying stagnant any day. There are going to be challenges, that is inevitable, but I try to not sweat the small stuff (and even the big stuff!) because worrying and getting worked up over problems will not ultimately help my business succeed.

The challenge is all worth it because our greater mission and actions are going to help the way consumers think about their habits and will hopefully contribute to changing the way that this industry operates!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’re based in Venice so are West Side lovers through and through! Some of our go-to activities when people visit are hikes, beach days and exploring. My favorite hikes are Tuna Canyon in Topanga and Solstice Canyon in Malibu and favorite beaches are Carbon Beach, Broad Beach or Surfrider. Some of my favorite restaurants to bring visitors close to home are Elephante, Dudley Market, Piccolo or Barrique. For a bit of a drive up to Malibu, Nobu is an obvious answer, but Geoffrey’s is also awesome for views and great food.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Tiller would not be where it is without the support of family, friends and acquaintances that believed in our mission from the beginning. We launched Tiller with a Kickstarter campaign in 2019 which is the definition of going in blind. If it wasn’t for our community rallying behind our idea, we would never have received the funding necessary for the first collection.

At this stage, I’m so grateful for the continued support from my friends and family, but also for my team (and previous team) of fabulous interns who help to keep our ideas fresh and exciting. They have made such an impact on how this brand operates, particularly since before them I was a team of one running the ship. I can’t wait to eventually grow the brand to a place where we can have a full-time team!

Website: tillerswim.com

Instagram: @tillerswim

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/35641747/admin/

Image Credits
Kathleen Sheppard Alex Sheppard Valeria Sarto

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