From an idea that popped into my mind back in Grade 5 to launching our first product – the launch of Eco Apparel has been a remarkable journey for me. I have learned so much from this experience, and I feel that it is time for me to share my journey of revolutionizing the fashion industry.

The idea first came to me in Grade 5, when I stumbled upon a YouTube video on how vegan leather is made. I was completely fascinated – the company would receive otherwise wasted mangos from a mango export company in the Netherlands and would use that as the raw material to create a sustainable textile. I thought that this could be the invention that could forever change the fashion industry, but I was wrong. The manufacturing process was expensive, and people were skeptical of calling it “vegan leather” when there wasn’t any cow skin involved in the manufacturing process. Despite all the pessimistic views on this invention, the seed of the idea for Eco Apparel started to grow in my head, as I started to think about bringing this invention to more people and the population that may not be exposed to these types of technologies.

The idea came back to me when I saw the video again in Grade 7 – the exact same video I saw in Grade 5. I started to think deeper about what I could do to bring this to life. At first, I wanted to invent another type of sustainable textile, and I even did research on what types of fiber and raw materials I could use to create sustainable textiles. However, after diving deep into the possibilities, I realized that this may not be the path for me to take as basically all the possibilities are used and they are products that you can buy from companies that produce them that have unfortunately patented them, so that means I could not produce them and make that into a business. However, after sharing my ideas and findings with a teacher, who I’d like to say is a mentor to this project, we decided to develop this project into a fashion business where I take the sustainable materials manufactured by those companies that make them and process them into clothing and sell the clothing. This idea was not particularly appealing to me back then as I thought that the world of fashion is way too crowded and the space for me to grow would be minimal. However, after considering all the pros and cons of spending the next four or five years of my life engaging in a research project that requires so much more money and time compared to starting a fashion business that would generally take less time and bring more revenue for me to use for charitable purposes, I decided to execute the idea. And the first step was to find MONEY.

The first step my team and I decided to take on the project to seek funding was to apply for the Jim Koerschen Award from the Association of China and Mongolia International Schools (ACAMIS). I was hesitant to apply for the award as I did not know if I wanted to bring the project to life yet. However, seven days before the award application deadline, our mentor notified us about the upcoming deadline, and we immediately started crafting our award application. We submitted it one day before the deadline.

Then, I saw advertisements for the Avenir business competition, and I decided to sign up. When I got into a group with one of the team members from the award application, we used Eco Apparel as our idea for the competition. We attended the competition and won the Junior division. The primary reason why I attended the competition was the fact that there was the potential for me to win the prize money, and thankfully, we received the prize money as intended.

We got the notification for the result of the Jim Koerschen award, and even though we did not win the award, the executive director of ACAMIS back then, Mr. Tom Ulmet, emailed us saying that even though we did not receive the Jim Koershen award, the committee felt that our project was very worthy of the Service Learning Grant. Thus, they presented us with the funding of the Service Learning Grant.

Right after we received those two funds, I wanted to pitch our idea to a VC and see what they thought about it. However, even though we mentioned every single unique selling point and specialty of the brand, the VC was not particularly fond of the idea and even suggested to us that we could start getting paid for working on this project even though it would be illegal. After we pitched to the investor and received his rejection, four of the six members of the team left, and the only two people that were left were Selena and I (Eco Apparel’s current team), and that made me doubt if this project was really worth doing if everyone did not want to do it with me. This is a point of the project that I would consider a lowlight, and even though I did know that there would be parts of this startup that would not be successful and would not be going as planned, I was not ready to receive such a result for an idea that won two awards. However, the lesson that I learned here allowed me to push through the next stages of the project and made me more confident in the fact that although there will be parts of the project that people do not like, I am the one who carries it out and makes it a success; it will be a rewarding journey regardless.

With those two funds in hand, my team and I got started on executing the project. We began to discuss the design and negotiated with the manufacturer if we could purchase an order that is below their minimum order quantity, and thankfully, they said yes. We then were able to have our design manufactured and made into the product we have today!

Below is a picture of the product we launched in December of 2024 on our 小红书 account (ecoapparel), and we hope you can support us on our journey!

WeChat Official Account: Eco Apparel

Images: Avenir Photographers, Margaret Yang, Pexels

The eighth iteration of the Avenir contest organised by Beijing City International School (BCIS) came to a heady conclusion after 11 teams pitched their business ideas to mentors and judges the weekend of April 20-21. The competition saw the involvement of Beijing’s top international schools including the British School of Beijing (BSB Shunyi) as well as BCIS students. In the end, Team Businesslike Grasshoppers clinched first place in the Senior Division with their pitch of putting together a new drone prototype to safely and efficiently deliver takeout, while Team Eco Apparel took first place in the Junior Division.

Jingkids International spoke with the Junior Division winning teams Eco Apparel’s members Selena Liu and Margaret Yang, second place Team Hare (members Eva Jin, Rita Jiang, Amy Zhai and Helen Xu) as well as Anna Fu from Senior Division runner-up Team VMAX to glean their insights and share their advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Q: How does it feel to win Avenir 2024? 

Selena: Among the overwhelming emotions that barged into my mind when winning Avenir, I believe the excitement, motivation, and sense of relief stood out the most. The award was a powerful recognition of our efforts in this journey, and made us feel more encouraged and faithful to continue to this project and pursue entrepreneurial activities in the future. 

Q: What do you think led you to your victory?

Amy: Throughout the entire preparation process, the team was super dedicated to developing our business plan and pitch. Although there are imperfections, the effort and confidence we showed is something that led to our success. Particularly, I am extremely proud of our prototype because, even though it isn’t necessarily “good looking”, the completion of the final prototype made the time and effort we devoted to it worthwhile. I am also incredibly thankful for our two mentors, who gave us numerous helpful feedback and made our pitch more structured and logical.

Margaret: This victory was influenced by a lot of factors, and one of the biggest is the countless times Selena and I practiced our pitch. The week prior to the compeititon, we met up 3 times and practiced the pitch 2-3 times each time and worked on our business plan during those times as well. It is our dedication and teamwork that led to the victory of our team.

Selena: I believe it is the dedication, passion, and knowledge we had towards our project that allowed us to stand out among competing teams. Overall, our team was highly meticulous regarding all aspects in the business – from finance details, marketing strategies, and competitive positioning, we ensured that we had a thorough understanding about our business and had the ability to explain and justify all the choices we made in the process, which directly comes from continuous research and discussion with our mentor. Furthermore, I believe that one of our team’s highlight is the business presentation. We were able to display our authentic samples of our product and showed high passions and confidence towards our product during the pitch, which created a positive impression on our audience and judges.

Q: What are your most valuable lessons from the whole experience?

Rita: The most profound lesson gleaned from this experience is the imperative of harnessing knowledge to effect tangible change in the world. Throughout the journey of developing our business, we learned to prioritize addressing the genuine needs of society rather than only conceptualizing theoretical ideas. This directs us towards designing a product that could genuinely make contribution to society.

Anna: I think an important lesson I learned is having a good mindset. I had a better mentality during this year’s competition than last time because I viewed it more as an opportunity to appreciate and learn from other people’s business ideas, and there wasn’t an immense amount of pressure. I also realized that the purpose of the pitch is simply to showcase the idea that we worked for the past few weeks to others, and it shouldn’t be overly stressed over.

Selena: Thriving to be as resourceful as possible, and never be afraid to ask questions, research, and communication is one of the main takeaways I got from Avenir. During the process, our group encountered many business and financial concepts that were unfamiliar with – such as cashflow statement, runway, profit margin, and equity share – which made us feel anxious at first. Still, we demonstrated strong inquiry skills and proactively reached out to a range of sources we had access to, including our mentors, teachers, business supplier (like GRNTEX) and other relevant field professionals that were willing to share their insights. Learning about novel business concepts and models and directly applying them into our entrepreneurship idea is certainly a challenge. However, through overcoming this challenge, we were able to achieve substantial growth as a business learner, and enhanced our prepardness in the entire competition.

Q: What advice would you give to those who are thinking of participating in next year’s Avenir?

Eva: For those considering participating in next year’s Avenir, I advise to embrace the inevitable nervousness that comes with such an event. It is essential to approach the competition with a mindset of continuous learning and growth. Seek feedback from mentors and teammates, andremain open to making necessary adjustments. Remember that collaboration and effective teamwork are key to achieving success in this competition.

Margaret: I would say to practice your pitch as much as possible with your team and choose a business idea that you are truly passionate about as that would lead to exceptional teamwork and dedication throughout the whole process of preparation and when performing. Try not to get distracted by other team’s performances as that can really affect your confidence, so just try your best for the entire process!

Images: Courtesy of BCIS 

KEEP READING: Avenir Business Competition Sees International Participation for First Time

Established in 2017 by two seniors at Beijing City International School (BCIS), Avenir is a business competition designed to encourage high school and middle school students worldwide to develop pioneering business plans. The competition was created to enhance the participants’ skills in entrepreneurship, social enterprise thinking, positive networking, and receiving critical feedback from business professionals, experts, and other global student teams. The aim of the competition is for students to work together for the good of all and for the sustainable development of the world.

Registration for the 2023 Avenir Business Competition is underway.

Important dates to remember:
The competition will be held at BCIS Main Campus on Apr 22-23.

Cost:
RMB 260 for early bird registration
RMB 360 for regular registration

Rules:
Each Avenir submission and presentation represents an original work that has been created by a team of two to four students from Grades 8 to 12. There is no limit to the number of teams that can enter the competition from the same school.

Registration is open now for any teams that wish to register for Avenir 2023, and confirmation of your participation in the competition will be sent after review of your Registration Survey, which can be filled out via the link below:

This year’s Avenir competition is also currently looking for sponsors, speakers, mentors, and judges. Please email Avenir at avenir@bcis.cn and erica.wang@bcis.cn for more information.

Images: Avenir

KEEP READING: BCIS Hosts Fourth Annual Avenir Business Competition