Live Interview - Matthew Benjamin with Sebastian Bates: Pivoting Towards Sustainability

In this talk, Matthew will discuss how, having spent the past 10 years working in bespoke menswear, the last 3 running his own business with sustainability being a big driver, he decided to take this into school uniforms where the potential for positive impact is so much bigger.

At the moment uniforms have a huge environmental impact and aren't good for the kids wearing them, and he’s decided to make a change in that system. Covid isn't just about pivoting, it is about pivoting to business models that are going to help solve the climate crisis that we face, and he plans to take us through the steps of how his business did just that. Matthew Benjamin was born and raised in London. His father is from Guyana, and although his mother was born in the UK, her parents are from Jamaica. With a dad hailing from the Caribbean, he grew up playing cricket and the Windies are his team. He studied Advertising in the UK before going to study an MBA in Luxury Management at the International University of Monaco. His career started in London, working for the largest custom clothing company in the world, Tom James, which led him to come to Dubai, to open and run an office for them, becoming one of the youngest in the history of the company to do so. In 2017 he started Benjamin Siggers, a bespoke menswear business with sustainability at its core. As his passion for sustainability grew, so did his ambition to make more of an impact, which has resulted in him starting Kapes.