Lauren Bush Lauren meshes style with heart
Written by Anais Corrales
Photo by Kristopher Dobbins
She walked in with a giggle; a simple cut t-shirt and flouncy black skirt swished onto stage. She toted one of her FEED clutches. Sitting daintily and poised on the stage of the Trustees Theatre as an honored guest of SCADstyle, Lauren Bush Lauren struck an unassuming figure.
The 5’ 6” blonde has a colorful history that crosses lines between fashion, modeling and philanthropy. Fortune Magazine featured her in “Most Powerful Entrepreneurs” in 2009.
Lauren has a contract with Elite Model Management, the same organization that represents the winners of “America’s Next Top Model,” and has appeared on covers of Vogue and Vanity Fair. She admitted that she didn’t love her time as a model, but rather used her experience to create connections in the fashion industry.
She is the niece of former President George W. Bush and is married to the son of designer Ralph Lauren. She caught the design bug in 2008 when she released her line, “Lauren Pierce.”
In 2007, Lauren launched FEED, a social business that develops products that feed people around the world.
Lauren studied anthropology when she was in college and jumped at the opportunity to visit Guatemala with the World Food Program in 2003. Somewhere between boarding and exiting the plane, she felt a need to do something. And the FEEDbag was born.
“It would feel weird to me if it was this bedazzled bag that was used to feed people. So, I modeled it after the food ration bags I saw in all these different countries. It’s rugged, sturdy, utilitarian.”
Lauren didn’t experience success right away. After spending copious amounts of time and effort branding and creating the first prototype, Lauren’s project came to a standstill. She graduated from college jobless, but with hope that she could make FEED happen. A year later Lauren connected with Amazon. A retailer bought the first 500 bags, cementing FEED’s presence on fashion and entrepreneurial radars.
The burlap bag quickly became a must-have accessory. It sold out on Amazon in its first run and quickly found its way into Target stores as their first socially conscious collaboration. The FEEDbag then expanded into an array of products: book bags, artisan tote bags, leather goods and waxed canvas messengers are all a part of the FEED product line.
The goals of FEED are straightforward; every bag sold gives a child in need enough meals for an entire school year. Lauren used her interest in fashion and design to create a product with impact.
FEED doesn’t operate under the guise of using people’s misfortunes for financial gain. In the same vein as TOMS, Lauren’s business sprouted from a need to give back to people who have so little.
One of Lauren’s favorite words is “goodness.” Lauren strives for her company to operate under transparency and goodwill. Her goal for FEED is for the company to go out of business. She said she’s working toward the day when her cause is no longer needed.
“I love what I do,” she said, “the greatest joy is seeing someone on the subway wearing a FEED bag.”
It has been eight and a half years since the creation of the FEEDbag, and the product is showing no signs of slowing down. FEED is planning to collaborate with the Honest Company for Mother’s Day. Lauren Bush Lauren may perhaps be the definition of style with heart.
