Hidden Gems: Meet Benedict Barrett of Togetherland

Today we’d like to introduce you to Benedict Barrett.

Hi Benedict, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Really, my creative journey began as a child, learning and aspiring to be like my cool older brother Owen. He has an amazing ear and eye for creativity, and cool stuff found its way to me artistically. As an example, he camped outside of Tower Records in Torrance for Grateful Dead tickets while in 8th grade, so as a 5th grader, I found myself staring up at Jerry Garcia from the 3rd row at the LA Sports Arena, experiencing that whole music and the entire subculture where kids my age were making and selling french bread pizzas, essentially little entrepreneurs…

As a teen, I developed a love of photography, which historically is a collision of technology/science and creativity that encapsulates culture at a point in time. I was lucky enough to learn classic darkroom techniques and rules, which allowed me later in my studies to break those rules faster when digital was clearly the future.

So in the 2000s as “visual culture”, technology, the internet, and social media all these things started delineating. I ran my own small printing and digitizing studio when I met my love Lily Chehrazi, who literally told me after seeing some wallpapers I was working on she says “This needs to be textiles, I am going to make clothing from this.”

Fast forward, and our company Togetherland is a sustainable clothing business that makes and prints “hyperreal” or photorealistic clothing for our own brand, but we also use our Los Angeles manufacturing system for other artists, brands, and musicians who want sustainably and ethically made clothing.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been a really fun road! We have maybe taken the back roads or even gone off-roading, you might say to sort of create our own lane where we haven’t followed that path of traditional fashion or clothing company, so it’s been an interesting road, complete with detours, roadblocks, flat tires, you name it.

No matter what a struggle or problem creates, it’s important to use it as a learning opportunity…Oftentimes if you get lost, you find yourself on a new or better road, and that needs to be appreciated.

I wish all of those “struggles” were only fun metaphors in the moment but with time, they are all just “taking a more scenic route” if you frame it as such.

We’ve been impressed with Togetherland, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Togetherland is a sustainable business. We make our own clothing collections as well we curate and manufacture for a range of other creative companies, whether it’s selling clothing or building digital communities.

Togetherland uses sustainable materials, high-tech printing, and manufacturing processes that cut out a lot of redundancies/middlemen. Having built a local Los Angeles platform, we have the speed and flexibility to deliver superior products that are actually ethical, sustainable, and better than our fast fashion foreign and shadowy corporate competitors.

For instance, we are the North American partners for iconic natural world programs for BBC Earth and helped the Grateful Dead clothing program represent their environmental impact in their products as opposed to selling fast fashion.

Beyond clothing, we have unique expertise in being a digitally native company, where we can take the experience of being both a direct-to-consumer and B2B business for large partners or whole industries like “the music biz” and open doors in new ways. Like how do immersive experiences and VIP concert tickets open up 24/7/365 inbound data streams for artists to build a deeper connection with their audiences profitably?

I am really proud that our company over the last decade, has made a hopefully lasting pivot for the clothing and entertainment industry to become less harsh on the planet and to be in service to all our partners dedicated to creating a better world.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I may be biased, but Lily Chehrazi is a creative genius and the heart and soul of Togetherland.

Billy and Aimee Kreutzmann metaphorically for pulling Together into the world of sustainable music merchandising.

Jennifer Justice is an entertainment business legend, and as the only other co-owner of Together besides Lily and I gives the best advice and support when we need it on how to build a business our own way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Togetherland.earth
• Instagram: @Togetherland.earth

Image Credits
All Images credit of Together, Inc.