The red thread that brings it all together - an origin story by Craig Vanderoef

If you’re a player in the industry then you may already be well-versed with the ‘red thread’ theory. It is seminal to the creative process & modern marketing vernacular but how has it become tied in with transparency?

July 13th, 2021

Written by Craig Vanderoef | Director of Customization Strategy at Vans

If you have been in a pitch meeting in the last five years (or perhaps the last fifty) someone in the room will bring up the red thread. Either the team pitching will say something about the red thread that brings it all together and how important that is to the success of the campaign, or those being pitched will ask how it all comes together, ‘what is the red thread?’ 

The theoretical red thread is seminal to the creative process and therefore our modern marketing and product creation vernacular, but I find very few people know its origin. In case you skipped Greek mythology, the ball of red thread was gifted to Theseus by Ariadne to help him escape the labyrinth after facing the Minotaur. The thread marked a path out of the greatest maze one might ever encounter, that was protected by the fiercest monster one might face and was the salvation of the hero. Yup, fibre has been the secret to great solutions since ancient history; it’s the stuff of myths and legends.  

Those myths come to life today as the fibres we spin are knitted and woven into the fabrics and garments that improve the lives and experiences of consumers. Fibres matter and if you ever had an itchy wool school sweater as a kid, run a marathon in cotton tee, or gone to dinner in a polyester tee, you too know that fact and probably won’t ever forget how the wrong fibre let you down. The wool choice for those sweaters scarred a generation around wool and boomers have been slow to acknowledge the inherent comfort and performance of extra fine Merino base layers as a result. Those that have run long in cotton tees and ended up chaffed because their fibre was built to absorb moisture not move it have embraced technical fibres, but cannot figure out why their polyester tee stinks so much when they wear it in public. As we better understand the situational needs of the body, we learn more and more about the importance of starting with the right thread. Alternatively, the puzzle of human performance and comfort is an ever-changing labyrinth and just like Theseus, our successful navigation begins with the right thread choice. 

However, we no longer live in ancient times. As consumers become more educated around the apparel industry’s impact on environmental and social issues, we are called to be more transparent about the process and origin of our fibres.  

Choosing the right fibre is no longer based on performance alone; we need to authenticate that fibre’s origin and journey. We are seeing brands like Everlane build loyalty by offering their consumers “radical transparency”. Everlane shares their costs, promises premium fabrics, and ethical factories, but how does the consumer know this with 100% certainty? According to their website the material cost of their cashmere crew is $26.65 which is good to know, but what about the goats? An educated consumer wants to know if the cashmere goat was first raised ethically and treated well through the process.  It is no longer good enough just to tell consumers how you plan to be more sustainable or ethical in your process, they want a means to be sure that the fibre’s path lived up to their expectations and standards. Similarly, Nike and Adidas have promised recycled polyester to be the cornerstone of their Tokyo Olympic offerings, recycled bottles or ocean plastics reborn for athletic performance...but how can consumers verify these claims? If we want to create trust in the performance of our innovations, we must first create trust in our process with transparency as the new red thread.  

Author: Craig Vanderoef