From “Pretty Little Liars” to eco-fashion pioneers, Wheat’s Huw Collins and Molly Shaheen are reimagining sustainable luxury.
Wheat, an eco-chic Los Angeles fashion label created by husband-and-wife team Huw Collins and Molly Shaheen, is renowned for its seamless blend of practicality and opulence. It has become a pioneer in eco luxury hotel retail, with collections across the Four Seasons in Lanai, Anguilla, and Los Angeles, Faraway Hotel in Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, and the Ritz Carlton Maui, among others.
Collins and Shaheen, both 38, bring varied backgrounds to Wheat; Collins is best known for his performance in ABC’s “Pretty Little Liars”, and Shaheen is the daughter of Democratic New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who has held the seat since 2009.
“So much of my love for entertainment stems from the excitement surrounding the creative process,” Collins told Ethos via email. “Expressing narratives that utilize multiple creative influences or inputs is something that has always inspired me.” Collins says it feels like with Wheat, the duo are able to work across multiple mediums and express different versions of the brand. “The design process for us is all about storytelling, and of course, with our brand focusing so strongly on the luxury traveler, we take so much inspiration from the different facets of luxury travel, it can be anything from a unique scent, to a local story, or a broader cultural specificity, but all of it is folded into what we do and we believe it produces a richer, deeper final product,” he says.
Shaheen says she’s taken inspiration from watching her mother who was New Hampshire’s governor from 1997 to 2003 before being elected to the Senate. “One of the things that has always stood out to me is the type of leader that she is with the team that surrounds her,” Shaheen says of her mother. “She has a saying that ‘the fish rots from the head down.’ That has always spoken to me as to how to create a great culture and a team of people that believe in something with much more meaning than it simply being a “job.” We’ve been really diligent about how we’ve grown our team, and one of the things we’re most proud of is how they really stand behind the brand and promote the values that we truly believe in as leaders.”
Through Wheat, Collins and Shaheen are working to redefine everyday fashion with cozy loungewear that they say is ideal whether you’re lounging at home or exploring distant locales. The brand’s commitment to sustainable luxury offers an ethical, luxury choice for the discerning traveler, promising comfort without compromise. The label’s flagship house brand, the Wheat Collection, presents an array of luxury loungewear, candles, and fragrances, all designed to enrich the travel experience or enhance moments of relaxation at home. With items priced under $150 and crafted from premium cotton in Los Angeles, the collection embodies the spirit of luxury travel, curated by founders with a rich heritage in exploration and storytelling. We caught up with Collins and Shaheen to learn more about the label, sustainable design, and how luxury travel is transforming.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Ethos: Can you share more about the sustainable practices and materials you prioritize in your production process, especially given the brand’s commitment to being made in Los Angeles?
Shaheen + Collins: We’ve been committed, first and foremost, to domestic production right from the start. We’ve always seen it as a hallmark of Wheat. We had a long look at how we could dive into the eco-conscious, sustainable elements of what we do — from bigger ticket pieces like fabrications (we work with an exceptional fabric mill in Los Angeles with some of the highest sustainability certifications in the country) to smaller facets like our hang tags or our sew-in labels (all domestically made, always out of recycled materials) – they all make a difference and they create a much more interesting story when you consider every part that makes up the sum of the whole.
Ethos: Can you speak to the need for sustainability in the fashion sector? What do you see as most critical and how do you see the industry changing in the coming years?
Shaheen + Collins: Every industry has to play its part to be sustainable and look after the planet. As we’ve evolved in our understanding of how fashion can eliminate certain practices or processes that can make a huge difference, it’s encouraging to see them being adopted throughout the industry. We’ve seen recycled materials become a lot more prominent and the advancement of technologies to transform how we make them. Probably the biggest thing that we think would make a huge difference is if more companies adopted the practice of trying to increase the domestic elements of production. We see first-hand how it is more expensive to produce domestically, but how much you gain on the front end to be able to tell a more genuine narrative as an American brand. It would be great to see more companies making efforts to do the same, knowing that in the long run, it’s going to be complementary to their overall growth rather than looking at short-term profitability.
Ethos: With The Wheat Collection being available in luxury hotel destinations such as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton, what strategies have you employed to curate unique shopping experiences that resonate with the high expectations of your clientele?
Shaheen + Collins: One of the most important facets of our brand has always been our ability to condense the special nature of each place and each hotel property, and then produce a retail experience that stems from that same well. This is always what resonates most at Wheat because we go to great lengths to find local influences to create a sense of place, whilst evoking a sense of comfort for people with brands that they’re familiar with, alongside a few as-yet-undiscovered brands that they can explore in an elevated, welcoming space. This all really helps to create a lasting memory, and a truly addictive experience whilst in one of the properties we’re in.
Ethos: How does the luxury sector factor into moving the needle on sustainability?
Shaheen + Collins: The small things really add up, and there’s no doubt the decisions of the luxury sector will have great impact on moving the needle for sustainability. We see efforts from all of our partners, be it in luxury hospitality or luxury fashion, to rid themselves of practices that we know have a harmful effect on the environment, things like single-use plastic, power production, and recycling programs. We have seen water use change dramatically across all properties we work with. At the Four Seasons Lāna’i they provide custom YETIs to each guest with water stations all over the property to refill them from, which also has a great impact on single-use plastic at the same time — these smaller acts are going to have a huge impact in the long run, because not only does it promote better practices overall, it sets a standard for how we all want to contribute to making the planet we live on a healthy and sustainable environment for all.
Ethos: As a brand that has successfully penetrated the luxury hotel retail space, what future expansions or new product lines can customers anticipate in the coming seasons?
Shaheen + Collins: We have some very exciting conversations happening at the moment, things that we can’t quite talk about yet, but they will be worth discussing when they a finalized! We are excited to be working with Auberge on a couple of properties in Napa starting in the next few months — it’s a beautiful area and the properties are truly lovely, so we’re thrilled to be starting that relationship. In terms of product, we’re looking forward to our Spring/Summer collections arriving in the next couple of weeks. There are some fun new colors and some new bodies that we think our Wheat guests will fall in love with!
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