Rapanui’s Drake-Knight Brothers Built a Clothing Business Around Reuse

Mart and Rob Drake-Knight built Rapanui around on-demand clothing production and reuse, then developed Teemill to extend the model.

Brothers Mart and Rob Drake-Knight started Rapanui on the Isle of Wight after becoming interested in clothing production’s environmental impact. Their business set out to make clothing with a more responsible supply chain and less unnecessary stock.

Rapanui’s approach centres on producing garments to order instead of relying entirely on large speculative batches. That requires close coordination between design, production and fulfillment.

The founders developed Teemill, a platform that lets other brands create and sell custom clothing using a similar print-on-demand model. It turned an internal capability into a second business line.

Rapanui’s story shows that sustainability has to shape practical processes: product design, manufacturing, inventory and returns all need to support the same goal.