What are your sustainable priorities for it?
Working with all the leftovers appropriating fabrics that come from overstock, vintage collections and factory waste.
How has your eco strategy developed as you have grown?
I looked into the developments of eco fabrics, but they either didn’t excite me or I realised that they often weren’t as harmless to the environment as they seemed. I realised there are many unresolved issues with ‘sustainable’ or ‘eco’ fabrics. Supposedly ‘kosher’ alternatives like the very popular ‘fake fur’ are not exactly the most environmentally friendly (probably more damaging in the long run than the original fur …). For us the only real sustainable way was to work with materials that already exist.
In addition I am currently working with an Indian fabric company to create exciting weaves with recycled and leftover yarns.
How challenging has it been to maintain your eco principles?
Sustainability is hard to sustain. Clothes in general are a difficult sell for most luxury brands. Our focus is to keep our product offering exclusive and focused. We work with what we can find to create one of a kind or limited edition pieces.
It is hard to fit in the current fashion system that requires constant newness and multiple collections a year. The overhead for producing small quantities is huge, so it is challenging to make a profit wholesaling to retailers and remaining sustainable.
We see potential in cooperating on creating products with all kinds of brands that have issues with leftover stock and materials; trying to find creative solutions for their leftovers, while at the same time reaching out to new target groups.