TALKING GREENE: AISHA ALMUNEEFI

We all need to be a little more Ecotistical

By Hamad K. AlKhudher

Talking Greene is a series of discussions centered on the idea of sustainability in Kuwait, the group leading this movement, and locating tools to assist the general public in making wiser decisions. As a business owner in the same industry, I believe it is my responsibility to promote local organizations and individuals working to change the way we shop for goods and to increase environmental consciousness both domestically and abroad.

In this month’s interview, we got to know more about Ecotistical and the woman behind the brand, Aisha AlMuneefi. After working in the financial and investments sector in Kuwait for 18 years, her passion with fashion has led her to venture a different path to dig deep into the that industry. Upon so, she managed to find out how harmful many fashionable brands are to the environment. In correlation to her love of being sustainable, she decided to put the two passions together and establish her online store, Ecotistical. Ecotistical is an online boutique providing a curated selection of sustainable and ethically produced fashion and lifestyle items.

Tell us more about the your brand Ecotistical. It started purely as a personal quest to be more environmentally conscious myself. I love fashion and have always loved expressing myself through my clothes and style however finding out about the fashion industry’s devastating impact on the planet and the people involved in its production made me look for brands that are responsible and are aligned with my own personal values.

Ecotistical initially started as an idea for me to find sustainable brands that I would love to wear. Being passionate about fashion for a long time and as a way to express myself, I realized how much that industry has an impact on people and the environment, such as well-known fashion that produce fast fashion items using cheap labor and harmful materials. After doing extensive research to properly find sustainable brands, that helped me understand more the value of smaller brands because of the effort they invest in to produce their clothing items.

So the idea was also stemmed from your own personal values and you wanted to be able to use Ecotistical as means of spreading these environmental values.

Absolutely, it was a 100% personal thing and in doing so I realized that it is not easy and requires time and research to find clean and ethical brands. Greenwashing is everywhere and is sometimes hard to navigate. So, to make things a little easier for others to be able to have a more sustainable and ethical wardrobe the idea of Ecotistical was born. Spreading awareness about the impact we have on our environment and our indirect involvement in supporting exploitive fast fashion brands by consuming their products is a main pillar of our brand. At the end of the day everything we do and consume has an impact. When you buy something you either fund an exploitive and harmful business or an ethical sustainable one. It’s a choice.

We also wanted to change the perception that sustainable fashion is boring as in only restricted to beige and neutral colors and limited styles. We want to show that sustainable clothing is actually fun creative and colorful. And most importantly that it is here and it exists and that change is actually possible and within reach.

Absolutely, it is 100% a personal thing. I wanted to align these values within the ethos of the brand. Hopefully by doing so, people who are exposed to the brands and its values would be able to adapt such values in their lives with it comes to sustainability and being environmentally conscious. Doing the research to find the right brands was very hard because they were not very easy to find at first. Being in contact with them and finding out about how they resource their materials also benefits to how they are actually sustainable, whether they’re using minimum to no plastic materials in their clothing or outsourcing organic cotton.

What worries me with some brands is the concept of greenwashing and that’s what scares me. As a human being with such a passion when it comes to my values as I mentioned, I choose not to associate myself with such brands whatsoever. Hence, it is important to do the research before getting any brands onto Ecotistical’s platform. There were also some trials and errors I had to do with some of the brands to make sure it fits the target audience here, as well as testing the materials used in some of brands’ products they sell.

What’s the idea behind the name Ecotistical?

It is derived from the word Egotistical which is an adjective describing someone who is self-involved and solely interested in their own personal benefit and nothing else. Replacing the ego with eco which is the opposite of that we came up with the word Ecotistical to describe a state of thinking about everything and everyone else as a driver of your own wellbeing. We are connected after all. To each other and to our environment.

The name is derived from the word “Egotistical”. Egotistical in general means when someone is just thinking about themselves and nothing else; only saying yes to their own benefit, happiness, self, therefore being also selfish. When I was thinking about what to name the brand, I wanted to think about not just ourselves, but the environment and others as well. That’s when I came up with the name Ecotistical and substituted the Ego with Eco instead. I wanted to use a name that’s the total opposite of being selfish and boring. Many people also think that sustainable and eco-friendly brands is all about being beige and neutral colors, without any fun or colorful designs. Hence, I went forwarded to change that idea and using as many colors as I can on our social media platforms and website to show people that such brands can be fun, colorful, and lively.

Many people have the association that sustainable brands are priced higher than other brands, what’s your intake on this theory?

This is the second misconception we wanted to refute. Not all brands that are sustainable and eco-friendly are expensive. In fact, many are quite affordable and last much longer than the slightly cheaper fast fashion brands that many of us know of. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of willing to invest in good quality that lasts much longer and won’t end up in a landfill. We strive to bring the most affordable brands that fit our sustainability criteria to the market.

It is similar to when organic food first entered the market decades ago; it was expensive at the beginning and the vast majority of the population couldn’t afford to a large extent. However, when more and more restaurants and food businesses joined in, the prices of such products did decrease and therefore become more affordable. This can also happen when it comes to the fashion industry when it comes to buying sustainably sourced clothing items.

Do you think that with the launch of Ecotistical, you were able to discover more sustainable brands, both locally and internationally?

For sure. I was able to meet and develop great business and personal connections with many of our vendors. It’s such a great experience to meet such inspiring entrepreneurs and witness the effort and passion they put it to change the industry. I am very proud to promote amazing local Kuwaiti brands that are spearheading the change as well.

This helped me understand the value of the brands more and hence using Ecotistical to share and support such values that the other brands follow. I felt that I was also able to create a community somehow with like-minded individuals who share the same passions. I am also proud of other brands locally in Kuwait that have amazing products that I do also carry in Ecotistical’s platform. As a community, we all can create change in a much bigger and stronger scale hopefully because of the shared values we all have in common, which is the way it should be. Such a community ranges from different age groups and nationalities and that by itself is very interesting.

On the subject of sustainable brands, what are some of your favorite brands when it comes to the fashion and lifestyle industry?

That’s a hard question as I love all our brands and they are all special in their own way.

However, if I were asked to single one out it would be Mayaeco – a local Kuwaiti sustainable and ethical fashion brand that fits every single one of our sustainability criteria.

What

goals do you have in mind for the future with the work that you do?

Our main goal is to be a catalyst for change in the way our community consumes. This will continue to change and look different as we continue to learn and grow and find new ways to be more mindful in all aspects of our lives.

More awareness, involvement within the industry, and for sure to learn more about the industry in different aspects. I feel like we always continue to learn as we grow and be doing so, we can also benefit our environment when it comes to such involvements.

For more information: Check out Ecostistical at @ecotisticalme and shop on their website www.ecostisticalme.com