OUR HISTORY
FAIR ORGANIC FABRICS SINCE 2008
ROOTS IN KERALA, INDIA Lebenskleidung is a story of many
A year later, Enrico returned to
In Germany, Christoph Malkowski
coincidences, one that finds its
Berlin while Benjamin stayed in
and another friend joined the
genesis in the southern Indian
India for a bit longer.
team. The beginnings were humble
state of Kerala. In the year 2006 Enrico Rima and Benjamin Itter – two of the cofounders – were in India for a year, studying at the
upon a herbal dyeing unit in the
many challenges and learn along
Within a short time, they learnt
heart of Kerala. The small company
the way.
about the dire condition of the
dyed fabrics and garments using
Indian farmers. Rampant use of
ancient Ayurvedic knowledge,
The most elementary was to find
poisonous pesticides (most of
leaving no environmental footprint
the right fabric for the bedlinen.
which are banned in Europe) along
and having a healing effect to the
with mounting financial pressures
skin.
laborated with the Appachi Cotton
pushed the farmers to suicide. The
Project in Tamil Nadu, India for the
The direct consequence of the rising global textile demand was evident. Huge quantities of cotton produced for the western market – offered at unrealistically low prices. Furthermore, there are other serious issues of contaminated rivers, effluents of chemical dyes being dumped in local lakes and exploitation of labour at the production facilities.
another we wanted to be part of the solution.”
After much research, they col-
led to serious health risks and even
among cotton farmers.
industry, we knew that one way or
With limited knowledge of the textile industry, they were sure to face
problem was particularly alarming
dous problems facing the textile
AYURVASTRA
apartment in Berlin.
Shortly thereafter, Ben chanced
Kerala University.
”As we became aware of the tremen-
and they worked out of a small
”The name ‘Lebenskleidung’ itself was derived from the Sanskrit
right fabric for the bedsheets. This firm cultivated high quality organic cotton as it should be: biodynamic, completely without pesticides and with fair and fixed purchase prices for the farmers.
and ‘Vastra’
FIRST BATCH OF ORGANIC BEDSHEETS
clothing.”
At the end of 2008, the first batch
word ‘Ayurvastra’. ‘Ayur‘ means life
Witnessing the ground reality first
of Ayurvedic bedsheets arrived in
hand, both Enrico and Benjamin
Berlin.
found themselves deeply interest-
Inspired by the simplicity of this
ed in the subject and questioning
sustainable approach, Lebens-
Very quickly, they learned that the
the very process and conditions
kleidung was founded with the idea
market was not really waiting for
under which clothes were pro-
of bedlinen as the first product.
a herbally dyed bedlinen venture.
duced.
The name Lebenskleidung itself was
However, they made an interesting
derived from the Sanskrit word
observation …
Ayurvastra. Ayur means life and Vastra clothing.
FOCUS ON ORGANIC FABRICS Many people were also interested
they were dyed naturally, they
in the plain fabrics for the sheets.
were unfortunately not yet meeting international standards. This
Soon after the Lebenskleidung team
became a major concern for many
were introduced to another herbal
customers.
dyeing unit in India. Aura Herbal Wear in Mahatma Gandhi’s own
Meanwhile, Rütli-Schule, a school
home state of Gujarat specialized
that launched a number of social
in plant dyeing and even printing.
projects in Berlin, introduced the “Made in Neukölln” project. Along
REACHING ANOTHER MILESTONE
They were able to expand their
with the fashion production com-
product portfolio to include towels
pany Common Works, they received
produce a fabric meeting highest
and, for the first time, fabrics.
requests for Global Organic Textile
quality standards.
Lebenskleidung along with Aura
cotton jersey fabrics. Utilizing
With a growing number of de-
showcased their newly curated
their established network in India,
lighted customers, the challenge
Over the years, we’ve learned a lot.”
collection at Biofach fair 2010 in
Lebenskleidung was able to deliver
now was to meet the soaring
Nuremberg. This was the first
the fabric immediately. To respond
demand of orders coming in. All
major turning point and the
to the demand effectively, Lebens-
this was still being operated from
customer response was more than
kleidung made the decision from
a small flat in Berlin, with limited
encouraging. They started working
now on to also offer certified
resources, mounting work-load,
with their first big customer for
organic cotton fabrics without
and financial constraints.
towels followed by a prominent
herbal dyeing.
”It is not that easy to sustainably
Standard (GOTS) certified organic
They approached GLS Bank, the
German retailer.
STRONG, VIBRANT COLORS
Sustainable fashion was now wit-
world’s first bank financing solely
nessing steady growth in Europe.
sustainable enterprises and
Several local designers opted to
projects, and soon Lebenskleidung
work with Lebenskleidung as a re-
was able to secure funding and
liable partner of choice.
set up a fabric warehouse, invest
Lebenskleidung ensured 100 %
in stocks and grow the portfolio
transparency, traceability, and
significantly.
handled the entire chain of logis-
In 2011, Lebenskleidung was fea-
tics. The first online shop was set
By the end of 2011, as the last
tured in an ongoing documentary
up and they started their so-called
stages of the TV documentary was
series on German television as one
collective orders in order to pre-
being shot, Lebenskleidung moved
of several promising new start-ups.
finance the fabrics as a purchasing
into their new and current premise
Exciting times were ahead.
community. It was ideal for emerg-
at Leuschnerdamm 13 in Berlin-
ing designers, allowing them to
Kreuzberg. This was indeed a huge
place orders of small quantities.
milestone.
The business slowly gained momentum with many fabric shops and designers showing great interest in the herbally dyed fabrics. These were beautiful, but since
ACTIVELY SUSTAINABLE LEBENSKLEIDUNG TODAY
To secure the supply chain from India was difficult in terms of delivery times and quality control. So Lebenskleidung searched for new partners and found them in Turkey. The product range soon grew as
Over the years, the demand for
Besides the annual certification
well: in addition to organic cotton,
Lebenskleidung’s fabrics has multi-
according to the GOTS, the found-
woolen fabrics, silks and organic
plied. From small to established
ers of Lebenskleidung are active in
linen were also included.
and premium fashion labels source
many other organizations.
their fabric from Lebenskleidung.
QUALITY ASSURANCE Collaborating with WKS Textilveredlungs-GmbH, Lebenskleidung was able to outsource the quality control aspect. With their help, it was easier to ensure that all fabrics met internationally recognized
Enrico is a member of the board of
”Quality does not
directors of the International Association of Natural Textiles (IVN), in which Lebenskleidung is active
come easy. It is
since many years.
the result of hard
Benjamin works closely with the
work, commitment and love.”
standards.
Consortium of Green Fashion India, which promotes a sustainable textile production in India. He is a regular visiting faculty at fashion schools in India to raise awareness for eco-consciousness in fashion.
Lebenskleidung now with the ware-
The majority of the fabric pro-
house not only offered great fabric
duction was shifted to Portugal
The company is also engaged in
to its customers, but also the de-
in 2016.
the German Association for
sired flexibility in order quantities.
Sustainable Textiles, the interLebenskleidung continuously fos-
national nature textile fair INNATEX
All this while supporting a fair and
ters new partnerships with fabric
and is a member of the association
socially compliant production.
producers, with a single goal in
UnternehmensGrün.
mind: to provide high-quality fabric
”No matter if 1 m or 100 m – additionally to the production-internal quality control, each fabric that reaches us will be checked and evaluated separately in Germany on a light table. You won’t receive any faulty fabrics.”
and choice.
Lebenskleidung fabrics are now found not only in many boutiques
Active collaborations and exchang-
and collections in Europe, but also
es within the ecosystems help to
in Australia, the USA, Japan or
achieve just that.
South America.
Only the best and most innovative certified fabric reaches the Lebenskleidung warehouse.
From left to right: Christoph Malkowski, Enrico Rima and Benjamin Itter.
”Our goal is to provide high quality and ethically produced fabrics to the industry. But our efforts would be futile without all the dedicated designers who create art, beauty and uniqueness through their work. And for this we would like to express our sincere gratitude.”
— Benjamin, Christoph, Enrico
Itter, Malkowski, Rima GbR Leuschnerdamm 13, Aufgang 3 10999 Berlin, Germany phone: +49 (0) 30 548 105 17 e-mail: info@lebenskleidung.com www.lebenskleidung.com
organic fabric certified to GOTS by CERES-076