What’s Your Purpose? These founders are on a mission

WHAT’S YOUR PURPOSE?

Stores going out of business, a lack of young talent, saturated markets, and powerful competition are but a few buzzwords that regularly dominate retail forecasts. Despite gloomy predictions, recent years have seen the emergence of concepts that prioritise their own WHY over classic trade rules. What does this generation of founders do differently and what drives them? Text: Stefanie Buchacher. Photos: Interviewees

THE FASHION RENTAL MODEL

STAY AWHILE

Hamburg & Magdeburg/Germany

Thekla Wilkening and a business partner launched the fashion rental model in a store named Kleiderei as early as 2012. Despite the insolvency that followed six years later – or rather because of it – the 32-year-old launched another fashion rental concept at the end of 2018. Stay Awhile is affiliated with Kilenda, a rental service for children’s clothing and toys, and now cooperates with brands such as Armedangels, Lana, Shipsheip, Jan’n June, and Lanius – all of which manufacture fairly and organically. Stay Awhile follows the “Rent Your Look” principle. After a personal consultation on individual fashion preferences, subscribers receive a curated selection. Favourite pieces can be bought later. The remaining pieces are returned, cleaned, reconditioned, and re-injected into the rental cycle. Currently, 60 to 70 percent of all subscriptions are individually curated. The remaining subscribers make their own choices from the product range, which is presented like an online shop.

“I believe the ‘Fashion to Buy’ model is outdated. It is not acceptable for us to produce fashion as garbage,” says Wilkening. In her opinion, it is time to rethink the responsibility of ownership and act more sustainably. She expects a trend reversal in wardrobes over the next few years: “I think we will own no more than 50 percent of our clothing in the future. The rest will be borrowed, rented, or bought as an investment to wear and resell.” Wilkening’s dream is that the wearer will only have to pay rent for the usage of a garment, while the producer shoulders the responsibility for the piece. “We share our flats on Airbnb and use hotel rooms that are frequented by different people night after night. The inhibition to share clothes with other people is only in our heads.”

“It’s time to rethink the responsibility of ownership.” Thekla Wilkening

THE MARKETPLACE FOR ECO FASHION

AND GREEN LIFESTYLE

AVOCADOSTORE

Hamburg/Germany

With a 10-year history to look back on, Avocadostore is one of the pioneers of sustainable consumption. Today, it is Germany’s largest marketplace for eco fashion and green lifestyle. What initiators Philipp Gloeckler and Stephan Uhrenbacher set in motion has been continued by Mimi Sewalski, who joined the business in the founding phase and ascended to Managing Director in 2013. “We wanted to create something that hadn’t existed before – a kind of green Amazon. The result is a marketplace that brings together fair trade retailers,” says the 38-year-old, who stumbled upon Avocadostore by chance. Previously, the sociologist and criminologist

“At first we were ridiculed, but we have helped change the market and consumption patterns over the years.” Mimi Sewalski

worked for high-tech start-ups in Israel and for an advertising agency in Hamburg. When she could no longer identify with her customers’ products, she quit and switched to the catering trade. Eventually, she met Gloeckler at a trade fair.

“At first we were ridiculed, but we have helped change the market and consumption patterns over the years.” This is reflected in the business’ growth. Since its foundation, Avocadostore has grown continuously. According to the company itself, the growth rate has always between 50 and 60 percent in recent years. The e-commerce platform currently offers more than 2,000 brands and 200,000 sustainable products, including clothing for women, men, and children, as well as cosmetics, wellness items, furniture, and home accessories. Avocadostore ensures a transparent presentation based on ten sustainability criteria. Every product sold must meet at least one of these criteria.

THE ECO LABEL WITH A RETAIL OPERATION FOLKDAYS Berlin/Germany

Folkdays doesn’t really perceive itself as a fashion label, but rather as an initiative committed to counteracting fast fashion by collaborating with traditional manufactories. “Folkdays stands for fairly produced clothing, jewellery, and accessories,” says founder Lisa Jaspers. “We strive to bring about systemic change and help people in developing countries out of poverty. It’s all about craftsmanship and fair trade.” After studying politics and economics, Jaspers worked for Oxfam and at a consultancy for international cooperation. Jaspers has always been driven by a desire to promote local economies in developing and emerging countries and to combat poverty. She develops the concept for every product together with a small team and local artisans. Whether in Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, Thailand, or Peru, Folkdays collaborates with small manufactories or individuals who have often preserved and developed their traditional craftsmanship skills over generations. Folkdays sells its timeless clothing, jewellery, accessories, and interior design items in its own online shop, in a store in Berlin-Kreuzberg, and in cooperation with Manufactum. There are no seasonal trends or sales, because Jaspers is all about offering a contrast to fast collection changes by fast fashion and the associated low appreciation. “We strive to inspire a rethink and re-educate people regarding the necessity of sales,” the 36-year-old says. “Secondly, our products are calculated in a manner that simply doesn’t allow sales. We prefer to rely on small quantities in order to ensure that we sell all products.” The largest recurring hurdle is the high capital commitment needed to pay part of the production costs to manufacturers when ordering goods, thus maintaining fair cooperation. In order to plan sales volumes better and facilitate financial flexibility, Folkdays is testing a pre-order concept for its customers. “We firmly believe in implementing a truly sustainable corporate structure with the help of our customers. We can change the system together!”

“I launched Folkdays to bring about systemic change and combat poverty in developing countries, not to start a fashion label.” Lisa Jaspers

With Folkdays, Lisa Jaspers founded something that is more of an initiative than a fashion label. The aim is to strengthen the economy in developing countries as an antithesis to fast fashion.

THE MULTI-BRAND RETAILER OF FAIR FASHION LOVECO Berlin/Germany

“During my studies, I gained a better insight into the textile industry and everything that’s wrong within it,” says Christina Wille. “It was clear to me that I needed to do something to change these conditions, but not yet to what extent.” After two years as a store manager at DearGoods, she decided to start her own business. The first Loveco store was founded and opened in Berlin-Friedrichshain in 2014. The online shop was launched in 2016, followed by a store in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 2017. In 2018, Wille opened another store in Berlin-Schöneberg: the first concept store for ecological, fair, and vegan fashion and accessories in western Berlin. “On the one hand, we are driven by people who are committed to sustainable business practices and sustainable societal change. On the other hand, we are also committed to supporting people in the production countries and hopefully changing their lives in a lasting way,” the 33-year-old says. However, she remains realistic: “We are nevertheless a company that relies on the consumption of clothing. We live off consumption. We are not kidding ourselves in this respect.” However, Wille detects a change in the behaviour of her customers, who are more aware of their purchases and more appreciative of their clothing. She perceives herself as part of a movement. “As long as there are fast fashion chains, we need alternatives that offer different solutions. Their sales are still rising, after all. This fact can only be explained by cognitive dissonance. People are aware of the conditions in the textile industry, but they still refuse to change their consumer behaviour.” That’s why Loveco educates people – both online and offline – about the conventional fashion industry, maintains an online magazine and guidebook, and regularly invites customers to information events such as film screenings and panel discussions.

“As one of the dirtiest industries, the fashion industry is ready for disruption.” Victoria Prew

With Hurr Collective, Victoria Prew offers a platform where members can share their wardrobe, thus extending its life cycle. Loveco founder Christina Wille sells exclusively fair fashion in her three stores and via her online shop. At the same time, she urges her customers to consume consciously.

“We are driven by people who come into contact with fashion – both the consumers and the textile workers. We are nevertheless a company that relies on the consumption of clothing.” Christina Wille

THE SHARING PLATFORM

HURR COLLECTIVE

London/Great Britain

Victoria Prew launched fashion sharing platform Hurr Collective with a business partner in March 2019. The declared intention: “to disrupt the fashion industry for being one of the dirtiest industries”. The underlying idea is derived from other models of the so-called sharing economy such as Airbnb and Uber. It relies on a community of fashion enthusiasts and modern women “who believe that borrowing makes sense both economically and ecologically.” Prew is certain: “Extending the life of our clothes is one of the best ways to reduce the environmental impact of our wardrobe.” Women who want to rent out and monetise their wardrobes are put into touch with women who want to wear trendy items for a certain period of time. Individuals are matched online. The exchange takes place in person or via an environmentally friendly parcel service. Alongside borrowing and wearing, the loan cycle also includes cleaning the clothes before returning them. For this purpose, Hurr Collective has entered into a cooperation with an environmentally friendly textile cleaning business. The decisive factor here is the trustworthiness of the community members, who are accepted by invitation or recommendation. The platform harnesses the latest digital technologies to support the sharing process: real-time identity verification, geo-tagging, and AI-based styling assistants. This enables a secure and reliable wardrobe exchange. Since its launch, the community has grown to more than 8,000 members. The focus is currently on the London catchment area. However, a rollout to all major cities in Great Britain and international expansion are on the agenda.