FAIRWEAR AND MORE – why sustainability and quality matter
"What you buy yourself mirrors your self-worth.
You don't buy just clothes, you tell your system how much you value it.
Therefore, all our products are fair wear, PETA approved vegan, made of organic cotton and produced on demand."
I am sure you saw our reel on that on Instagram, or read the intro on our home page. In order to tell you why quality and sustainability is important to us, let me take you verbally behind the scenes of our production and touch onto the topic of energy exchange.
I allow myself to assume that we've all heard about (ultra) fast fashion and know how an average piece of clothing is being made. Roughly like this: some chemical processed synthetic yarn or rich in toxins and pesticide cotton yarn is being woven into cloth, traveling from and into 10 different countries, where it is being dyed and sewn into wearable pieces. Leaving the environment and drinking water in the countries of production polluted, as well as having people in the production chain working for hunger wages, so the buyer can have his item for a low price. Mhm, yes. Even if you wouldn't care at all about nature or the people on the other side of the globe, that low price item often still contains leftover toxins. And even if it's claimed to be completely safe to wear, I doubt that you'll be happier wearing that piece. Why? Because of the energy exchange that happened there.
In physics, we know that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transformed. I perceive it as follows: everything we touch, create, think about or put time into ends up containing some of our energy. Consider how your mood brightens when your loved ones laughingly place their hand on your shoulder, or how nobody can make their cookies taste like those your grandmother made with love (even though they use the same recipe as her). The same principle applies in reverse. Your partner has had a bad day at work, comes home grumpy, and the mood in the room shifts, leaving you slightly irritated too.
BE YOU brand icon on various products, such as the SKYBLUE CREWNECK SKY
Returning to the topic of clothing production, imagine stressed and sad adults (or even children) working 20-hour shifts in dark, polluted halls for a wage that is still not enough to feed their family. They transfer some of their energy onto the item they are making. This happens throughout the whole production chain. How light-hearted will you feel wearing it?
I would be lying if I said I had never bought synthetic or fast fashion items, but since watching some terrifying documentaries, I have raised my standards. Not just for the sake of Mother Earth or the people who make the garments, but for myself too. Why would I wear something that drains my energy and reminds me of cruelty when it's supposed to brighten my mood and make me feel better? Do you remember the introduction to this blog? "What you buy yourself mirrors your self-worth. You don't buy just clothes, you tell your system how much you value it." – By buying sustainable, high quality goods, you signalise yourself that you're worthy of durable, healthy things in your life. That you're worth having fun and simultaneously enable others to do and have the same too.
Now it should be clear to you why I ended up looking for the most sustainable and regional manufacturers as possible. Having founded BE YOU in our small Switzerland, I had to stretch the term "regional" to "European". Although the search wasn't easy, I discovered some valuable things. Such as a shared production and printing facility in Germany that uses garments from Europe's leading brand in premium, sustainable blank apparel. The latter is a leading member of the Fair Wear Foundation (an independent organisation working to improve labour conditions in garment factories) and goes beyond their certifications of GOTS (worldwide leading standard for organic cotton), GRS (Global Recycled Standard), Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX® (meaning no harmful chemicals), PETA-approved vegan and more.
The former creates sustainability by providing a production-on-demand service, whereby the warehouse, printing and packing facility (all in Germany) is being used by multiple brands. For BE YOU this means that your purchased "reminders of who you are beneath conditioning" are produced only after the order has been finalised. Which results in saving resources and less textile waste.
Now you know why our beloved items take longer to arrive on your doorstep, therefore they're made with love and in good environments.
Before you head off to continue what you were doing before landing on this blog :), let me share a game-changer with you:
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER - WORKING WITH EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF AGAINST ONE ANOTHER.
yours
~ Marusha
