The creators of Wearso.organic and Nago focus on universal and simple cuts of garments that can be freely combined and therefore can become wardrobe staples. Their clothes are made of high-quality fabrics: certified organic cotton grown on sustainable farms, without the use of chemicals and fertilizers. Nago’s products are made of Tencel, cupro and wool, with metal elements such as buttons and hooks with no nickel in them, which make them safe for allergy sufferers. To limit the CO2 emissions of transportation, their clothes are sewn locally in Europe.
Pat Guzik and Surplus concentrate on the problems of overproduction.
The colourful, eclectic designs by Pat Guzik combine streetwear with high fashion, sometimes even quite literally – in the form of patchwork. Some clothes are made of scraps of fabric or textiles from second hand shops. Pat Guzik won the Eco Chic Design contest and the special prize: creating a sustainable outfit for supermodel Janet Ma. She has partnered with Cooperative Ushirika, a co-operative of women from Kenyan slums founded by the Pamoja Foundation. She also created a capsule collection for Shanghai Tang.
Visual artist Magda Buczek based her project Surplus on the concept of ‘post-growth’, according to which new quality doesn’t have to mean generating an excess of new products. Her designs are a synthesis of second-hand clothing and recycled slogans from her earlier works. The brand draws on fashion of the 1980s and 1990s, when a t-shirt with a print was a personal statement that could even become a political act if worn in public.