Her concept, that which won over the jury, is named “Hinschauen” (Behold). The name may be taken quite literally – spellbound, I gazed at the exhibition behind glass, in which Sandra created a vision from textile dyeing techniques. She placed the focus of her concept squarely upon that vision, which she had already researched deeply during her studies, pouring over literature, experimenting with fabrics and colors.

The exhibition gives the relationships between cloth, color and the clothed human being a fascinating clarity. A secondhand dress is sewn to a canvas and sprayed with deep blue dye. The dye drips downward to collect in a vat, where it is pumped back up and sprayed upon the dress once again. The uncolored dress becomes steadily deeper and darker blue – a process which takes time, gradually giving the surface of the textile its character. “It’ll be interesting to see what it looks like by Friday evening,” mused the 2012 HIFA winner. Clothing was brought to life in video clips projected upon wooden screens, using color and a model suddenly adorned in trousers, sweaters and dresses. Healthy, modern clothing for human skin, for human bodies – that is an essential function of clothing, and of fashion.

Sandra had finished half of her sample collection when she saw the Humanity in Fashion Award advertised at her college in Bielefeld. The decision to apply for HIFA came quickly: “My studies and research project simply fit the topic,” remembers Sandra. The exciting task ahead is to interpret her creative concept into a Capsule Collection together with hessnatur. “What’s important to me is that the essential idea behind my work, namely ecological dyeing and transparent, sustainable production is not lost,” emphasized the HIFA laureate. “But then again, I really don’t have to worry about that at hessnatur.”

Photos: Marcus Schneider, Silke Weinsheimer

It was consequently no easy matter for the jury – comprised of Susanne Gundlach (Fashion Director of Germany’s largest women’s magazine Brigitte), Prof. Stephan Schneider (Berlin University of the Arts), Dr. Alfons Kaiser (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Dr. Stefanie Schütte (German Press Agency) and Designer Miguel Adrover – choosing a winner amongst the three finalists, jury member Kaiser stressed. It was an equally difficult task last year, narrowing the myriad of excellent submissions down to just a handful of HIFA finalists. Unique concepts were expected to be demonstrated by the three finalists – real “fashion treats”.

The knitted dress created by knitwear designer Agne Biskyte, with its capacity to be worn in several different ways for a multitude of varying occasions, emphasized an important aspect of sustainability according to the jury’s appraisal. A historic reference into the 1920s was well recieved.

Willem Gremliza sees fashion as an interface between nature and the human body. He captivates through “glamorous drafts”. He doesn’t want to create beautiful clothing just for 30 year olds, but also for 60 year olds – to give voice to his conviction “…that you can be sexy when you’re older, too.” The jury’s verdict: “Regal and authentic,” with an eye on Gremliza’s handling of fashion and physique.

Sandra Goldmann enchants clothing with ecological dyeing techniques into “…the most beautiful and wildest of patterns”. The jury recognized references to designer Alexander McQueen in the “very experimental exhibition,” which was even described by jury member Dr. Stefanie Schneider-Schütte as “substantialist”.
The jury was particularly drawn to the fact that Goldmann pursued the question of how fashions are created in general, thereby casting a critical eye on the production processes of the textile industry. At just 25 years old, the young student played “…masterfully with references, without depending upon them.” With her concept “Behold”, she succeeded in creating the “decisive twist” which won her the 2012 HIFA baton. Her extensive and diverse collection was seen by the jury as a foundation for many successful opportunities in a market for sustainable fashion. Her prize: funding to the tune of 25,000 Euro and a Women’s Capsule Collection for hessnatur which will appear in 2013.

Humanity in Fashion Award’s symbolic baton was passed on to Sandra Goldmann by hessnatur CEO Wolf Lüdge. He encouraged the three finalists, all of them holding compelling ideas for the world of fashion, to “…blaze new trails – and blaze them where the way is not necessarily easy. My advice to you: Do that which is not expected of you.” Because fashion needs genuine role models again, “…who are credible, who engage.” True beauty lies in the balance between trend driven fashion and sustainability – which is not only a matter of toxic free clothing, harmless to humans, but also a matter of aesthetics, design, and utility. Wolf Lüdge: “Fashion is there to serve people, to follow its nature – not the other way around.”

Images: Marcus Schneider, Silke Weinsheimer, Michael Krause

The decision was anything but easy for the jury according to Dr. Alfons Kaiser from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Ultimately, the “comprehensive and very diverse collection” of Sandra Goldmann tipped the scales with its critical reflection upon the production processes of clothing.

As an inspiration to further ideas in sustainable design, hessnatur CEO Wolf Lüdge passed on the Humanity in Fashion Award’s symbolic baton to the joyfully radiant and somewhat stunned winner. Sandra Goldmann will develop a Women’s Capsule Collection for hessnatur, which will appear next year.

Designed by Miguel Adrover, and adorned with an image of the African continent cradled in human hands, we first introduced our statement shirt “Not Without You” in the Fall collection of 2010.

hessnatur customer Stephan Homberg, along with his parents, wife, and son Laurin Thandizwe (Laurin’s second name means “He loves the world – the world loves him” in the Zulu language) were on the road in South Africa for five weeks, visiting and supporting preschools, among other things.

Writing us in a wonderful e-mail, Stephan Homberg told us that, knowing they were on their way to Africa, he and his family had ordered the T-shirts and worn them on their travels “…as a statement of our solidarity with Africa.” Sent along with the e-mail was this photo of the three-generation family, wearing their hessnatur statement shirts at the Cape of Good Hope.

It’s great to be able to share this news in our blog, and we’re delighted that our message has made it to Africa as well!

Many thanks to the Homberg family!

Those nice details, for instance the waistband, are a bit of a problem when sitting, however *. Since waistbands tend to be very solid in jeans, especially those with only a small amount of elastic in them, they have no “give” when you sit down in them, and tend to constrict at the tummy. Also, the waistband is not adjustable, like it would be with bib overalls, for instance, which makes pulling them up over hips and rear a bit difficult. I found the jersey insert a bit tight as well, as was the elastic at the top, which was also not adjustable. I thought about getting the jeans a size larger, but then they would have been too wide in the legs and rear.

A different pair of maternity pants is simply not an alternative for me, though; I think the linen trousers and cargo pants will be too cold for me in winter. Of course, because I sit for most of the day, as well as spend a lot of time on a bicycle, the trouble with sitting in these jeans might be more conspicuous to me than to others. Like I said, they are otherwise really great, and you can tell that a lot of attention has gone into the design. It’s just that a non-adjustable waistband isn’t very practical for a big tummy.

In my next article, I’ll let you know how I found the feinstrumpfhose and maternity bra. Don’t forget to comment if you have any questions or some of your own experiences to share!

*As I wrote last week, my adventures into pregnancy actually started this time last year, when I started writing these articles for hessnatur’s German blog. Now that I’m sharing them with the American blog a year later, I’m happy to say that the observations I made in the original articles found eager listeners at hessnatur, who are always looking for ways to make their collection even better, and have worked hard to address the issues I found in my testing.

There are a lot of fashion bloggers out there, out and about in major cities, cameras in hand snapping photos of people on the streets. “The Sartorialist” is one well known example.

The focus of their entries are people dressed in style, however that might present itself. Whether in business look, casual, street wear, or crossover, man or woman, young or old – those photographed usually radiate something authentic, as if they were taking their own personal stand on their individual style.

On Fora MTV’s blog, we discovered this young woman, whose photo was taken in the streets of Toronto, Canada, in a hessnatur coat made of alpaca and virgin wool, combined with an Indian scarf and a fashionable pair of tights.

Very stylish, we think!

After enjoying a rather long internship at hessnatur in Marketing and Sales last year, I’ve come back from school to Butzbach again for the semester break, and I’m loving it! Back then, it was my responsibility, among other things, to steward the hessnatur Ambassadors to Peru; now my task is to diligently support the PR and Social Media department. But what I’d really like to share with you is my experiences just after my first internship at hessnatur …

I started studying management in the textile industry at LDT Nagold – a specialized academy for textiles and shoes, and within the academy, I was given the opportunity to study as an exchange student at the Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF) in New Delhi, India. In the spring, I was able to spend four weeks together with around 60 students, traveling through India, full of excitement and anticipation in a distant country and a new culture. Let me share some of my impressions with you.

The Culture

I had already had my own impressions of India through the occasional film or documentary, of course. If you see something for yourself, though, that’s completely different. India is another world, with a completely different and very interesting culture.
Religion, for instance, plays a much larger role in life than in Germany, and women have a different status in society. The caste-system is also a phenomenon which followed me throughout my everyday experience in India. I was constantly confronted with these cultural differences. I also had to get used to Indian cuisine – I often had to fall back on the cookies and Cola I brought with me because I was too wary of the local spices and food vendors, at least in the beginning. But after awhile, even sheepish me discovered Naan bread and spicy Masalas, which could be found on every street corner in a myriad of varieties.

The masses of people which flowed through the streets, both day and night, was another cultural difference. I have never in my life seen so many people in one place as I have crowding the subway stations there, or just plain everywhere in Old Delhi. And then there’s the fact that, as a Caucasian blond woman, I found myself constantly under the accompaniment of my own private crowd – another thing which took getting used to.

And the transportation! The contrast between New Delhi’s very clean, modern subway and the rickshaws rattling along above it was striking. First lesson in using a rickshaw: get the driver to understand where you actually want to go. My fellow students and I found often ourselves dropped off in the middle of nowhere, not at all knowing where we were, let alone how we were going to get back on track to our original destination! The Indian traffic rules, which really don’t exist anyway, also presented a new learning curve. For instance, I had to learn that collisions between rickshaws and fully loaded buses are a daily occurrence. And we’re not talking about theoretical learning here – I’m talking about hands-on experience!

The school

Lessons at PAF were in English (with charming Indian accents), and they were quite interesting. When school was in session, we were taught mainly about the Indian culture and the textile production which took place within the country. While much of the information wasn’t necessarily new, it was a great chance to build up a more solid vocabulary in English textile terminology.

Field trips also augmented the lesson plan. Some of them were simple getaways to Indian shopping centers, which differed little from ours in the West, or to street markets in Old Delhi, or to Dilli Haat – a six acre sized (!) Indian crafts and food bazaar. But we also visited factories and production workshops in the immediate area of New Delhi. And a shopping area outfitted exclusively with luxury goods also provided us with a strange contrast to the everyday India which we had experienced thus far. Even in Germany, where we are no strangers to luxury goods, there is no market place with that kind of prestige.

We found the complete opposite to the Indian shopping centers at the street markets and, especially, in Old Delhi in general, with merchants haggling and wrangling, often trying to palm off overpriced merchandise (overpriced at least for India). And the range and richness of cloth and colors was breathtaking! I found it fascinating to see where buyers on the international textile market procured the accessories, elements, and fabrics which could become someone’s fashion collection tomorrow. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, because I’d like to share some more about the textile production facilities we visited. But that will have to come in my next article …

My shuttle driver eases down the window and pleasantly asks a passerby to make room for her to drive past. “They just don’t hear the vehicle – a small disadvantage of hybrid cars with E-Motor starters.” You sort of need a second horn. A quiet one, maybe with galloping horse sounds or something like that.

I’ve just arrived from an event out of “Radial Station V” at Create Berlin. A Berlin design consortium invited me to speak at a “Create Green” forum. I decided to address the holistic approach to sustainability. Have I already introduced you to the concept? If not, I should really get around to it – just give me some feedback here if you’d like to hear more about it.

In the relaxed but concentrated atmosphere of a marvelous rooftop café, we’re discussing the subject of green fashion further. A gripping dialog about production in Germany develops. Aspects like flexibility, improved quality control, and image advantages were hot topics. Diversity and importance of labeling were also controversial topics of discussion among the group of designers, consultants, and press representatives.

Green Fashion in Berlin: Over the past few years, interest in ethical, green fashion has increased exponentially among designers. The Green Showroom in Berlin’s Hotel Adlon is convincing evidence of the trend. My impression is that visitor traffic and general interest is doing quite well. Fashion and ecology go well together, after all.

Evening finds us at a fashion show at the Weissensee art college, where the work of the design graduates is being shown. Great, creative outfits! The graduates also show off their competence and ingenuity in the realm of materials. Over the past few months, I’ve managed to attend a workshop on natural fiber dyes and have seen more than a few of the results which progress in that field has enabled.

On the way back to Butzbach in the I.C.E., I read an article in the paper about hybrid and electric cars: in their electric Ampera model, Opel is including a second, quieter horn…

Several weeks ago, we put out an invitation together with Ecouterre to join in on a discussion in New York, asking the question, “Why does sustainable fashion matter?” At the event, Eviana Hartman and Clodagh – both of them design their own collections for hessnatur – had a chance to say their piece.

We were excited by the great number and variety of participants, from fashion magazine editors to fashion bloggers to designers. Better yet, we could really feel that “Eco Fashion” is gaining an ever wider acceptance, and it was a great pleasure for us to help quench the thirst for knowledge that is growing in the USA.

The essence of the event: Sustainable fashion is gaining ground, and has nothing to do with the “crunchy granola look” of the past.

It was a great event, with a very interesting crowd of participants, as well as onlookers. The video captures it pretty nicely!

Heinz Hess founded hessnatur 35 years ago to create pure organic clothing for his newborn son. As we began, so we continue: to respect the planet and its people, with quality apparel for men, women, children and, yes, babies.  Discover the hessnatur 35% off shop until June 12th.