A stranger was sighted a few weeks ago in the pastel corridors of hessnatur’s headquarters in Butzbach. “He must be new,” many must have mused. And they were right! It was my first day on the job. And thus, I greeted everyone I possibly could with a hearty handshake.

I mostly said stuff like, “Hi. David Michele. I’ll be here twenty hours a week as Social Media Coordinator, starting today. Nice to meet you.” Symbolically speaking, that’s exactly what I’d like to do with each and every one of you. Meet you, that is. In a sort of digital way.

Born of parents with organic groceries, sent to school in Birkenstocks. Yes dear readers, I used to be called “the Granola Kid” – in a kind and affectionate way, of course. If you consumed sustainably, you never really had the hippest clothes, the newest shoes, or the prettiest bag lunch (you still got Granola for breakfast most of the time, though).

But times change, and being a “Granola Kid” is a lifestyle now, that’s moved past sandals and multi-grain mush, proliferating under the capacious headline of “Sustainability”. And yes, it can definitely have style, too. Those who want to “go Granola” today don’t have to wear potato sacks. And they can hang up their own garden hoe, if they want to, and get good, healthy food quite conveniently at the local grocery store, thank you very much. It’s a great trend.

Now I’ve landed at hessnatur, a company with a tradition and a consciousness for quality that’s part of that trend. I’m delighted to join in as Social Media Coordinator. My task in the future will be to keep hessnatur technically up to date at the likes of Facebook & Co., and to keep in touch with you – above all about things on your mind.

So let’s post, tag, and comment, and speak out for a better world.

Until then, all the best.

Yours, David.

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

A great success for the Plant for the Planet student initiative: in the course of the Climate Change Conference in Durban, responsibility for the United Nations Environmental Programme‘s (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign has been placed into the hands of the children of Plant-for-the-Planet. The Billion Tree Campaign was brought into being five years ago by prince Albert of Monaco and the recently deceased Wangari Maathai. To date, 12.5 billion trees have been planted within the scope of the project. That equates to two trees per world citizen.

Handing over the reigns was symbolic of the trust “grown ups” place in the activities of children: the succeeding generation will carry the initiative forward and unite young people worldwide by taking on the responsibility for the Earth. Felix Finkbeiner declared in Durban, “We children are taking up an official tree count register, and together with governments, private enterprise, and fellow citizens, we’ll watch that count rapidly grow.” This places an obligation upon the “grown ups”, as they must now report the number of trees planted annually for Plant for the Planet’s registration.

In taking on the Billion Tree Campaign, a new goal has come about for the children and youth, namely that of planting a quadrillion trees by 2020. Such a massive carbon sink would bind 10 billion tons of CO2 yearly, winning us valuable time to permanently and sustainably sink CO2 emissions. If every world citizen would plant just 150 trees, this goal would be reached. The current tree count can be monitored here on the campaign’s website.

Plant for the Planet, a student initiative, had its origins in January of 2007 in the presentation of then 9-year-old Felix Finkbeiner on the climate crisis. At the end of the presentation, Felix conceived the vision of children in every country of the world planting a billion trees for each one of those countries, thus contributing to a CO2 equilibrium. In the years that followed, Plant for the Planet has become a worldwide movement.

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.

As we celebrate the Holidays, we reflect on the past year and plan for the new one.  To all of you, who have kindly supported our commitment to the environment by buying and wearing clothes that are truly sustainable, we deeply appreciate your joining the hessnatur community.  It is through your efforts that our message of respect for our planet and its people survives and prospers.  We promise to continue growing pure fibers, producing products without harmful chemicals and toxins and providing working conditions that are fair and safe.

We have said, many times, that what you wear makes a difference.  You have responded and made that difference.  For that, and so much more, we say thank you.  And we wish you and all those you love a joyful, peaceful Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.  I know you’ll join us in sending those wishes around the world.

Our best to all of you from all of us,

Wolf Luedge

… that’s what we and all the staff celebrated two months ago. Lots of families joined us in the garden at our wonderful anniversary festival – amongst others Luca and Lian, the sons of my colleague in I.T., Jens-Uwe. The boys created a small work of art, fitting for our jubilee .

I ran into this video on Youtube recently, which describes the idea and origins of the “happiness formula” of Bhutan in Asia. “Gross National Happiness” was placed as a priority over productivity by the king, which has now become a bit of a movement in itself.

Watch, and get happy!

I stumbled across this video while surfing on the net, and liked it so much I thought I’d share it on our Blog. It presents a very clear and simple explanation of what stands behind the term “Sustainability”.

Enjoy!