As Sustainable as Possible
Heiko Wunder was one of the pioneers of the eco-fashion scene, when he founded the fashion label wunderwerk in 2012. He now runs six stores throughout Germany, an online shop and continues to pursue a sustainable lifestyle consistently and convincingly. VIVID met him in his showroom in Flingern.
Mr Wunder, you founded wunderwerk just over ten years ago. How did you come to dedicate yourself to sustainable fashion?
After my A-levels I did an apprenticeship and trained as an industrial merchant at Steilmann, a large textile company at the time, where I learned classic HAKA. Afterwards I worked for various large textile companies such as Esprit or O'Neill and was often in the Far East. When you go into a laundry there and it smells so strongly of chemicals that you have to hold your breath, and yet people work here 14 hours a day, then you realise that that can't be healthy.
wunderwerk is a sustainable label. How do you define the term?
For Heiko Wunder, sustainability is a subject close to his heart. The same applies to his wunderwerk label: as sustainable as possible.
I think there is no such thing as 100% sustainable. But you can try to work and live as sustainably as possible. At wunderwerk we are guided by the three pillars of sustainability: ecology, economy and society. In addition, we also include the issue of health. It is important to us that all areas are served at the same time.
Can you give us a specific example?
During the manufacturing process one kilogram of conventional cotton requires up to six kilos of chemicals. Fertiliser used on an industrial scale is responsible for over a third of global CO2 consumption. That is more than all ships and aeroplanes emit together. Cotton requires about 20 percent of the fertiliser used. That is why I have been using only organic cotton since the beginning, and it is important that the entire industry makes that change. This is a political issue for me.
The demand to act "as sustainably as possible" runs through your entire value creation chain.
Absolutely. We do without plastic as far as possible, in packaging as well as in production. Many other manufacturers adhere very closely to the regulations of the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). I think that this is basically a very good certifi cate, but, for example, it allows a T-shirt to contain 30 percent polyester – for me that is unacceptable. From the very beginning, we have been committed to using completely sustainable materials and also to developing them. This includes the fibre Modal Edelweiss©, which is made from local beech wood and is used in our manufacturing process in combination with an organic cotton. By the way, we were the first fashion company to use this material. Our jeans contain 1.5 to 3 percent elastane. Here I use the synthetic material because it remains elastic for much longer than an elastane made of rubber. That is also sustainability: that parts can be worn for as long as possible.
„I think there is no such thing as 100% sustainable. But you can try to work and live as sustainably as possible.“
Heiko Wunder also pays attention to sustainability in regard to details and uses buttons made of pure metal, mother-of-pearl or stone nut, for example, which are manufactured in Wuppertal.
Regionality is also very important to you with regards to other materials.
Exactly: everything should be "organic" and as regional as possible. This includes, by the way, our merino wool that comes from sheep that are kept in a controlled organic way. Our jeans buttons are made in Wuppertal, and they don't contain any plastic, but are made of pure metal; other buttons are made of mother-of-pearl or corozo. By the way, this is how buttons were made in the past - funny that we are coming back to raw materials and materials that were used many decades ago. From the very beginning we have wanted to show the industry that truly sustainable fashion is feasible. And now, ten years later, hardly any brand or textile company can do without the topic of sustainability. I never thought this development would happen so quickly.
„If I don’t use conventional cotton, how can I use “used conventional” cotton via the whitewash recycling route?“
A big topic in the industry in this context is recycling. You do not use recycled materials at all. Why?
Regionality is important: 70 percent of wunderwerk's production takes place in the EU, specifically in Portugal, Poland or Greece, the jeans come from northern Tunisia, the raw materials from Austria, for example.
Recycled cotton is simply one of the worst things for me. If I don't use conventional cotton, how can I use "used conventional" cotton via the whitewash recycling route? Recycling is very energyintensive. A large part of the clothing is also not of single origin and therefore not suitable for clothing recycling or it is made of plastics such as polyester, acrylic or polyamide.
Materials are of course only one part of the value chain. How much value do you place on social responsibility? Where do you have your fashion produced?
70 percent of our production takes place in the EU, in Portugal, Poland or Greece. Our jeans come from northern Tunisia, but the transport route is shorter than from Portugal. And our raw materials come from Austria, for example. We feel that production countries like China, Bangladesh or Vietnam are unacceptable.
You consistently reject manufacture in the Far East. However, how can sustainable fashion and profi tability not be mutually exclusive? And how does this affect sustainable fashion`s affordability?
About 110 million jeans are imported into Germany every year. The average price for a pair of jeans is 40 euros. Most of them, of course, come from the fast-fashion industry. We sell a pair of jeans between 119 and 139 euros, with a very good price-performance ratio. For that, they are made of captivating qualities, without toxic chemicals and are "regional": fabrics from Italy, Spain and Portugal, yarn from England, rivets from Wuppertal and the labelling from Denmark. Of course, this costs more than trousers where everything comes from low-wage countries.
Heiko Wunder has been using only organic cotton for his fashion since the beginning, "and it is important that the entire industry switches over," he is sure.
How can you still keep the price comparatively low?
We do almost no marketing and prefer to contact and inform our customers directly via our newsletter. And on top of that I don't calculate like the brands I used to work for, which usually use huge mark-ups. I also buy a lot of fabrics myself or even help develop them. That's why I can get large quantities at a reasonable price.
On your website I found the following quote: "In the future there will only be sustainable fashion and the use of organic materials will be considered a given". What does that mean for the global fashion industry?
The textile industry has to rethink - which it is already doing, of course. Almost all fast-fashion chains now sell items made of organic cotton. However, there is still a lot that needs to change. People need to consume more sustainably overall, buy products that are toxin-free, of higher quality and last longer accordingly. That is also why education is so important, to inform people about what they are consuming. There definitely has to be a change of paradigm, and at the moment we are already on the right path.
Thank you very much for the interview. •
Words Katja Vaders
Pictures TWENTY ONE STEPS STUDIOS