INTERVIEW #12 HOUSE OF DAGMAR

“From the beginning we wanted to care about humans, animals and nature. Those were our pillars when we established House of Dagmar during a time when no one talked about sustainability.”

Interview with Karin Söderlind, Co-founder, CEO

Why did you start House of Dagmar?

I think the original purpose was for us sisters to do something together. From early on in life, we wanted to do something together. All of us ended up in the fashion industry. I was a buyer at H&M for some years and my sisters worked for other companies. After a while we came to a point where we felt now it’s a good time to do something together. All of us wanted to be a part of it. We started our brand in 2005. 

What is your sustainability profile? 

From the beginning we wanted to care about humans, animals and nature. Those were our pillars when we established House of Dagmar during a time no one talked about sustainability. The word came around in 2009 in the fashion industry. And we started to work with materials and factories we thought were better. We tried but there were not many options at that time. And the consumers were not interested at all. It was not until 2016 we realised we are in a huge climate crisis and if we have these values in the company, we need to do it all the way. So we set up new goals. 

Our take is to care for the environment and support the climate. This is what we want to work for. Our new goal is to become climate neutral, it’s a tough goal, but it’s an important one that we aim for. We wanted to measure our fibre footprint and climate emissions. During that process we learned that 10-20% of the carbon emissions in the world comes from the textile industry. We measured our carbon footprint and 71% of our carbon footprint came from the fabrics. That information gave us the opportunity to really look at the materials and see how it’s produced and how we could lower the carbon emissions. We are really focusing on the materials, how it’s produced and how we can reduce our impact. 

Throughout this work we got help from an European company! It’ was a pilot test by the European Union called European Clothing Action Plan (ECAP) & Anthesis Group. They had a look at the whole supply chain. From plant to fibre to garment when it comes to water, carbon dioxide emissions and how much waste we produce.

Our sustainability goals are: 

90% Good Choice materials by 2020

Climate neutral by 2025

“Our new goal is to become climate neutral, it is a tough goal, but it’s an important one we need to aim for.”

How are the products produced?

We really try to find fabrics that are produced with a such a low carbon and water footprint as possible. And we are also seeking biodegradable materials, so the item won’t leave any waste or can be recycled. To be able to be sure of these criteria’s we mainly work with certified products. We want to guarantee that the material is produced in a good way. We use GOTS certified cotton, which is the best produced cotton you can get. The certified fabrics are using organic chemicals that don’t harm the soil and 70% of the watering of the cotton comes from rainwater. The chemicals they use are much better for the earth. Normally cotton production is very damaging. You can see the differences when you visit an organic farm, the people live very close to it. People can have their livelihood there and you can grow food next to the cotton plantation. People would never do that on a regular cotton field, it’s too poisonous. 

We also work with lyocell, in itself it’s good choice. It’s biodegradable and only leave the buttons (or anything else you add to the garment ) behind. It’s a very good fabric. And we have used it for 12 years. We were also looking into viscose, which actually comes from cellulose, so we thought it might be good to use, but we learned that those processes uses a lot of water and chemicals to break down the fibre. But now we have used a viscose that is certified. That certified material is using much more environmentally friendly chemicals and they reuse the water, so they don’t to use a lot of water. The process has very good filters so they can clean out the chemicals in this process. It’s a closed loop system. 

50% of our collections are in some kind of way made of sustainable fabrics and we call them good choice materials. Materials that care for the environment, animals and humans. Merino wool is a long lasting fibre but the mulesing of sheep is a problem, so we only buy certified wool. 

We work mostly with small scale factories so it’s not so difficult for us to have a conversation with them about working conditions and so on. We have most of our factories in Europe. But in China we use one very exclusive factory, that is big but we have a good relationship with them. We personally visited them and our impression is that they have high standards. We have a factory in Colombia that we sometimes use for alpaca production, which is a high risk country. But 80% of workers are women and they get guaranteed pensions and day-care for children so we feel very good about that one. 

“We use GOTS certified cotton, which is the best produced cotton you can get.”

What has been or are the major sustainability challenges?

Its actually two things. You can’t just buy recycled polyester and think you are sustainable. You have to do it for real. It’s about two things design and fabrics. We who come from the fashion industry are working a lot on trends. We are educated on how to build trends. But in this case we need to create a long lasting product. But we still want to buy a fashionable product, so we try to get a balance that still feels cool and modern today but also long-lasting. You have to think of the design process in that way. You can’t just jump on the train of every season. This is a challenge to produce something that will last for a long time. 

The other challenge is to find good materials. I really believe it’s coming more of it on the market. But it’s still difficult to find products that are sustainable and cared about. 

We also need to change norms so we buy less, so we think through and rethink what we do and why? We can’t continue to shop and buy like we used too. We need to do the change, no one else is doing it for us. For a consumer it’s better to invest in few items, you know you’ll wear for a long time. Focus on high quality. You can also put away the clothes that you don’t use as much and they are as good as new when you feel like wearing them again. I have for example the last 3 days worn my old suit I put away for a few years and now I’m falling in love with it again. 

“We who come from the fashion industry are working a lot on trends. We are educated on how to build trends. But in this case we need to create a long lasting product.”

What have been or are the largest gains? 

We have to let things go. Like festive clothes with glitter and so on. Those festive fabrics are difficult to find produced in a sustainable manner. They are often produced in a harmful way. We have to let the style and the design be different from what we did from the beginning. We can’t do what we used to do. We’ve had to adjust to more timeless and casual design.

Normally in fashion, customers are very unfaithful but we have a very faithful group of customers that like to support us and our values. The sustainability process is good in that sense for companies to do. For the first time it can be hard, but in the long run you gain loyal customers.  

“Normally in fashion customers are very unfaithful but we have very faithful group of customers that like to support us and our values.”

What do you think needs to change now in the fashion industry to make it more sustainable? 

I think the fashion industry needs to change the way we communicate and get rid of the push of new trends all the time. It stresses the consumer to buy new things. If we’re going to do that, we need to have better alternatives. We want consumers to buy fewer items, but good. We need some excitement in our lives, but we need to inspire new ways of styling instead of new things to consume. The industry needs to come up with better inspiration and change and promote good values instead. 

“We need some excitement in our lives, but we need to inspire new ways of styling instead of new things to consume.”

What do you believe is “greenwashing” and what can producers and consumers do to avoid it?

I think unfortunately we as consumers needs to be a little bit smart and ask questions. A lot of brands talk about sustainability, but it’s only a small part of their collection and that’s the only thing they communicate and write about. 

You can’t lie about the garments and what’s written on the label. Look at the tag of the clothes and see what it says. Is it made of polyester? Don’t buy it! It’s better with recycled polyester and organic cotton. 

Be conscious when you buy things and find brands that you like and want to support. Start to think - less is more! Drop that you want new things all the time. 

What would you advise consumers to do who seeks to create a sustainable closet and lifestyle?

• Look at your wardrobe and see what items you use the most and circulate your clothes around that!

• If  you need to buy anything new buy of high quality that are produced in a good way.

• Get conscious about your wardrobe and think through what you really need. 

• Have a good standard product that you can start from. 

“Get conscious about your wardrobe and think through what you really need.”