INTERVIEW #41 CUITU
Based in: Helsinki, London, Milan, Lisbon
Founded in: 2019
Founded by: Young female entrepreneurs, Anna Kytövuori, Evi Oivanen, Vilma Piironen.
Stores:
www.wearecuitu.com free shipping within Europe
Retailers
London, UK: Bleaq.store in Oxford street from mid-November
Luxembourg: HELS1NK1 shop
Finland: PUF in Turku
Online: Fabriplatform.com, Upcycler Helsinki, Lone Design Club, Project Cece
Price range: 100–350€
Why we love them: Honest, transparent and COOL! Cuitu is here to stay! We love how they make use of surplus materials to create urban products with functionality not being left out. Also the wholesome story about the brand makes us love them even more. Welcome to A Sustainable Closet Cuitu!
What is Cuitu and why did you start?
Modern items for urban nomads. Cuitu is a female founded company that creates urban style, unisex accessories made of upcycled fabrics. We utilize various leftover fabric streams to create our products, such as cutting surplus from the professional diving suit production. In this way, Cuitu is about circularity and supporting the circular economy.
My personal story begins from Bali where I was living for half a year and wanted to become a certified scuba diver. When I had the training, it was the rainy season there and it seems that thanks to the heavy rain, all the trash from the rivers nearby flow into the ocean and created these huge patches of garbage. One of our locations for practice diving happened to be right below the garbage that was floating in the ocean. My instructor said that you have two options: either to leave the course or to dive into the trash. I chose the second option and so I dived in. It’s hard to describe the emotion of this experience. It is something you see on documentaries but feeling it on your skin and seeing it deep in the ocean and not only on the surface, made me very sad. Well this experience motivated me to be an active change maker to take some sustainable actions. I decided to start from the fashion industry.
As a company, we started in 2019 when we formed the team that shared a common passion about sustainable fashion. We were inspired by some new material innovations in Finland and abroad and started to study the industry more. In the same year, while developing the idea, we participated in a startup competition in which we were awarded as the best university startup in Finland. When we created more networks in the industry, we came across a local diving suit producer that happened to operate in the same city. We noticed that we could create a real win-win situation by helping them to minimize their waste by utilizing their cutting leftovers.
Thinking about the unforgettable diving experience, it seems to be more than a coincidence that upcycled scuba diving fabrics are now one of our main materials.
What is your sustainability profile?
It’s a lot about materials, practices and supporting the values that we care about. Our design process starts from thinking about the materials we have and in which shape they are. A good example is Curious bag that is made from cutting surplus from diving suit production. The bag is a real puzzle; it consists of 24 individual pieces of fabric in order to be able to utilise even smaller cutting leftovers! The idea of the whole collaboration with the diving suit producer is to create a win-win situation in which we can give a second life to excess material that would otherwise be thrown away.
Cuitu is also about androgynous fashion, meaning that all our products are unisex. This way we avoid producing excess variations and too many items, and more importantly, to support gender equality. We want to push the industry to be transparent about the value chains of how products are made. The information about sustainability and origins of our products always go along with the items – there is an embedded NFC tag in each item that you can scan with your phone to access the data. While being transparent of our value chain, we have decided to support local production. That way we can also have close collaboration with the makers and see how they are doing.
How and where are the products produced?
Material sourcing, designing and production, all take place locally in Turku, Finland. We create win-win situations by helping local companies to minimize waste footprint and by creating accessories that meet the needs of modern, urban people.
Your best selling product?
Our best seller is the Combo bag. It is a compact size and multi-way wear item which makes it an ideal accessory for efficient styling. There are two separate compartments that will keep everything you need organised for the day and a removable strap that offers 3 ways to wear; crossbody, belt bag or around the neck. Made from durable upcycled materials with structural details.
Where do you find inspiration?
The Cuitu design is inspired by 70's futuristic vibes, urban landscape and looking forward to the future. A big part of the inspiration are the high quality, upcycled fabrics that guarantee a luxurious feel and look throughout the product line. Another constant source of inspiration is also found when strolling around the city, being surrounded by inspiring architecture and people, combining different worlds.
What have been and are the major challenges?
When we design products in terms of the materials, the beautiful side is that it makes them very unique and surely leads to creative solutions. As the goal is to minimize excess material, the material source may also run out at some point and for this reason the exact same look may not be replicated. That’s why it creates some dependability and a need to source and test new materials more often than traditionally. So it’s a bit about balancing in the midst of uncertainty.
What has been and are the largest gains?
The most rewarding thing and a constant source of happiness is when a customer is happy with our items. We still are a small brand, but those who have got our items, seem to really love them! One of the comments I really remember goes like this: “When it happens that I feel the outfit is kind of boring or something is missing – when I add the Combo bag, it takes it to the next level!”
One cool thing that we’ve done with our brand is also being active in music & art events. Oh, here I also remember this one person describing the experience as follows: “During this event, I think I’ve gathered some inspiration for the whole year!” For this I’m also very thankful for our partners and collaborators making these events possible and putting together such a great blend of different artistic elements.
For me personally, it has also been very meaningful to think that, in a way, Cuitu is giving back to the diving scene, which helped me to find my way.
What do you think needs to change in the fashion industry to make it more sustainable?
I think it’s about continuity. When something is excess, how to deal with it and “put it back into the system” in a sustainable way? And here it’s important to think about the overall resources needed to make it happen. Collaboration between different businesses, even across industries, and also involving customers – that’s what I believe is very important to make a big impact.
What would you advise consumers to do who seek to create a sustainable closet and lifestyle?
Well, could be several things:
Seek for brands that are meaningful for you and that you want to support.
Find pieces that are possible to wear in multiple ways and in various seasons
Good materials & taking care of your garments and accessories
Best thing about Cuitu?
Cuitu accessories are sustainably created to complement and accentuate their customers' wardrobes by not adhering to trends.
