INTERVIEW #73 WORON
Based in: Copenhagen, Denmark
Founded in: 2015
Founded by: Anya and Arina Woron/The Woron Sisters
Stores: Shipping worldwide from their webshop. They have multiple retailers, check out the list here
Price range: 7-68 €
Instagram: @woronstore
Welsome to A Sustainable Closet! You are one of the brands who several readers have told us that they want to learn more about, please what is Woron and why did you start your brand?
Woron is all about Eco Underwear Created by women, for women. Most women know that feeling of unhooking the bra, as the first thing when you get home. Our aim is to create that lingerie, that will be the first thing you want to put on and the last thing you take off!
Our purpose is to make women’s authentic self flourish. What does this mean you may ask? Well, we are an avid proponent for women’s well-being and health. We want to take it back a notch, slow down a bit and ask: are we feeling comfortable in our own skin? Do we feel attractive? Are we showing up with confidence in our daily lives?
We believe that most things can be fixed with a good attitude and some comfy undies that don’t compromise style and comfort. When the underpants aren’t riding up and the bra isn’t chafing or trying to suffocate you, when one’s body just finally says “aaaah, I’m good right now”, then it’s as if magic happens. One’s well-being soars and with it confidence and feeling attractive emerges all by itself, naturally.
What is your sustainability profile?
This is quite a big question, so we could go on and on here. Here is a summery of how we work:
Planet
We work with these materials:
Lenzing Modal, a beech wood pulp fiber that is produced in a closed loop circle. It is one of the most sustainable options out there, as it requires small amounts of chemicals to produce etc. and both chemicals and water is reused again and again in the process of the making. The fiber is then dyed (Oeko-Tex certified) at our partners facility in Germany and here it is also made into our signature fabric. And lastly cut and sewn into our underwear pieces in Hungary.
All off cuts, fabric bits and pieces are not wated; but these are segregated into colours and brought back to our fabric mill and re-made info fabric fibers again, that can be used for our next production round (this means no waste in the production process).Organic Cotton, all our cotton is GOTS certified. It is either from Turkey or Greece, so the best that is available on the market both in terms of environmental impact but also hand-feel.
Econyl, all our lace trimmings and full lace peices are made of recycled fibers. You can read much more on the process here.
As our main market is Europe and we are based in Denmark, we keep every step of our production process as close to home as possible. Both so that we can check and follow the process in the best possible way, but also in order to minimize the carbon foot print with less transportation etc.
People
Almost all factories that we work with both sub and direct suppliers are GOTS certified. Only our Hungarian partners, that sew the underwear that is made of Lenzing Modal do not hold this certification. They have the OEKOTEX certification for all yarns and production, OCS for the garments, GOTS for their yarns, the the relevant ISO etc.
On top of that, the factory does everything a bit different. The factory is run by women (not seen so often in Hungarian textile industry). They offer their workers a 15% higher salary than the average for that field of work. And working mothers have several benefits, that make it easier for them to take good care of their families without it effecting their salaries.
The benefits being: transportation arranged and settled to and from the factory every day at timeslots that makes it possible for the women to be back in the city to pick up their children from school. On top of the salary, they get a voucher to be used for grocery shopping on a quite reasonable amount. If they need more flexibility reg. working hours, this is always accommodated, as family health and happy workers is a top priority. There is no forced over-time.
Animals
We are PETA approved Vegan.
On your marketing of the products, you have a diverse set of female bodies represented. Can you tell us more about your work for inclusion and diversity?
Even though we where born and raised in Denmark, our parents where not. So in our childhood home we have been used to friends coming by of various nationalities, backgrounds etc. So the diversity that you refer to on our site, just feels like a representation of how our family, friends and social network looks like.
When we had to choose a model for our very first shoot, our focus was just to find a model, that would be able to get our story across of comfort and femininity. We did not think in the categories of a certain race etc. We chose a dark skinned model just because she, her energy would be a great fit with what we had envisioned to show and tell with that specific shoot.
When we launched the photos, every interview we did was focused on our choice of model, to our surprise. Journalists where commenting that it was a bold move for us to use a dark woman when being a Scandinavian brand. But for us, this choice was not political, fashionable or anything like that. We just saw something in that specific model, that we wanted to make a part of our storytelling.
Some years have passed since then and creating a more diverse and inclusive look has become more normal and even strived for. We too have become even more aware of the impact that our choices have, as to how we choose to showcase our line and how we choose to communicate our values. We love to see various women in our line, not because it is trendy to do so now, but because it is an important part of our journey of diving into our topics of interest like womanhood, femininity in various shapes/ sizes and women comfort on a more general level.
Where do you find inspiration?
Everything that we create has its roots in our own needs, the needs of our friends and customers. We do not believe that an item can be 'sustainable' if it is not desired/ if it just ends up collection dust. But if an item can make your life easier, better, more comfortable, give you confidence, inspire you etc. then there is a strong foundation to build on.
We women can feel the need for one thing at a certain time of the month and then a completely different shape or look will do the trick at another. Our bodies change in both sizes and need throughout the month and we love tapping into this; what is comfortable for me right now? How can I give my body the best support today, so that I can focus on all that matters?
Our customers are just the best when it comes to wanting to share these more intimate details reg. comfort and body perception. Their struggles and discomforts have become our main tasks to address and to find solutions for when it comes to underwear.
Clean and with style both in look and in our conscience is what we strive for. We embrace Slow Fashion as the core of our design process. Timeless pieces made in a clean, transparent and simple fashion to ensure a long lifespan.
What is your best selling product and who is your typical costumer?
Our bestselling soft-bra at the moment is 'ONYX BRA' and our bestselling panties are 'BRIEF BASE'. Both are made of our signature beech wood pulp fiber and the bra is trimmed with a delicate recycled lace. These two styles are bestsellers because they fit so many different body types and women of various ages. We have the young women in their early 20-ties, first-time-pregnant mamas that don't wear anything else than this set throughout the pregnancy, nursing period and after, we have women in their 50-ties asking for a re-stock every time we have a shortage of stock of these styles. So our typical customer is mostly pinpointed based on their interest in an eco-friendly lifestyle and their view on femininity, as we do not make any push-up bras, no padding, no underwires, no strings etc.
What do you think needs to change in the fashion industry to make it more sustainable?
The fashion industry has to become more transparent, with transparency it will be way more difficult to hide behind false promises and it will force the brands to question their doing through each step of their supply chain.
What do you believe is “greenwashing” and what can producers and consumers do to avoid it?
A sustainable approach/a respect for every step throughout the supply chain should be a given. If this was the case, then we would not see these awful cases where workers are not paid a salary and are working in slave like conditions, we would not see how chemicals are just dumped into our drinking water, just so that a t-shirt can be sold at lowest cost and so on. So when big brands like H&M start promoting their Green agendas or make the 'Conscious Collection', but they still do all the other stuff with their other collections, then this is the most visible type of 'Greenwashing'.
We do not believe that you can be both 'fast fashion with low price points' and be sustainable at the same time; these two just don't go hand in hand.
And then there is the more invisible type of 'greenwashing', this comes in various shades; but it can be when a brand tries to 'squeeze' into a 'sustainable' box by for instance planting trees with every order made, but have a really bad approach to their own supply chain over all.
For those who still think it’s hard to buy underwear (or clothes in general online) what can they think of to feel more confident that they get the right fit and size?
Do not be afraid, it’s quite straight forward . If you are in total doubt of what size you are, then a measurement tape should be your best friend. Follow the guides that each brand has for their specific product line and it will not take you more than a minut or less to get the sizing right. The thing with our line is, that because we do not work with regular underwear sizing and because we only work with stretchable fabrics, the process of finding the right bra is quite simple.
On top of that, you will be able to see each style on various body shapes, sizes on our site and this should make it easier for you to get a better view of how adaptable our range is, but also give you a clear picture of what size would be good for you.
