Meet Justine - fair fashion blogger of Justinekeptcalmandwentvegan.com in her blog and interview with us :)
"Some years ago I decided to go vegan. This decision had many reasons: The environment, my health, the animals and many, many more."
Though, until last summer I never thought about how my clothes were produced. At Zara, H&M and many other shops I just bought what I liked. The pieces were priced quite low and the quality was actually fine. So I never thought about buying somewhere else.
After a while, two words found the way into my life and somehow changed it forever: Fair Fashion.
I thought this is a typical eco-green type of trend, but since I read more about it on different fashion blogs I know it's not. Somewhere else on the other side of our planet, people suffer so I can buy cheap clothes. They do not get payed appropriately and work under conditions beneath human dignity. They do all of this without receiving any respect for what they perform.
When I got more into the Fair-Fashion topic I realized that cheap fashion is not always fast fashion. Just as high prices do not indicate great working conditions.
When i decided to not only buy vegan but also fair produced clothes only, I spent hours on the Internet in order to find fair fashion brands who produce not only fair and sustainable but also cool looking clothes.
As I mentioned, I prejudiced eco-fair-green fashion to be boring. I was wrong in either way. There are uncountable fair-fashion labels out there. They produce fashionable pieces for a fair price. Labels I really like for example are ARMEDANGELS, Wunderwerk, Stella McCartney and Mud Jeans.
It’s so easy to change shopping habits and stop supporting labels, where managers are not interested in treating their workers with respect. It’s crazy how much power lies within the decisions of anybody.
It's a safe bet: If more people decide to buy fair produced pieces and spread the thought of fair and sustainable fashion, more labels will make a change. The fashion world could change and so could the lives of many people out there.
Then, as soon as I understood that a vegan and fair-fashion lifestyle is the right choice for me and started to feel comfortable with it, I realized something.
I do not only buy fashion but also jewelry. But what about jewelry? Here, it's very similar to the fashion industry. Some labels produce in a fair and sustainable way, others don’t.
bu Designs was one of the first brands I got to know in this sector. I love the designs and some of the bu pieces I own have already become my favorites.
Here are some questions I asked the team of bu about their work:
When you first had the idea for the brand, was it clear from the very beginning that bu is going to be a fair-jewelry brand?
Yes! Just like you, Justine, when we first set off to start this the goal was to create something edgy and cool with a meaning. The ethical part of our business was a goal we set not to compromise. From day one, people who work with us are fairly treated and paid, we are cruelty free (no leather, no fur), and we try to use recycled and sustainable materials as much as possible.
We always strive to improve and make the whole process better.
Why did you choose the Buddha as your signature feature?
Buddha is a symbol that represents all the important values we try to follow in our lives, and raise our children by (big or small in age) – Love, compassion and mindfulness.
These are the core values of our brand.
bu Designs was created out of desire to bring awareness and inspiration of those values to the cynical and sometimes even irreverent attitude we all hold, to the words “love” “compassion” and “mindfulness”.
What can you tell us about your manufacturing process?
Our brand combine classic materials and techniques with contemporary cutting edge technology such as 3D printers, laser cutting, industrial elements and more.
Alicia, Tal, what’s your favorite bu product?
Well, that’s kind of asking one who’s their favorite child… We love them all :)
But if we must pick one, the Mala was the one to start this adventure.
It’s a beautiful piece of jewelry, hand beaded with love by us, and is a useful meditating tool.
Our mala was created out of desire to combine the spiritual life and balance, with the urban reality.