[treches] eco + fair

10.11.08: ...now the catalog is online. up there, in the corner!

02.11.08: finally!!: the wintercollection and the catalog is finished!
soon, i'll upload it here.

22.10.08: well, the wintercollection is still not finished... :)

..but it's not so long now: the clothes are nearly all sewn (sowed?) and on wednesday, we'll do the photos!

..and i made new stickers:

--tell me if you want some!

18.09.08: the wintercollection is on it's way! right now, i'm drawing and sowing the prototypes, and waiting for the fabrics to be dyed.

I hope to have the catalog finished for the end of oktober...

20.08.08: a long time without any news, but actually a lot of things have been
happening;

the ladenatelier is starting to look very good, i've found some new stores where
[treches] will appear, and most importantly: i've been on holiday...!

I've also started to work on the next collection, my attempts to dye the fabrics
myself, with nature-friendly materials, you can see on the "projects" page.

21.07.08: [treches] now have a labelstore!

the opening-vernissage on friday July 18th 2008 was great! Check out the
atelier b112 webpage, where you can also find more info about the other labels
in the store.

Here's some photos of the "ladenatelier", as we prefer to call it..::

laden b112

18.06.08: one month till the opening and the store looks like this !!
..well, we'll have something to do this summer..!

I'm also happy to inform that Bransparent has included [treches] in their list of
sustainable labels!

09.05.08: we got a place! i mean a store, and atelier! from the 18.june 2008, [treches]
will share a nice little store in Boxhagener Strasse 112 with the labels: jbr ,
dollkiller and sickgirl.

For logistic reasons (...) a store has to have a name, so we decided to call it b112...

30.05.08: [treches] is slowly finding it's way to a store near you! i'll be updating
the "where to find it"-list every time i find a nice new store.

(i'm also looking for a place for my very own atelier/store --today i've seen a really
good one!)

..and i made a new "picturelogo":

trecheslogo

14.05.08: together with Paola from "Dollkiller" i've started to search for a location
for a store/atelier in Friedrichshain (Berlin).

and i've finished the catalog for the summer 2008. it's a nice twelve-page booklet,
which you can also see here on the web. for the price- and size-list, please contact me..

07.05.08: the fashionshow in Lido was great fun and successful! i've put up some
photos, if you missed it..!

now i'm working on a catalog, and searching for stores where you could buy
[treches] clothing.
they will also appear on the Trendmafia market on the 7th of June!

26.04.08: the first collection is soon finished!

fashionshow and presentation of the sales-collection SUNDAY 4.mai 16:00
in Lido Kreativmesse! (Cuvrystraße s7, U Schlesischer Tor)

10.04.08: [treches] is a new, organic fashion/streetwear-label. Both the first
collection and the webpage is under construction..

(meanwhile you could look at my other label "jbr": www.jbr-design.com)

[treches]: the idea, past and future

The idea and dream of making a sustainable streetwear-label, with trendy, comfortable and colourful
clothes, came to me during the summer of 2007, when I realised that ecological and fair produced clothes
mostly means boring and nature-coloured sweaters and t-shirts.
I wanted to introduce a clothing-label where the reason why someone would buy something still would
be that the clothes look and fit nice. Because if the ecological clothes are limitied to a „pure“ look and
classic cuts, it can never really make an impact on the fashion- and consumer-world. We need cool
clothes, that „just happens“ to be social- and environment-friendly!
(..And it's of course also important to me as a designer to express myself through vivid colours, different
cuts and strange prints.)

During the winter 07/08 I saved up money and ordered my first rolls of organic cotton, realising that the
fabric-prices unfortunatley will push the prices of the clothes up. I will though, always be commited to
keep the prices as reasonable as possible; I don't agree that a sustainable lifestyle should be a luxury.

May 4th, 2008, the first collection was launched. I had a fashionshow in Lido (Berlin-Kreuzberg)
and with the help of my friends as models, we showed the [treches] summer-collection 2008.
After some weeks, the clothes were produced and ready to buy in a few specialised fair/organic
fashionstores around Germany and Norway (where I come from by the way), as well as in some
conventional fashionstores here in Berlin.

June 18th, 2008, [treches] got a labelstore together with the brands „Dollkiller“, „Sickgirl“(recycled clothes)
and „JBR“(my other, not-very-sustainable-but-still very-small- label). Here, the clothes are designed
and usually also sown.

Future: There will be more! The winter-collection 2009 will be launched in November, I'm allready working
on the new cuts. I also have some great ideas for new fabricdying-methods! There will also be some
limitied models with recycled materials.

[treches] projects:

for my next collection i want to use more colours, a wider variety of different techniques, interesting dying- and recycling-techniques;
-while keeping it all sustainable and nature-friendly.

... but for that I have to experiment...!
so I've started to look for alternative ways to dye fabric: What could be better than dying with organically grown food??
I'm also thinking about recycling... hm hm...

(this page will be updated regularly with new projects
-but I cant guarantee they will all be successfull...)

					next project: recycling plastic bags
	Volume one : winedying		Volume two : beetroot

FAQ's: (Questions asked by Bransparent, a webindex of social- and environmental-friendly labels:)

Which organic or eco-friendly raw materials do you use in your products?
(Only) organic cotton. I'm planning to also use recycled fabrics in my future collections, as I still (even though it's organic) find it difficult to support the „use-and-throw“-culture of fashion.
What measures did you take to reduce emissions and energy consumption and generally make your production process have a lower ecological impact?
The fabrics are produced in Turkey after organic labeling standards, and shipped by boat. The producers/importers „Boweevil“ and „Lichtschatz-Projekte“ both meet the standards of common organic labels, such as EKO, IFOAM, SKAL a.s.o.. „Lichtschatz-Projekte“ has started their own cotton-cultivation, „Woven Wind Cotton“, a project which aims to „Abdicat[e] of fertilisers and pesticides containing synthetic chemicals! Rich and fertile soil for environment and climate conservation! Organic-bonuses to improve the livelihood and social security for pickers, farmers and fibre processors! Sustainability and reassurance for the future of textile production in all commercial apects!„ The clothes are produced locally in Berlin. I've let go of the standard plastic-labels and are working on a solution with „direkt recycled“ paper.
Which harmful chemicals, in respect to health and ecology, did you eliminate from your production process?
The organic cotton is produced without synthetic chemicals, such as pesticides, artificial fertilizers and antibiotics. The dyeing of the fabrics are done after „IVN standards“, this includes no use of ammoniak, chlorine, optical brightener and more, see "IVN_Richtlinien.pdf" for a full list. Water-based colours are used for the silkscreen-prints.
How do you ensure that your products are absolutely child labour free?
The „Fairtrade“ and „Fairwear“ standards, as described under, does not approve of child labour.
What proof do you have that your production workers are payed fair wages?
The organic cotton are ordered from Fairtrade/Fairwear-labeled producers/importers: „Boweevil“ (Netherlands) and „Lichtschatz-Projekte“ (Germany). „Fairtrade“ is a label in which can only be put on products made outside of the EU, after strict standards of labour conditions, payments and social sustainability. „Fairwear“ affects my clothes more directly (as the fabrics are being produced in Turkey); the importers and producers commits themselves to improve labour conditions to meet ILO/FLO standards; decent wages, no healt or security risks and democratic deicison making.
Please describe how your worker and socially friendly working conditions look like in practice?
Everyone involved in the process of producing the fabric get fair wages and will not have to risk their health by being exposed to dangerous chemicals in the harvesting or colouring-process. They are also ensured the freedom to join workers unions. The berlin-located production are made only by me(the designer) and one external tailor -setting her own prices.