Freiburg im Breisgau. – Ecological capital
Fashion shopping in Solar City
If you think of alternative folklore when you hear ‘provincial student’s city’ and ‘Black Forest’, you are off track. Urban street wear, trendy looks and hot international labels are marketed from Freiburg using fair methods. THIS means they have to have an advantage over other fashion brands – bear the organic logo and be produced and distributed in accordance with fair-trade conditions.
++Mentors are nothing new in Freiburg; the provincial city, which is located in the geographical triangle of Germany, Switzerland and France, is famous for its university and the arts and better known for its philosopher Heidegger.
This is about the extent of its renown, at least until the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Following this, Freiburg im Breisgau worked for its title, ‘ecological capital’, boasting exceptional environmental projects and investing in renewable energy and climate protection. Freiburg has a high quality of living; the birth rate is all right although half of the households are single. From the 200,000 inhabitants, less than half the population does not even own a car – less than the German average -; there are many bicycles and there is an environmental-friendly tram. The most important solar companies operate out of Freiburg; this earned the city its American nickname.++
GoodTrueBeautiful GmbH has its origins and registered office in Freiburg. Fashion expert Christoph Dahn (43) has anchored his idea of fashion in the company name: Good (fair working conditions), True (protection of the environment) and Beautiful (cool looks). The looks come from the club, skating and surfing scene and these were the first young customers where fair thinking and trading was ‘hip’ before it became ripe for Hollywood.
gtb distributes exclusively to shop customers, for example, ‘ethically correct’ labels in demand like Kuyichi (NL), Stewart Brown (USA) and Terra Plana (UK), etc. The gtb fashion labels can be obtained directly via the online shop (www.true-fashion.com).
“Bringing organics and ethics into the fashion scene and not the other way around” is Dahn’s concept. Fashion is the crowd puller, ethics the peg to hang it on.
The FairWear shop of the partners Matthias Rau and Sascha Klemz is more dependent on the local public. They have good contacts to the active third-world scene; they sell their “fair-trade and organic street wear” of the fashionable international label as well as from their own production and via their online shop (www.fair-wear-de).
Other shops in Freiburg that did without ethics up to now are picking up on the trend increasingly. Laden Zwo (top-quality city sportswear) and Yam Yam (shoes) are already making use of the gtb collections.
Freiburg is a good location for the ethically correct fashion suppliers. There are plenty of organic initiatives and in the local street scene, the ethical and fair-trade idea are becoming more and more a ‘fashionable’ part of the cool outfits. The trend messages are migrating with the club and surfer clans throughout the country, this time from Freiburg.
++ P.S. If you plan to fashion shop in Freiburg, reserve a tour beforehand with the girls from Kaufrausch (shopping spree). This saves buying a city map. The Kaufrausch guides will lead you to the right places on their amusing and ‘globally-critical walk’ about the city. ++
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