In Focus: Female-Founded Slow Fashion Brands

Fashion often serves as a platform for celebrating women’s empowerment, diversity, and individuality. However, the glamorous facade many times conceals a harsh reality: the industry’s supply chain filled with underpaid, overworked, and mistreated female workforce. Their voices suppressed, their rights disregarded. It’s a heartbreaking paradox: the industry that claims to empower women in one corner of the world consistently takes advantage of them in another.

This International Women’s Day, we are therefore excited to celebrate and give recognition to our community of incredible women designers and founders who have chosen a different path, creating clothing and accessories with deep respect for their craft, the environment, and all the people involved in the creation process.

Here is a list of some of our favourite sustainable fashion brands, created by women for women.

Athru

Founded in 2024 by Denis Zheleva, Athru is a new fashion label dedicated to producing high-quality sustainable luxury products. The brand’s essence lies in the harmonious synergy between quality, opulence, and sustainability. Every garment is meticulously handcrafted in Bulgaria, exclusively using sustainable materials and eschewing any form of polyester. This dedication to ethical practices propagates from fabric to thread, guaranteeing that quality remains paramount in each piece.

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Joanna Organisciak

Joanna Organisciak is young designer based in Poland. Characteristic style of her brand Organisciak is unique combination of classic and modern, deconstruction of traditional forms and ambiguity. Easy yet elegant shirts and dresses in the brand’s signature white color fulfill the mission to bring an avant-garde twist to the classic silhouettes.

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Balade

Alicja and Jess, of the Poland-based jewellery brand Balade, are two friends with razor-sharp vision. Collection after collection, they create sculptural pieces from precious metals in the most clean and modern shapes. They put their dedication and heart into ensuring that each jewellery piece is universal, simple, yet eye-catching. Each creation is designed for living and meant to seamlessly blend into the wearer’s daily life and personal narrative.

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ByJGK

Established in 2020 by an architect and designer Jacqueline Gotcheva-Keil, ByJGK is a multi-disciplinary slow fashion brand working at the intersection of fashion, utility, and design. The Bulgarian-born & Berlin-inspired label is based in both Sofia and Berlin and operates as an in-house design collective built on the principles of luxury, classic style, and timeless design. The result are distinctive, utterly wearable luxury basics created of silk or jersey. In line with sustainable fashion practices, ByJGK uses a zero-waste production approach to make each garment especially for you.

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Bepart

Bepart is a studio focused on handcrafted jewellery and homeware, founded in 2012 by artist and designer Petra Arbetova. Studio is finding the beauty in minimalistic forms, graphic elements & modern simplicity, using clean lines and geometric shapes to produce delicate and contemporary jewellery. All the pieces are designed and hand fabricated by the designer in her studio in Slovakia.

Shop timeless jewellery by Bepart

The first step towards changing the story of millions of women in the fashion industry is to ask yourself if your purchase also empowers the women who made it.

JORSYN-

Irena Rojs, the creative force behind JORSYN-, is redefining sustainable fashion with her innovative and timeless designs. Established after a decade of honing her craft in London, where she collaborated with esteemed fashion houses like Stella McCartney and Ports 1961, JORSYN- embodies a fusion of modern aesthetics and classic elegance. The label specializes in reimagining the classic shirt, transforming it into a contemporary staple that effortlessly elevates any wardrobe.

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Katja Kuhar

Katja Kuhar is a young Slovenian label created by Katja Kuhar Smiljanić. Katja’s collections masterfully combine classic elegance and a hint of nostalgia. By focusing on intricate details and custom-made print patterns, the label delivers a unique blend of pieces that stand out with their sophistication and individuality. Careful selection of fabrics and local and sustainable production make it a coveted choice for fashion enthusiasts seeking distinctive, ethically-made clothes and accessories.

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Ida Tau

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Sanda Vidmar

Inspired by raw forms and strong statements, Sanda Vidmar creates unique contemporary jewellery that celebrates playful tenderness of the natural world and its organic forms. Designed and handcrafted in her studio in Ljubljana, Slovenia, each piece is made with special attention to detail, embracing the natural imperfections of the hand work.

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