“Wearing Cultures” - Effei's Holistic Approach
Intro
In this exclusive interview, we dive into the world of EFFEI, a fashion brand that celebrates the beauty of cultural diversity. Join us as we chat with the founder to gain insights into the brand's creation, sustainable design practices, aspirations for the fashion industry, and personal inspirations.
interview by Ezgi Atay
Finding a way to express how unique and precious diversity is, was our first step.
Q1.
How did you decide to create EFFEI?
Effei was born from the desire to talk about diversity, especially cultural diversity. Finding a way to express how unique and precious diversity is, was our first step.
Image: Aurora wearing Effei
Q2.
How do your design practices support sustainability?
Our items are realized with fabrics entirely handmade by artisans from different countries and cultures. This allows us to act in order to preserve local traditions and implement local economies and maintain traceable production.
All the used techniques include hand painting, hand embroidery, and natural dyes and the selected materials in our supply chain are organic cotton, recycled or recycled materials starting from raw materials until the packaging in which we ship our products.
Image: Effei bag
Q3.
Are there any aspects of the fashion industry that you’d like to change?
The “speed” of the fashion system. Fashion was born as an art and we should learn again what creating things means. The time each garment and the people who made it need to think it out, create it and send it out.
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Q4.
How do you see the future of fashion? Do you think that new technologies will impact sustainability?
I wish I had a great answer to this question, but I really don’t. Fashion is a huge market and more than any other it is closely linked to changes in society and therefore particularly unpredictable. I am quite sure of the great role the tech industry will play in the fashion industry, as it is one of the most powerful tools for a real ecological transition.
Image: Effei
Q5.
Which periods of fashion history appeal to you and why? How do you describe your personal style?
What drove me to start a business in the fashion industry was the connection that this world has with every culture. It seems to be a fil rouge that runs through every country and every person. Everyone has their own fashion style, even those who are not interested in fashion at all, it’s a way of expressing themselves and this is what I love most. Of course, textile traditions (we can say period 0 in every fashion culture) are what attract me the most. I can describe my personal style as versatile, under the rule unique comfy casual.
