“Fashion is out of fashion” - timeless label Ignore wants to change that

In our quest to find and feature cool and sustainable brands, FashionUnited chatted with Bekka Oomens, founder of Ignore, a Dutch slow fashion label that follows the motto “from appearance to awareness”. We talked about the current state of the fashion industry, how it could be, sustainable production and more.

In contrast to similar brands, Ignore does not promote itself as a sustainable or eco label per se. “It is a nice brand with fashion items that you don't relate with being green or sustainable but it is. The idea is to attract customers who never thought about [sustainability] and then realise by looking at the label that something is going on,” explains Oomens.

For ten years, she worked as a designer and product developer for various fashion brands and retailers, frequently travelling to production facilities in China, Thailand and Hong Kong. Initially, all was well and Oomens enjoyed her job but as the years wore on, so did her frustration with an industry that should change and move but did not. “I didn't feel happy,” recounts Oomens. “I had enough of being a price biter, buying 10,000 pieces for two euros. I did not want to be part of this industry any more.”

Instead, Oomens dreamed of her own brand but was called to Portugal for a freelance job. There, she discovered the people, the country and the fashion industry, learning Portuguese in the process. She also travelled the country and discovered highly skilled artisans. Then, things started to happen also in the direction of developing her own brand. “I was a one-woman-show, so production wise, it would not have been possible to control Asia. So I had to be smart and work in Portugal and then the pieces started falling into place,” she recalls.

Quite literally one may add as with the help of a friend who had a small leather atelier, she designed her first jacket, using eco-friendly leather. T-shirts followed, then sweaters until she had built a small collection and thought 'let's make a brand out of it'. When a green bank knocked on her door, wanting to sponsor her attendance of Modefabriek in Amsterdam last June, Oomens did not think twice, grabbed her 15 samples and went. The rest is history – Oonen's brand Ignore grew bit by bit until it became a real brand with inquiries from all over the world.

How did sustainability come into the picture?

In the industry, the whole concept of fast fashion is so wasteful; just buying new clothes and throwing them away soon after. I thought 'let's not make a really big collection' because usually, when 300 pieces are created, 200 are not taken by retailers. Instead, I wanted to do a small collection so that every piece would be taken. Being seasonless is being sustainable as well; pieces work across seasons and do not need to be thrown out because they don't match or they have fancy colours. Plus, I don't like the whole concept of working ahead, especially when 'see now, buy now' is really working in Holland [the brand's strongest market so far].

Fast fashion seems to appeal to a younger audience as well.

That's correct. With age, you start to appreciate what you have and know what you want. I can see that with the target group: confident, well-educated women who want to feel good in what they buy and hang on to it for a while.

I also looked at other industries and wondered 'how come bio, eco and home-made is so popular elsewhere, the food industry for example, why not in fashion? Fashion is out of fashion in my opinion. [Being sustainable] is the future.

Speaking of getting inspired by other industries, don't you have a jacket that got started by looking closely at the automobile industry?

That is correct. The Caroline biker is our fake suede jacket, which is completely vegan. It utilises a fabric that is used and made for covering car seats, from recycled polyester and PET bottles. I love it because it is vegan and recycled.

The other materials are sustainable as well: Our leathers are chrome free and bought in Portugal according to EU standards. Fabrics used in our collections are for instance wood based tencel, GOTS certified organic cotton and knitted sweaters made from recycled denim pants. We prefer to work with socially responsible partners, and to reduce water waste our hangtags are made from 100 percent recycled paper.

That sounds really good. What about the sweater that is made out of old denims?

That's our model Nola; it is made in collaboration with an Italian company – they collect old denim pants and reuse them. Production follows a closed loop because less water and electricity is used because the material is already recycled so you need less water and chemicals. In fact, we get a lot of inquiries from men about this product.

Are you planning to come out with articles for men? What are other future plans?

Maybe we'll do just the sweater for men at this point. We are small right now but we want to get a broader portfolio. There is also a sustainable fashion week in Italy that we want to be part of, maybe in one of the pre-shows. We want to show that you can have a sustainable brand at reasonable prices.

And speaking of prices, how would customers get a hold of Ignore products?

Currently, we sell through retailers in Holland, Germany and Switzerland, with the Netherlands and Switzerland being our biggest markets. From this month onwards, the webshop (ignorethebrand.com) will also offer a bigger collection. Next year, we're planning to go to US and Candada.

Photos: courtesy of Ignore the Brand