coster copenhagen helps impoverished Chinese women

coster copenhagen, the new clothing company headed by

Danish designer Pia Coster, has a focus on sustainability and helps poor Chinese women to get away from urban factories and return home to their families in the countryside. Here they knit designer sweaters for fashion-conscious Danish women.

For designer Pia Coster, it is not only important to follow her passion – operating her own company – but also to give other people in the world decent living conditions. coster copenhagen’s first collection, which will be presented at the CIFF fashion fair at Bella Center in February, includes designer sweaters hand-knitted by Chinese women whose workplaces have been moved by Pia Coster from urban factories to their homes in the countryside.

Pia Coster has a long career as creative director behind her, including at Saint Tropez and most recently at Minus. She is now starting her new company, coster copenhagen, based in the city of Humlebæk north of Copenhagen. She got the idea of helping the Chinese women in the village of Rugao in Jiangsu Province on one of her many trips to the East. As an independent entrepreneur, she knows all about missing one’s children. And for the women in the Chinese villages, it is even worse:

“They live an extremely hard life and due to poverty they are often forced to leave their families to work at a factory. Some of the women only travel home once a year for the Chinese New Year. During the remaining time, the children are left to be cared for by their grandmothers. I would like to give the women the gift that I know is so important – the chance to see their children grow up,” says Pia Coster.

Pia Coster is not conducting a social experiment. It is important to her that the women have a fair income and make a livelihood from the knitting, and that they deliver high quality products:

“I am very aware that what they are doing not only creates value for themselves, but also for me. To me, this is the most sustainable way to help – not just giving humanitarian aid, but actually operating a business. The women produce products with the correct measurements every time and the wool quality and knitting is top notch, so I am proud to have the sweaters as a part of coster copenhagen’s first collection,” says Pia Coster.

Each of the exclusive designer sweaters will have the hand-knitter’s Chinese signature on a label in the neck. The retail price of the sweaters will be approx. DKK 1,000 - 1,500.