Slow fashion has several meanings. The most important thing to me, is the focus on sustainability, functionality and care for humans and animals. Also, it’s important to me to reduce fashion waste by making use of what’s already there. Recycling and upcycling are great ways to do this. GROUNDTRUTH is one of the brands that has this ethical and sustainable approach to fashion, and I’m happy to introduce you to them today.
Plastic waste
But before I continue, I want to dive into a huge problem.
Fast fashion is one of the most polluting industries, and that’s not something I want to contribute to at all. Therefore I’ve ditched fast fashion in 2018, which you can read all about here.
Fast fashion is particularly very polluting due to the enormous use of synthetic fibers such as polyester and acrylic. These fibers release microplastics whilst washing, but even through wearing. “The mass use of synthetic materials presents a particular threat to marine environments.” as Brooks et al. (2014) describes. The plastics and microplastics from our clothing end up in the ocean, endangering lives of sea animals and the people who eat them as well. One of the places (micro)plastics end up in, is The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge swirling flotsam of waste. As The Ocean Cleanup confirmed: “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. A total of 1.8 trillion plastic pieces were estimated to be floating in the patch – a plastic count that is equivalent to 250 pieces of debris for every human in the world.”
As this is a sickening problem, we also have to look for solutions to this big scale of plastic waste pollution.
From plastic to product: GROUNDTRUTH
GROUNDTRUTH is one of the companies that realised this problem is important and needs a solution.
So who’s behind GROUNDTRUTH?
Nina, Georgia and Sophia, three sisters, are filmmakers, travelling the world to translate impactful stories into documentaries. Whilst visiting different places across the globe, they’d see plastic waste everywhere. During their travels, they also came to realise, it was hard to find practical yet stylish bags that would fit all their equipment.
So after brainstorming about what they could do as a solution, they decided to create a bag company that provides stylish travel bags, but also reduces plastic waste. One of their main goals is to raise awareness around environmental problems.
Sustainability at GROUNDTRUTH
As the sisters have a background in documentary making, they apply the same mentally from journalism with ethical fashion. They’re true story tellers and they want to have a positive impact. GROUNDTRUTH is about making an informed and honest decision, that’s why it’s so important to them to be fully transparent and truly green.
The production is an in-house process, where bags are made in a super green factory in Indonesia. Furthermore, the fabrics used for the products are made by GROUNDTRUTH and invented by them and a Taiwan factory. The bags are 100% recycled, as 120 bottles go in one bag. Check out their full mission and innovation here.
The collections and retailers
At the moment you can shop the full GROUNDTRUTH collection in The Netherlands in Amsterdam at Six and Sons. But you can also shop from their own website.
As of now, they will be releasing 4 core ranges in total. Each range will target different types of customers in terms of aesthetics and style. With each range attached to an important environmental story with inspiring work from our selected brand ambassadors.
The first collection, which is already available in store and online, is the debut range: RIKR. This range has been tried and tested in Antarctica by Robert Swan (polar explorer and first man to walk both North and South Pole). This is our durable technical range.
The second and upcoming collection is the UNDA. This range is the ultimate waterproof range targeted at the biker commuter. It will be tried and tested in Borneo.
The third collection, SOL, is made entirely from vegan leather and is targeted at the more luxurious market. This one will be tried and tested in South Sudan.
The last collection, the TERRA range, is their minimal range perfect for the modern urban customer and will be tried and tested in Singapore.
How to style the bags
The bags from GROUNDTRUTH are sporty, functional and modern. Therefore, they are the perfect bag to use whilst traveling, but also stylish and modern to bring to a meeting.
The bag I have is the 13″ laptop bag, and it’s easy to bring everywhere. Besides my laptop, it also big enough to fit my charger, calendar, a pen, organic lip balm, my wallet and keys.
I’ve styled this bag with my oversized winter coat, but I also like it with aqua blue flats and a white shirt for my work meetings.
