3 May 2024 - Tuomas Merikoski
"This newsletter is a short writing of ongoing reflections, in my and my teams workspace. It’s a “digest” of our work and the fashion industry (creative perspective) and it is about facing sustainability as our no. 1 challenge; a topic that I am obsessed and engaged on since 2018.”
Clothes aren't going to change the world, it's the people who design and wear them who will.
AALTO has always had a special, deeper goal for me; to create a space and own unique environment where things can be made differently and where honest creativity is the thriving force. In the search of this honesty (read ‘sustainability’) and riding the fashion wave (aalto means wave in my native Finnish) comes naturally with its ups and downs. Finally, in 2022 I transformed the company to do everything under sustainable Recoded™ system. I had found my creative honesty; an alternative solution to keep doing fashion with radical sustainability and transparency in mind.
Today finally, after many struggles and trials, we know there is quantifiable substance and value in sustainable product. It permits us to be true to our goals. It is fashion after all, and first of all, but we are reaching some interesting milestones; our product saves 80% carbon footprint versus a standard recycled product.
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Production metrics are just a relative truth unless we manage to engage the consumer in the ultimate way - wearing, caring and sharing over the years each fashion item. It has to be an emotional journey. Only then it becomes truly sustainable. But this notion also makes really sense creatively - using second hand upcycling processes and old materials – to tap directly into the true feel of vintage. And maybe the most interesting new brands are tapping to this; likes as Bode and Wales Bonner. When I analyze my own consumer behavior, my real treasures are the pieces I have “worn-in” and worn over years. So why not to re-create this to new pieces?
I also feel that the creative process is the undermined added value of the product. So evolving the creative work behind is also so relevant today.
I hope your interest to this type of fashion awakes, and I help you doing so. For more depth I invite you to follow our journey forward and try our product out. Don't hesitate to give us feedback and help us to keep this growing.
