Help a clothing upcycling business start up
Donation protected
Hi everyone!
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic & being pushed out of our jobs for being trans, we started our own business as a way to lift ourselves out of this situation & to avoid having to deal with any more future discrimination from any managers.
We are called WONKY and we rework sustainably sourced, damaged vintage and second-hand clothing that would usually go to landfill. In some cases, we make simple fixes to it and freshen it up - these we sell on our Depop. For more damaged raw stock, we bleach dye it, cut it up and create giant patchworks to make entirely new garments and outfits from.
We're currently a team of just two: Ai and Mabel.
Mabel (she/they) is a Fashion Creative with a degree in Fashion Design and Ai (they/them) is a Creative Consultant with a degree in Digital Media Production.
We are Plus Size friendly because we cater to ALL sizes by creating garments up to whatever size our customers need, from XS-9XL and beyond.
We are Trans friendly because we cater to ALL genders by altering all of our clothes to custom measurements if a customer needs it, at no extra charge.
After both working in the fashion and vintage fashion industries, we know how these businesses are run and we want to conduct our business in a radically different way. We want, at every single step of WONKY's journey, to show that it is possible to run a business and be kind, ethical, fair and responsible.
We want to show other businesses that you can actually source raw stock sustainably rather than just claiming to, that you can price items fairly because you you don't actually need to endlessly expand and that you can pay and treat your staff fairly and with dignity. We also want to show other clothes businesses that the world won't implode if they start stocking clothes above 2XL or if you start catering to trans people.
Our Core Values:
1. Openness, honesty and fairness - in all things, including with our pricing.
2. Accountability and responsibility - We will never place ourselves above criticism and we promise to only ever use and promote ethical work practices and to treat staff, artists we hire, customers & the planet with kindness and respect. We promise to only ever pay the True Living Wage or above it to everyone we hire or work with.
3. Sustainability - only ever to use sustainably sourced second-hand stock to make our clothes.
4. Equity - We promise to divert at least 20% of our profits as a business to a cash pot that we use monthly or bi-monthly to pay out lump sum giveaways to black trans & queer individuals across the world, using whatever payment method suits them best.
We started off by using a mixture of Depop to sell our simpler reworked clothing & our Instagram to sell our custom patchwork items.
CAMPAIGN INFO:
Who will benefit
- People who need or want to buy vintage clothing at sizes above 2XL
- Trans people who may need or want items altering before dispatch so that clothes fit their bodies perfectly
- Disabled people who may need alterations to our outfits such as fiddly buttons being replaced with zips or clasps
- The planet!
What will the funds be used for?
- Raw and damaged stock from a wholesaler that we will upcycle into new garments and outfits (£800)
- To pay the graphic designers and artists that help us market WONKY (£200)
How soon we need the funds
As soon as possible, we couldn't wait any longer to start the business but we don't have much raw stock to work with and no income to buy any with.
What the support will mean to us
This support will mean that we can actually live for ourselves without having to rely on hateful, transphobic, queerphobic and ableist managers for a pay check that is a fraction of the real value of our labour and no compensation or legal recourse for having to be surrounded by verbally abusive co-workers and managers.
It will also mean that we can begin our business in earnest as we'd be able to buy raw stock in bulk, whereas right now we're reworking unwanted items from our own wardrobes just so that we can have some income coming in.
How grateful will we be for the help?
Even if we receive only one donation through this, we will count it as a blessing. Times are hard and they've always been hard for people like us, but even a little bit of support could mean the difference between failure and success for us.
Links:
Instagram
Depop
Facebook
Or check out our full links page <<< here
Anything you can give would be appreciated
Thank you
Ai & Mabel
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic & being pushed out of our jobs for being trans, we started our own business as a way to lift ourselves out of this situation & to avoid having to deal with any more future discrimination from any managers.
We are called WONKY and we rework sustainably sourced, damaged vintage and second-hand clothing that would usually go to landfill. In some cases, we make simple fixes to it and freshen it up - these we sell on our Depop. For more damaged raw stock, we bleach dye it, cut it up and create giant patchworks to make entirely new garments and outfits from.
We're currently a team of just two: Ai and Mabel.
Mabel (she/they) is a Fashion Creative with a degree in Fashion Design and Ai (they/them) is a Creative Consultant with a degree in Digital Media Production.
We are Plus Size friendly because we cater to ALL sizes by creating garments up to whatever size our customers need, from XS-9XL and beyond.
We are Trans friendly because we cater to ALL genders by altering all of our clothes to custom measurements if a customer needs it, at no extra charge.
After both working in the fashion and vintage fashion industries, we know how these businesses are run and we want to conduct our business in a radically different way. We want, at every single step of WONKY's journey, to show that it is possible to run a business and be kind, ethical, fair and responsible.
We want to show other businesses that you can actually source raw stock sustainably rather than just claiming to, that you can price items fairly because you you don't actually need to endlessly expand and that you can pay and treat your staff fairly and with dignity. We also want to show other clothes businesses that the world won't implode if they start stocking clothes above 2XL or if you start catering to trans people.
Our Core Values:
1. Openness, honesty and fairness - in all things, including with our pricing.
2. Accountability and responsibility - We will never place ourselves above criticism and we promise to only ever use and promote ethical work practices and to treat staff, artists we hire, customers & the planet with kindness and respect. We promise to only ever pay the True Living Wage or above it to everyone we hire or work with.
3. Sustainability - only ever to use sustainably sourced second-hand stock to make our clothes.
4. Equity - We promise to divert at least 20% of our profits as a business to a cash pot that we use monthly or bi-monthly to pay out lump sum giveaways to black trans & queer individuals across the world, using whatever payment method suits them best.
We started off by using a mixture of Depop to sell our simpler reworked clothing & our Instagram to sell our custom patchwork items.
CAMPAIGN INFO:
Who will benefit
- People who need or want to buy vintage clothing at sizes above 2XL
- Trans people who may need or want items altering before dispatch so that clothes fit their bodies perfectly
- Disabled people who may need alterations to our outfits such as fiddly buttons being replaced with zips or clasps
- The planet!
What will the funds be used for?
- Raw and damaged stock from a wholesaler that we will upcycle into new garments and outfits (£800)
- To pay the graphic designers and artists that help us market WONKY (£200)
How soon we need the funds
As soon as possible, we couldn't wait any longer to start the business but we don't have much raw stock to work with and no income to buy any with.
What the support will mean to us
This support will mean that we can actually live for ourselves without having to rely on hateful, transphobic, queerphobic and ableist managers for a pay check that is a fraction of the real value of our labour and no compensation or legal recourse for having to be surrounded by verbally abusive co-workers and managers.
It will also mean that we can begin our business in earnest as we'd be able to buy raw stock in bulk, whereas right now we're reworking unwanted items from our own wardrobes just so that we can have some income coming in.
How grateful will we be for the help?
Even if we receive only one donation through this, we will count it as a blessing. Times are hard and they've always been hard for people like us, but even a little bit of support could mean the difference between failure and success for us.
Links:
Depop
Or check out our full links page <<< here
Anything you can give would be appreciated
Thank you
Ai & Mabel
Organizer
Ai Castellano
Organizer
