What is Slow Fashion to Merz b. Schwanen?

Following up on this week's story, we want to dive a little bit deeper into Slow Fashion.

Slow Fashion means slowing down not in the sense of producing or being slow, but keeping calm and having patience in making timeless and long-lasting pieces that will be your loyal companions throughout the years.

Slow Fashion represents sustainable and conscious fashion. It's about creating mindful collections, ensuring each piece of apparel is of high quality. The term describes a change towards more responsibility and respect for people and the environment and a different awareness towards products, their origins, and our consumption behavior. To the benefit of environmentally friendly manufacturing and selection of the best natural materials, sustainable production and high-quality processing, the conscious use and durability of clothing – this is everything Merz b. Schwanen stands for ever since.

Strength lies within calmness

In our hectic daily lives, slowing down somehow brings certainty and calmness from which you draw new strength and energy. Our origin is the authentic way of manufacturing unique fabrics on 100-year-old original loop wheelers in Germany, as well as taking classic designs as our source of inspiration.

Patience, peace, and a lot of experience – this is what you need if you work with original loop wheelers. These machines revolve at a very slow speed and require artisan craftsmanship and special technique. Most of our fabrics are made on these old machines, and they look and feel pretty different – one-of-a-kind haptic. They are very durable as well as time-intensive. But this is precisely what makes the fabrics exceptional and unique. Moreover, all 32 loop wheelers are connected with leather belts and driven by a single electric motor, which means that the production on loowheelers is very energy-efficient, and the ecological footprint is reduced.

Designs inspired by all-time classics

We believe that good products don't have to be invented again and again. They are timeless and long-lasting. Classic cuts that show the origins of Merz b. Schwanen now come to the fore.

The GOOD ORIGINALS span all decades from the vintage 1920s, 1930s, 1940s all the way up to modern styles from the 1950s to 1980s. These garments are directly inspired by a traditional way of crafting authentic vintage garments, honest craftsmanship, and passion. The GOOD BASICS that are manufactured in Portugal are the evolution of our heritage. It's about creating designs with modern colors, new organic and recycled materials, and contemporary styles.

When it comes to picking a production facility for the GOOD BASICS line, we have our core values to steer us:

• making the best pieces of authentic vintage clothing possible,
• paying attention to the exclusive use of high-quality materials,
• fair working conditions.

Our manufacturers embody everything we attach importance to: kind, reliable people who are passionate about their crafts and about the people they work with. People who share the same love for subtle designs and work-ethic like us; who appreciate good materials and socially responsible manufacturing processes; who embrace life and enjoy sharing all that is good. We believe good people deserve to be celebrated! Therefore, we would like you to meet people who actually make Merz b. Schwanen products.

We honor the past and make the change now

From the choice of materials through the whole value chain to the careful eco-packaging or recycled polybag. We pay close attention to the use of natural, organic materials for Merz b. Schwanen. All of our fabrics have one thing in common: they are all made of high-quality materials such as organic cotton, all grown under controlled organic farming conditions, mulling-free certified merino wool, super-fine cashmere, or the natural product of viscose.

These naturally finished materials assure the best feel and comfort while wearing. Our mission is to honor our unique past and to make a change now while looking into the future. We keep a fresh attitude doing our best to develop good products you will hopefully enjoy for a long time.

Read more about Merz b. Schwanen on the brandpage: fashionunited.com/companies/merz-b-schwanen