If you had to choose between using limited natural resources for survival or for the production of unnecessary clothing, what would you choose? Matteo Ward, co-founder of Wråd together with Victor Santiago and Silvia Giovanardi, launches a question to the world, the answer to which may seem obvious, but unfortunately evocative of a reality that is there for everyone to see every day, and of which many are unwittingly accomplices. Wråd Living, conceived with the aim of challenging, in no uncertain terms, a status quo that is no longer sustainable, was born in 2015 as an educational project to become today a 360-degree reality, which in no uncertain terms brings to light a problem: the impact of fashion on the environment and society. Educational project, brand, magazine, research hub but also lifestyle, Wråd is a fascinating reality from which everyone, absolutely everyone, could learn something about the re-definition of a lifestyle that is killing our planet. We have met Matteo for you, to make you discover a world that will soon, hopefully, become the new normal.
TBS: Wråd proposes itself as a challenge to the status quo, starting from a global crisis, through sustainable innovation, from what needs did it arise and what differentiates it from other proposals?
Matteo: The need arises from the fact that for several years, at the beginning of my career in the world of retail and clothing, I was part of the problem without realizing it. In fact, before starting WRÅD, I worked for 6 years as Sr. Manager and Co-Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Council for Abercrombie and Fitch. In 2012-2013, I began to metabolize for the first time what the real social and environmental cost of our sector was – a truth that scared me and became increasingly difficult for me to ignore. And that above all gives me to understand that what I was doing was no longer aligned with the person I wanted to be. Then the decision in 2015 to question my status quo, by firing me, and to create WRÅD together with Victor Santiago and Silvia Giovanardi. It was initially born as an educational project: the first objective was to generate awareness to give all the tools to revolutionize the system with knowledge. From there we became an innovative start-up in 2016 thanks to the investment and partnership of the company Alisea Recycled and Reused Objects Design and, finally, a brand and design studio in 2017. The uniqueness of WRÅD lies precisely in this: not to be a brand but a reality that was created to give all people who want it the opportunity to question the no longer sustainable status quo of the fashion system through projects that break down the boundaries between product and service.
TBS: Wråd is a brand, a magazine but also a real philosophy of life, could you explain us in more detail what this universe consists of and how it is divided?
Matteo: We have three synergistic and complementary souls, Education, Innovation and Design, made up of people, companies, institutions, ambassadors, NGOs, artists, activists, students, educators, entrepreneurs and politicians all united in their diversity by the desire to revolutionize the system with us and through us. This symbiotic ecosystem represents our universe – a magical universe, truly capable of out-of-the-ordinary results, animated by the desire to give back to design the ability to respond to people’s real needs.
Our actions always have an educational purpose first and foremost: since 2015 we have been working pro-bono to distribute workshops on textile sustainability in Italian and foreign schools and universities. In 2019 we reached 11,000 students and collaborations with 102 countries and 16 universities. Aware that education alone cannot be enough to create a systemic revolution, we are very active with our partners on the research and development front for innovation. It is not enough to replace a material for the product to be able to define it as sustainable, it is necessary to re-invent the entire system and redefine the role of clothing in society. To do this we must give ourselves the opportunity to imagine, write and try new formulas. Design, our third soul, is our field of experimentation of ideas for a future which, we must be aware of, can no longer afford to assign resources essential for the survival of humanity on the planet to the production of hundreds of billions of clothes every year.
TBS: One of Wråd’s vademecums and goal is to bring about a change on a social level, what do you think is the best method to activate it today?
Matteo: More than a method, I would talk of a feeling that seems to have been lost: empathy. Being able to reconnect with those around us and with the world, understand and share their mood, values and needs and use that understanding not to sell products or services that no one needs, but to solve problems in inclusive way. This would change many social dynamics that are currently unjust and unbalanced in the fashion system. Then, in practical terms, I think that today for private companies, for brands, a fundamental tool, still little used as a social service, is communication. And I’m not talking about some sporadic post dedicated to social issues to push us to buy another product that we don’t need anyway. I speak of communication as a lively interaction, as a dialogue to really inspire and activate a new generation of people to get up and get angry if it serves to protect our health, social justice and our rights.
TBS: In the article Ecological Libertinism published in Wråd magazine, it is said that the term sustainability is used in a misleading and superficial way, as if it were used only for storytelling by most brands, in which way yours is instead a more concrete and profound approach of others? What are the tools that should be used for a truly sustainable revolution?
Matteo: As the author of that article and our first ambassador, Alvise Bortolato, writes, “in an increasingly virtual age, the risk of a misleading and superficial storytelling is real and the tools to defend oneself are scarce”. Not giving oneself the time and privilege of trying to understand the complexity of the words “sustainable fashion” is risky because, as is happening, there is a risk of selling lies or, worse, the illusion of doing something good for the Planet when in in reality we are maybe doing the exact opposite. From our point of view, if we stop for a moment to think about the real meaning of sustainability, it is difficult today to be able to say that there really is a brand that makes sustainable fashion – it does not exist. There are also brands that are more or less responsible, from an environmental and / or social point of view. And, as far as we are concerned, we have never presented ourselves as a sustainable fashion brand, we are not comfortable with this definition. Perhaps our approach can therefore be more concrete for this, I don’t know, we should ask the community.
TBS: Being sustainable in 2021 seems to have become a must and no longer an innovation. Do you think this could be the consequence on which many brands have marched to recover after the crisis created by the pandemic?
Matteo: I think the pandemic has strengthened in all of us the desire to reconnect with what we recognize to be really important: family, community, environment. In 2020, brands responded differently by bombarding us with newsletters and self-referential messages, a competition to see who is greener or who has the most recycled garments in the collection – a deadly bore, very often frustrating, sometimes actually even interesting, but which in general created a lot of confusion. It is good that we all ask ourselves how to make our actions responsible, we never stop learning because we are in transition. But corporate responsibility is not something that is done to the sound of press conferences and editorial plans – it is the manifestation of a profound culture that must be transmitted by people and with facts.
TBS: ”Wråd is not a brand, it’s our call to action” Could you comment on it?
Matteo: We are not literally born as a brand but as an educational movement to inspire people like us to give their vision for the future a chance. To give all of us the opportunity to “challenge the status quo”. The WRÅD brand was the result of a journey, the manifesto of a working methodology based on innovation of thought, process and product.
TBS: Talking about clothing products, what are the sustainable innovations your brand brings? What can you tell us about the collection?
Matteo: We have developed a technology, g_pwdr technology, thanks to the partnership with Alisea Recycled and Reused Objects Design which then registered the patent. This is based on the recovery of graphite powder, a by-product of the production of electrodes, otherwise disposed of in landfills for dyeing garments. It is a process that gives each of us the power to recycle a noble material simply by wearing clothes. It is also non-toxic for the skin, replaces chemical pigments and is an innovation that recovers a small piece of Italian textile history – the first to dye with graphite were in fact the Ancient Romans more than 2,000 years ago, tradition which has been handed down to us by the citizens of Monterosso Calabro (Calabria) where until the 1940s it was still dyed with graphite as in antiquity. This technology was also used for our latest collaboration with Fiat for the launch of the New 500 in its electric version, where each garment is dyed with graphite powder also recovered from the production of their electrodes.
TBS: Looking to the future, what do you think will be the path taken by fashion companies? Will sustainability be the new normal? And if so, will it be real?
Matteo: Sustainability, rather than the new normal, will be a necessity imposed by the limits of the environmental and social system and, I hope, by the regulatory system. I think it will necessarily be real because, in no uncertain terms, there is no more water to sustain both the textile production and the thirst of billions of people on the planet. If we have to choose how to allocate limited resources between sectors essential to ensure the survival of man and other forms of life and sectors dedicated to the production of clothing, what do you think we will do? We will have no choice. The innovation of materials and production processes will help us, the structure of a circular economy will be decisive but, in my opinion, we will also face a total revolution in the meaning and role of clothing in society – a revolution who will prefer functionality.
Wråd‘s projects are constantly evolving! Stay tuned because soon we will let you discover another novelty, the result of a collaboration that has given life to innovative garments starting from vintage pieces, which we are sure you will love.