We are closing our shop. It has been a tough decision for us, but from an objective point of view the decision has been made already months ago – we just didn’t want to believe it. Since we have always been sharing our progress with you, and you have been the major factor of our progress, we would like to share our reasoning with you. 

But first, we want to say “thank you” from the bottom of our hearts. Without your trust and engagement, we would have never been able to make the experience that we had. You are the reason, why we enjoyed every single bit of the progress. Together, we created a different way of buying swimwear and later sportswear. Every single progress has been defined by you and our common belief that every body is beautiful and that we can build sustainable products that are better than non-sustainable products if only we listen to what we really need. 

Our values and beliefs have always been the core of our decision-making. Although Kim and I both have a business background and we knew that we could only be sustainable when our business is sustainable as well from a financial perspective, we never wanted to compromise on our values and beliefs. So we made compromises on the financial side. 

Our main aim in creating WONDA was to prove that we can create a value-based company for the sake of proofing and experiencing it. You can believe us, it has been so much worth the experience, but after some time we realized that we could never sustain both of us working full-time for WONDA with the business model that we had created in the first place. 

Roughly a year ago, we had to take a decision: Investment-heavy growth or doing business on the back burner. We decided against growth because we believed that we had to make compromises in sustainability aspects with scale and didn’t want to enforce the emotional trade-off that we already had at that stage. To be honest, two other major decision factors were, that we knew that the fashion industry was not our “home” and that we had no growth experience. 

We started to automise a lot of processes, except for the community support (thanks a lot Lina for all your dedication, at this point), and kept things low-key. Kim and I both got a job to gain growth experience and worked on our own growth. 

The past year brought a lot of challenges, that we didn’t see coming and that basically made us realise that we currently don’t have the energy and dedication anymore to give our company and especially our community the attention that is needed and deserved. 

We still believe strongly that doing sustainable business is the only way to actually do it, and we definitely know what we would do differently next time. We are gathering our experiences and learning and will share them with you next year. If you are interested, we are happy to connect with you on LinkedIn. 

Teresa LinkedIn

Kim LinkedIn

The post Why we are closing our shop appeared first on WONDA swim.

Positive effects from Covid-19 on our environment

The most obvious environmental benefit is that travel has diminished significantly across the globe. Some sources have reported that CO2 emissions dropped by 25 percent on average in urban centers around the world. In Venice, Italy, you could see fish and plants in the canal water for the first time in decades due to decreased boat traffic.

Changes in the fashion industry towards sustainability

Also, the fashion industry contributed its part to allow our planet a respite. In the year of nowhere to go physically, fashion companies introduced new categories and rethought production and raw materials. It was the year of resetting and questioning. According to the McKinsey & Business of Fashion’s “The State of Fashion 2020” report, this was the year that the industry ramped up its sustainable activities. That the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries, second only to oil, has been well-documented. The report says: “Consumers have demanded a clean-up, and 2020 will see the industry accelerate its engagement.”

The change is happening in different ways: Some brands develop new materials and ensure that products can be repaired or recycled. Gucci and Louis Vuitton, for instance, use deadstock for their productions as they had to find alternative sourcing options.

Even some big brands started to go seasonless. In Luxury, Gucci was the first one to go seasonless and cut down its fashion shows from five to two. Globally, brands focused on two prominent seasons and let go of “resort” and “prefall”. Going “seasonless” means that designers focus more on timeless clothing rather than trendy fashion with a short lifetime. This way, personal style gains more attention, and fashion as a service becomes less. This again helps to reduce consumers’ urge to adapt their wardrobe to constantly changing fashion trends and thus reduce consumption.

Some other brands got forced or decided to slow down their activities by reorganizing their strategies and slimming down their mass-consumption or -production concepts. This among others led to another change: concepts with less overproduction, less waste, and more circularity again.

Forced slow-down could become a case study for a future-save fashion model

Covid-19 has brought a new concept to light. Slowing down fast fashion by reducing seasons and focusing on quality instead of quantity. Vivienne Westwood reduced the size of its ready-to-wear business by 37 percent, bags by 55 percent and shoes by 58 percent over the past few years. Their actions proved that reducing speed doesn’t necessarily mean facing a lack of profitability.

“We can sell less, but sell better, and still be profitable.”

Global brand director at Vivienne Westwood, Christopher Di Pietro

Now their concept is the role model for a changing environment. What has been claimed to only work with regulations like taxing those actors more who pollute more, got now a single option to survive the crisis. We hope this need in combination with the already made policies and CSR plans, might lead to a long-term more natural slow down of the industry. We support the optimism of US designer Mara Hoffman who affirms our thesis: “Discomfort can be the greatest catalyst. It’s a gift to us.”.

Though, in a crisis, like the one we are facing, the very first priority is cutting costs. If priorities get shifted away from sustainability efforts, there will probably be no way around incentivizing companies to “build back better” through tax regulations.

Morten Lehmann, chief sustainability officer of the Global Fashion Agenda, is still concerned. He believes that the fashion industry just doesn’t get the urge for change.

“It’s contentious, but we need to explore how we can have a prosperous industry with less volume. The pandemic has only shown companies they have to [think about this] in order to become resilient. They need to prepare for when the climate crisis really kicks in and there’s resource scarcity. We know there aren’t enough resources in the world to continue as we are.”

Morton Lehmann

Massive overproduction triggers new business models

When sales are going down because consumer spending goes down as retail stores remain close, overproduction reaches a new level. Huge warehouse clearings with elusive discounts, like on Black Friday, led to impulse buys online. A rise in burned excess inventory fostered an already existing threat to our atmosphere and climate. But now, massive excess inventory brought not only the environmental but also the financial impact of it back to the center of attention – luckily. Revisiting business models in order to minimize excess inventory and to efficiently dispose it, became crucial. This need to simply survive the economic downturn will drive positive change in the long-term.

It is encouraging to see, that there are new business models evolving that were built to fight these issues. Queen of Raw is an online marketplace for deadstock resulting from overproduction. Stephanie Benedetto, one of the two founders of Queen of Raw, told us that they got a massive push from the crisis since a whole industry had to start looking for raw materials and supplies online. Since their launch in 2018, their platform enabled fashion companies to save 500 million tons of deadstock from being burned.

Spotlight on the brand-supplier-relationships forces transparency

Similarly, more public review on the relationship between brands and suppliers can push brands to act more responsibly. Reports of retailers canceling orders and delaying payments to suppliers in the wake of Covid-19 has brought into spotlight, how brands manage their relationships with supply chain partners. As a result many companies, from H&M to Primark, got pushed to announce that they are going to “honor their commitments“. However, details got swept behind the curtain so that we can just hope that the ones that already suffer from normal conditions don’t get treated even less fair due to savage cost-cutting initiatives.

Covid-19 brought minimalistic habits

Spending much more time at home than usual, consumers got confronted with their “stuff” more than ever. Possession and consumption got questioned, which resulted, among others, in huge wardrobe clearings. Globally, second-hand, subscription, and rental were the three fastest-growing retail categories, according to McKinsey, and thus also clothing disposal got in the center of attention. Unfortunately, the majority of sorted out clothes still lands in the regular household trash. This is mainly because there is still a huge lack of awareness for the ecological impact of textiles and it’s proper disposal. This is a tragedy. In fact, the burning process does not only release a lot of carbon and other greenhouse gases in the air but burning polyamide fabrics also releases plastic microfibres and other toxins that might be harmful to us and our wildlife.

Nevertheless, the textile collection and sorting companies had a big year as well. They were widely overwhelmed with the run on containers and Co. and kindly asked consumers on their websites to wait a bit before giving away their clothes as they couldn’t handle the masses of used clothes. For some people, the lockdown and home office have brought a new realization: You can easily live with much less and there is no vital need for shopping new clothes 60 times per year (indeed, this is the average fashion consumption per inhabitant in Europe). Let’s hope that the wardrobes didn’t get cleared to fill them with new stuff once we go back to offices and events. Let’s hope that people got more conscious of what’s essential.

An enduring fashion legacy from 2020: The face mask

Nobody in 2019 would have ever guessed that the No. 1 fashion item of 2020 would be a face mask. Some fashion companies with own production facilities were able to quickly change their productions from sportswear or shirts to face masks and managed to succeed from the sprung-out-from-nothing market. During the year they turned out to be a piece of solidarity. Not only because of the obvious reasons but also because they were an instrument for supporting consumers’ favorite brands and companies.

Sources:

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Retail/Our%20Insights/The%20state%20of%20fashion%202020%20Navigating%20uncertainty/The-State-of-Fashion-2020-final.ashx

https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/fashions-post-growth-future-covid-19

https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/fashion-revolution-transparency-index-2020-covid-19

https://www.corporateleadersgroup.com/reports-evidence-and-insights/news-items/leading-businesses-urge-uk-government-to-deliver-resilient-recovery-plan

https://www.bbcearth.com/blog/?article=will-fashion-firms-stop-burning-clothes

The post Is Covid-19 a chance for sustainable fashion? appeared first on WONDA swim.

Why are we celebrating such a sad occasion like a farewell? Isn’t it hard enough to leave your comfort zone, your friends, and the place you know behind? Why confronting yourself with that struggle?

You usually leave your comfort zone because you want to start a new adventure. A new job. A new city. Maybe even a new country. A new relationship. A fresh start. Because for most people change is a challenge, who could support and encourage you better than your closest friends?

A farewell is a great opportunity as well to look back and be thankful for the time and the people you leave behind. Those people will be the ones who know you the best and they are the ones who can build you up and make you face the challenge with arm wide open and with confidence.

And in fact, nowadays a distance is not really a reason anymore to not stay in touch and to keep each other updated. Therefore, you can easily put the new adventure in the centre of attention and celebrate the experiences that you are going to make. Sharing your excitement. I couldn’t imagine a better reason to celebrate actually.

How to find the right gift?

2 options: You either get something that remembers your friend about you and the time that you spent together and or you give something that reminds her of you. Something that she will find useful for her upcoming journey and that accompanies her in her day to day life. Something that makes her feel strong and confident. For the first option, we can’t really help you. Collect some pictures, videos or things that connect you. But for the second option, we have got an idea for you!

A gift that sticks and lasts: Our WONDA voucher

Our high-quality swim and sportswear products will be definitely something that accompanies your friend for several years as they are made to last! All our products are designed with body diversity in mind and are made to feel confident and powerful! Gift vouchers are a safe choice when it comes to gifting. Therefore, with one of our WONDA gift voucher, you can make sure that she will find something that she will love – not only this season but for ages! If she appreciates timeless high-quality designs from a sustainable brand built on values instead of profit, there is nothing that can go wrong with this choice.  

We know that vouchers may come across as not personal enough: Not at WONDA though! You can choose different voucher values and make the voucher card super personal. Just send us a picture of you and your friend, add a personal note and we will do the magic. We also offer a free 15-minute, personal, zoom consultation session for your friend. In this way, we will make sure that she finds her perfect fit and favourite piece. Every time she wears this timeless piece, she will be reminded of you.

WONDA gift voucher [Digital]

Choose the value that you want to offer.

20,00€ – 100,00€ inc. VAT

Shop now

Collect memories

Yes, it is true that recalling all the great memories that you had together, won’t make it easier to say goodbye. But: it is not to be foreseen whether everything will run super smoothly in the new future or if it takes a bit to get used to the new environment. In situations which let you feel lonely or a bit depressed, it is great to remember that you have a bunch of people behind you that believe in you no matter what. During the farewell party (this also works virtually as we can’t really make parties nowadays), collect little notes from everyone in a jar with the best memories they had with the person who leaves. In the future, whenever there is a little sign of loneliness coming up, you can then take a “bite” from the memory jar and you’ll know that you are not alone.

The post It’s time to say ‘goodbye’ appeared first on WONDA swim.

When was the last time that you showed someone your gratitude?

Not only that you make that person smile, there is so much in for yourself as well!

It strengthens your relationship towards the other person because it expresses your respect for his or her actions. This then builds confidence and prosperity – 2 of the basic need of a person that will not only make their life better but also will come back to you especially when this person is closely connected to you.

On top of that, showing gratitude helps your own psychological well-being as it makes you consciously feel thankful. Why is this so important? Thankfulness is one of the key factors of luck, happiness, and fulfilment. Therefore making yourself conscious about what you are thankful for and expressing it by making a thank you gift or by writing a thank you note will eventually make you feel happier and more satisfied in life!

How to find the right gift?

Giving is easy when you know exactly what the other person likes or needs. Being attentive to little hints is crucial to succeed smash hit gifting. But let’s be honest: We know that is really tough to hit the nail on the head from the experience we have from receiving gifts.

The right gift though expresses empathy and can strengthen your relationship with the other person even more and also helps not to boost overconsumption. So how can we make sure to find a thank you gift that is useful and has a personal touch?

A gift that sticks and lasts: Our WONDA voucher

Give options! Gift vouchers are a safe choice when it comes to gifting. Identify what brands she may like. Wouldn’t it be great if she could then choose something that lasts for years and will always remind her about your special unexpected gesture? You should consider gifting our WONDA vouchers of different values. Timeless high-quality swim & sportswear from a sustainable brand build on values instead of profit will definitely make her happy for several years. Is that concept s something that she would identify with? As we based our product development on loads of research you better trust us with what women really need.

We know that vouchers may come across as not personal enough: Not at WONDA though! You can choose different voucher values and make the voucher card super personal. Just send us a picture of you and your friend, add a personal note and we will do the magic. We also offer a free 15-minute, personal, zoom consultation session for your friend. In this way, we will make sure that she finds her perfect fit and favourite piece. Every time she wears this timeless piece, she will be reminded of you and your gratitude.

WONDA gift voucher [Digital]

Choose the value that you want to offer.

20,00€ – 100,00€ inc. VAT

Shop now

Food is always a good idea

Food is a great idea because everyone loves it and it is definitely no waste as it gets consumed. Your friend is a Pizza lover, has a sweet tooth or loves to enjoy a well-mixed drink? What about a surprise delivery that speaks for itself? Pizza services nowadays deliver personalized messages with their food. Let it drop at your friend’s house or office right before lunch or dinner. Leave a thank you chocolate like this eco-friendly version from nu-pro on your colleague’s desk or a cupcake with a thank you topping.

Make it easy

We know, pictures say more than a 1000 words and so do actions, but sometimes words can be powerful too. Let your friend, colleague,… know why you appreciate her. Write a letter, hide notes with different statements all over her belongings, or make it public on social media, so that others can profit from your positive vibes and might get infected by your enthusiasm.

Happy gifting!

The post It’s time to say ‘Thank you’ appeared first on WONDA swim.

Let’s have a look at the status quo of the “situation”, effects of microplastic on living organisms and what we can do to fight the issues that we face.

The microplastic “situation”

What is particularly concerning is what we don’t know yet. Every week there are new scandals popping up, picturing the extent of where microplastic shows up in our day to day life. 

The latest scandal arose in the beverage industry: This study from the US showed that whenever you drink tea from those triangle-shaped nylon tea bags, you consume billions of plastic particles that get released when you pour hot water on the teabag. 
Knowing this, it sounds quite harmless that researchers expect that we are consuming around 52,000 plastic particles with food and beverages each year – 120,000 particles including the particles from the air that we inhale. 

The effects of microplastic on organisms

There are no studies yet on the effect that the consumption of microplastic has on our health. Therefore it is hard to make conclusions on the effects of microplastic. What we already know is that nano plastic – smaller particles that develop from microplastic in a further stage – are able to travel through cell walls. You don’t need to be a scientist to understand that this might impact the way our cells develop.

What is also known, is the impact that microplastic has on other organisms on our planet – for instance, fish and other marine inhabitants. The marine wildlife is massively dying. And yes overfishing is taking its part, but it is proven that marine organisms mistake pieces of plastic for their natural food, which leads to misfunctions of their organs, diminishes hunger, which unpreventably leads to death. 

And the ugly truth is that there is not a single maritime region on our planet anymore in which our ocean does not contain any plastic particles. Currents and winds are transporting the microplastic to all over the world. Take a look at the arctic – where barely any humans live. The concentration of plastic particles in probes that have been taken from seawater and ice are scaring.

But where is the microplastic coming from?

The ocean itself has a high impact on the creation of microplastic. Waves and currents break down plastic items into small pieces – the microplastic particles. You ask yourself how the plastic is ending up in the ocean? It is because humans are stupid and profit-driven. Around 8 million tons of plastic get just dumped in the ocean every year. Winds on land transport the other 4 million that got left behind in nature into our seas. 

There are many many other unfortunate ways how plastic ends up in our ocean. Stupefying cases like inadequate filters while washing plastic garbage in recycling factories for example.

One example that the majority of people don’t know, is that with every use of the washing machine, 17 million microplastic particles are getting released from your polyester sweater or pants. And this unfortunately also happens when you wash your WONDA bikini (it is made from recycled plastic, but it is still plastic). The filters from the washing machine are not (hopefully just yet) able to filter out all the particles. But there is hope and action at the silver lining: A German retailer/ manufacturer called Langbrett has invented a revolutionary washing bad that is capable of filtering these plastic particles. Check their page, to find out more.

GUPPYFRIEND Washing Bag

The first scientifically approved solution to prevent microfibers from entering into rivers and oceans during the washing process.

Get yours >

What can we do about it?

There is not an adequate solution yet that builds on removing microplastic from the ocean (although there are a lot of competitions open to solve the problem, including some space institutions). From our perspective, we should also not focus on getting out what has already been released, but work heavily on not creating more threats. Otherwise, we are will always run behind the problem, but will never be able to really solve it.

This particularly means: REDUCE, REDUCE, REDUCE!

Single-use plastic simply doesn’t make sense. Economically and ecologically the use of single-use plastic is nothing but stupid. Yes, there might be some advantages that relate to hygienes that plastic has compared to other materials, but in fact, the use of single-use plastic is just a way to get products at hand the most convenient possible. By refusing products that make include plastic in their life cycles and companies and brands that make use of plastic in their value chains, the demand will eventually regulate the market offer. 

And for those companies out there that would mean: Get your lazy asses (sorry for my English) up and put a little bit of effort into sustaining our planet in a way that makes it still enjoyable for our kids! There are sufficient alternatives on the market that we can already make use of.

Tips on how to reduce the amount of microplastic that we consume

Although we don’t know the impact of the consumption of microplastic yet, you are well-advised to minimize the exposure just in case that it has a similar effect on us as on fish. Here you have some tips on how to reduce the consumption of plastic particles:

1. Drink water from the tap! This might sound surprising in the first place, but bottled water was found to contain approx. double the amount of plastic particles than tab water.
2. Never heat up food in plastic containers! The heating process releases chemicals into your food.
3. Containers with the recycling codes 3, 6 and 7 should be avoided as they are proven to contain concerning substances.
4. Keep your house clean! Sounds irrelevant, right? But as already mentioned, we are exposed by microplastic just by breathing the air. The more “dusty” it is, the higher is the exposure! Result: cleaning helps!
5. Eat more fresh, non-packed food! This is the most obvious one. However, and to be 100% honest with you, this is just an assumption as the microplastic exposure via fresh food has not yet been tested.

Hopefully, this post gave you a little overview of the microplastic status quo! One last comment from my side: There is no reason to panic, but definitely enough reasons to not continue the way we do! Let’s face reality (even if it’s just your own)!

Sources

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/remote-arctic-contains-more-plastic-than-most-places-on-earth/

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b02540

https://www.consumerreports.org/food/how-to-eat-less-plastic-microplastics-in-food-water/

https://silentspring.org/detox-me-app-tips-healthier-living

https://guppyfriend.langbrett.com/

The post A snapshot of the microplastic concern appeared first on WONDA swim.

Christmas and consumption

It probably sounds weird to introduce a gift guide with reflecting first the impact of the gift and consumption culture during Christmas time justified by the love and magic that is supposed to create.

Receiving as well as giving gifts – we all know it – gives us a feeling of fulfilment and acknowledgement somehow. Year by year we are trying to imagine what our family members and friends would like to receive. It is a nice thought process for strengthening a relationship – there are not a lot of situations in our friendships and relationships in which we are actively challenging empathy. However, if we are honest with ourselves, a lot of gifts that we received are not exactly what we would buy for ourselves if the decision was on us, right? And also the promised love and magic during the Christmas days usually turn out to rather result in stress, discussion and food coma. 

The economic impact of Christmas is giant due to the unlimited and rediculous consumption during the Christmas season. And along comes the environmental impact.

• Think of the amount of wrapping up paper that must be used around the world on that one Christmas day and that eventually ends up being burned or in landfills or our oceans since most of the wrapping-up paper is non-recyclable 2 layered paper.
• Think of 1.9 billion Christmas cards that are only sent in the US every year.
• Think of the 20.8 million Christmas trees that are cut for “using” them not longer than one month – again: in the US only as well.
• Think of the amount of Christmas ducks, turkeys, lambs and what not that land on our plates during our Christmas days feasts. 

Road to a more conscious Christmas

Like the Christmas carol, this story must not have a depressing ending though. Let’s see what we can do to make it a happy ending. 

Food aka “the Christmas feast”

1. Why is it all about food on Christmas? Why don’t we put the focus on something else? Sure food brings people together and makes you happy – but so does sports, games or projects. This Christmas, make a project like the renovation of your treehouse, the next holiday planning or a family basketball tournament the centre of your celebrations.
2. Surprise your family with a vegan or vegetarian Christmas menu. Yes, you will get some hater comments from your cousin and brothers and yes, Christmas is a lot about traditions and meat is usually one that is very much anchored for most of the families. But isn’t Christmas also the event during which we should think about others? Animals, our nature and the people suffering from the meat industry count, right? Also, it is good food for the usual discussions at the table. Try for example these delicious Vegan recipes by Jamie Oliver with Christmas dinner potential

What about Christmas decorations?

1. Do you need a tree? Or can it maybe be this awesome recycled cardboard Christmas tree from Studio Roof? If you get one, make sure that you get it recycled properly. The best way to do it is to shred it and then use it in the garden or in parks or even better: keep it in a pot and use it next year again.
2. Don’t buy plastic trees! They produce double the number of greenhouse emissions during their lifecycle compared to a real tree.
3. Use real candles instead of electric fairy lights. It’s much cosier anyways!
4. DIY! Ideally, you use waste products and upcycle them to something beautiful like these orange peel hangers. Just check Pinterest for Zero Waste or Upcycling Christmas Decorations and you will get some amazing inspirations.

A healthy relationship to gifts

1. Only buy things that you are sure, will be used! “Listen” is the keyword. It has the positive side effect that it profits your relationship. 
2. Make an inventory of things that you have at home and don’t use it anymore. Upcycle. It is not only very helpful for the environment but also gives a personal touch to your gift. Nothing will be more appreciated than effort – trust me!
3. No ideas for gifts? Decide on investing the money that you usually spend on gifts into projects that support people you really need a gift – to survive. Your family will understand for sure! Btw: you also save a lot of time when you decide to not go for Christmas shopping that you can also invest in supporting activities with purpose. Have you ever thought about supporting your local kebab shop that is slowly but steadily on its way to bankruptcy? Maybe you can offer your support or knowledge? 
4. Check our gift guide for sustainable Christmas shopping
5. Get active. Again, the effort usually is valued the most when it comes to gifts. Prepare some special foodie treats to show off your cooking skills or mix up a natural washing powder or cake base. 
6. Wrap consciously! Get creative and wrap your gifts in used newspapers or old book pages. Or get your kitchen towels or clothes and use them to wrap your gifts for a zero waste solution. Check this technique for wrapping in towels.

Gift Guide for conscious shoppers or family members

• Affordable luxury highlights
• Medium-priced treats
• Small gifts with a big heart
• Books & similar

Affordable luxury gifts

Quality has its price! The products in this section are special picks that are a small investment but serve your beloved ones for the rest of their life.

How beautiful is this bag made from food industry leftovers?

• Timeless design made to last
• All materials used are sourced from EU-based companies
• Bolsillo supports the use of leather only if it comes from by-products of the food industry
• Made in Spain
• Price = 210€

Shop here

Be dry, be aware, be INSANE IN THE RAIN!

• Made from recycled plastic
• One jacket upcycles 17 to 23 plastic bottles
• No newly-sourced plastic used in their industrial procedures
• Unisex & kids selection
• Price = 100,00 £

Shop here

Beautiful design product for a life long

• Made from 65% recycled polyester and 35% organic cotton
• Extremely durable
• Sales contribute to sustainable projects and ideas (Save The Arctic Fox)
• Price = 129,95€

Shop here

Seagrass playfully reinvented

• High-quality beach rackets by PHEE
• Made from dead leaves of the vascular sea plant Poseidonia Oceanica
• Handle made from natural cork
• 100% recyclable packaging
• Made in Greece
• Price = 160€

Shop here

Medium-priced gifts

Starting this section with what we have to offer, we want to remind you that fit and taste can be very difficult to evaluate. If you are unsure if your boyfriend/ girlfriend likes the gift you selected, ask his/ her best friends. They might be able to help you with the choice.

Or you go for the WONDA voucher. With that, you can’t do anything wrong. We offer a lot of different options and sizes AND with every voucher there comes a 15-minute advice session with our experts on what model would be the best fit.

Confidence in a box: A voucher for our WONDA bikini of choice along with a bunch of extras like compliments, self-love and some sparkle

• Timeless design made to last
• Bikinis made from recycled ocean and landfill plastic
• Free eco glitter and a 15 minutes fit consultancy with every voucher purchase
• Local & fair production
• Made in Portugal
• Price = 80,00 or 100,00€

Shop here

Fancy unique eyecatcher

• Handmade
• Made in Germany
• Materials: White Mesh Polyester, vegan cognac leather
• Price = 79.90€

Shop here

Endless summer vibes

• Handmade
• Made in Germany
• Materials: Gold plated chain with real shell, pearls and silver wire details
• Price = 69€

Shop here

Worn Wear: Patagonia’s second-hand marketplace for endless unique treasures

• Second hand
• Real Patagonia pieces for affordable prices
• 100% recycled and solution-dyed polyester
• Extremely durable
• Price = 90$

Shop here

Set free our oceans from plastic

• Adidas Parley Collection
• Made from recycled ocean plastic
• Supports saving resources and reduce emissions
• Price = 89,90€

Shop here

Small gifts with a big heart

Fishermen’s (and women’s) favourite for cold winter days by the sea

• Certified eco-friendly dyeing process
• 100% organic wool
• Made in Germany
• Price = 30€

Shop here

A capsule for a glimpse of our paradox time and society

• A beautiful piece from the Armed Angels Capsule Collection
• Resource-saving production
• Vegan
• 100% organic highly durable cotton
• Green delivery available
• Made in Portugal
• Price = 34,90€

Shop here

A colourful family business with good cause

• Wall decorations made from recycled cardboard
• Printed with vegetable inks
• Family business promoting the beauty of arts and craftsmanship
• Made in the Netherlands
• Price = 12,95€

Shop here

Unique hand-crafted toys from Portugal

• Hand-knit in Portugal 
• Artisan: Every piece is unique
• Price = 30€

Shop here

Mushroom business

• Made in Portugal
• 80% Combed Organic Cotton, 18% Polyamide, 2% Elastane
• Price = 12,90€

Shop here

A biodegradable phone case that saves the ocean

• 100% compostable
• Made of Flaxstic®: Compostable bioplastic elastomer and flax straw materials
• Made in Canada
• Every case sold = less plastic in the ocean.
• Price = 42,95$

Shop here

Soft inside, green outside!

• Recycled PET
• Vegan
• Made in Asia
• Price = 17,90€

Shop here

Craftmanship in its purity

• Artisan
• Hand-blown in Mallorca
• Price = 32€

Shop here

How pretty can a shampoo be?!

• Only natural ingredients & packaging
• Vegan
• No palmoil, silicons or preservatives
• Made in Portugal
• Price = 7,30€

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Go to your local book store and ask for these must-reads for conscious consumers, entrepreneurs or adventurers:

“I love the seaside” by ILOVE

• Surf & travel guide to southeast Europe
• Also exists for northeast Europe
• 400 pages of inspiring pictures, ideas, activities, maps and more
• Available in German & English
• Price = around 30,00€

“We are the weather” by Jonathan Safran Foer

• “Saving the planet begins at breakfast”
• A book about the reluctance of people to understand that climate change is caused by human activity
• Explaining the reasoning behind the way we behave and why this is the biggest central global dilemma of our time
• And yes: this book is also about food and the impact of the food industry on our environment
• Depressing, but very personal and urgent callout to all the egos who are not willing to sacrifice themselves from the author of “Eating Animals”
• Price = around 20,00€

THE business library for all responsible CEOs and entrepreneurs by PATAGONIA

• “The responsible company”
• “Let my people go surfing”
• “Tools for grassroots activists”
• Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and director of philosophy Vincent Stanley  about their experiences of founding and building a responsible company
• Price = around 45,00€

Monocle Magazin

• A global view on business and culture
• Perfect to stay on top of cross-border affairs like environmental discussions and new business models
• They also publish very interesting annual editions like “The entrepreneurs”, “The forecast” or travel guides for around 19,00€
• Price = 65,00€ for a 6-month subscription

“The new outsiders” by gestalten

• Inspirational showcases of magical outside destinations from Iceland to Patagonia
• Perfect gift for travellers who constantly search for places to find new adventures in our beautiful nature
• Price = 39,90€

The post Gift Guide for a more Conscious Christmas appeared first on WONDA swim.

THANK YOU! For taking responsibility and for making an effort to get the best out of the critical environmental situation we are in. You will be the ones that our children and grandchildren will thank one day. Instead of blaming other parties for the causes of climate change, plastic pollution, and whatnot, you are part of the change and take your role in defining the future of our planet.

We know that being you is not the easy path. Every easy day to day situation gets difficult when you always have to question: “Where did this come from?“, “What is it made of?“, “Who produced this in what conditions?“, “How did this get here?“.. And unfortunately also “Whom can I really trust?“. You probably know best that whatever is labelled “Green” doesn’t necessarily mean that there is “Green” inside. 

We took the same path. We carefully chose every component of our product and packaging, chose a production place where we could just step by to say “hi” and try to keep our supply chain as controllable and clean as possible. We know we are not perfect yet, but we are working every day on getting better and with every step we take, we have our environment on top of our mind. 

The WONDA office is a glasshouse

We cannot offer perfection, but what we can offer is being fully transparent with what we do, so that you at least don’t have to spend hours doing research. And: other brands can learn from what we do to make it easier for them to take the sustainable path. And that profits all of us, right?

Therefore we started this blog series. Subscribe if you like and start reading our first article. 

The post This is WONDA appeared first on WONDA swim.

We believe that being sustainable doesn’t mean that we have to compromise on looking just amazing and showing our personal style. Buying sustainable clothes is already a good step in the right direction. But to become a real FAIRshionista, there is so much more fun things to do that help you to find and support your style. And the good news is: There are ways that don’t have a negative impact on the environment, the life of the people working in the fashion industry and our future generations.

To support you being a FAIRshionista à la Emma Watson, we created this “Fabulous for Future” blog series.

WONDA swim

Fabulous for future movement

Since Greta Thunberg’s introduction of the Fridays for Future, there have been a bunch of movements going on against environmental harmful institutions, products, processes and habits. They are promoting consciousness, transparency and action in the name of our environment.

Scientists for future, tech for future, and many more. The parties involved started these movements because they have the skills to make an impact, but also because their industry is responsible for climate change and other environmental threats. The fashion industry is one of the biggest industry in this world. Every 6th employee is working in the textile industry worldwide. Therefore, every one of us is somehow connected with that industry – most likely as a consumer. But unfortunately: the fashion industry is also one of the biggest polluters of our environment:

• The production of a single Jeans consumes in average 7000 litres water 
• The fashion industry consumes 30% of all chemicals used worldwide (20.000 different chemicals btw)
• With every washing cycle in your washing machine, 700.000 microfibres get washed out of the fabric and most of them cannot be filtered out by the machine and end up in our wastewater
• In average our clothes are worn 4 times before they get sorted out and either end in landfills and get burnt or hopefully go to second-hand (Statistics gathered by FEMNET).

The good news is: Since we FAIRshionistas have this connection to the industry, we have the possibility to really make a change – and also the responsibility if we’re honest about it. Therefore we want to start a new movement of being, looking, feeling, living FABULOUS FOR FUTURE! Are you up for that challenge? Doesn’t sound too hard, right?

Kickstart your FAIRshionista career

You ask yourself how you can prepare for that challenge of becoming a FAIRshionista?! If you really want to understand what threats the fashion industry bears, we would recommend you to watch the Netflix documentation “The True Cost”. Although we already had an idea about the impact of the industry, seeing real pictures and hearing real stories really gave us another push to take action. Take that push, if you want!

If you are ready to become a FAIRshionista, read here our first blog article from our FABULOUS FOR FUTURE series. 

The post Fabulous for Future appeared first on WONDA swim.

Let’s have a look at what social media tells us about that

While we are constantly trying to project a picture of ourselves how we would like to be perceived in social media, isn’t the ultimate goal for most of us to perfectly fit in? To get as many likes for our posts as possible and to get our confidence boosted by the flame and heart icons in the comments of your pictures. The closer you present yourself to what others like, the more you get boosted. Isn’t the ultimate goal then nowadays to play the role of someone that is widely celebrated by the majority of people? And by doing so, aren’t we rather going farther away from knowing who we really are?

How to get to know who you are?

What you think who you are, depends, of course, a lot on what others give you back as feedback about how they see you as a person. In the research about self-awareness, speaking with people around you is the first hurdle that needs to be taken to find out who you really are. But isn’t that dangerous? Let’s assume that Aristotele was right and self-awareness leads to wisdom, but will it also lead to confidence? Asking for feedback can be challenging for your ego and it might be a hard first step to take in a world in that we strive for acceptance.

Confidence through self-awareness?

I don’t have an answer for you (yet). But if you think about it, only when we are aware of our strengths and weaknesses, we can clear up our life – get rid of things, people, relationships and actions that don’t make you happy and start doing things we love – and then become more confident. We should be proud of the things that we are good at, work on the things that we are not so good at. And at some point, we hopefully lose that need to fit in and can just be who we are.

In one of his articles, the author Darius Foroux developed a list of 20 questions, that might help us to identify better who we are. Let’s try this out! For me, the hardest one to answer was ” What makes me afraid? “. I think it’s because I always try to convince people that I am strong and nothing scares me (although, I am pretty sure that this is not true). Anyways, that made it hard for me to understand what “afraid” means to me, but at least I know now what I can work on to know myself better. What was your hardest question to answer?

For me, the hardest one to answer was ” What makes me afraid? “. I think it’s because I always try to convince people that I am strong and nothing scares me (although, I am pretty sure that this is not true). Anyways, that made it hard for me to understand what “afraid” means to me, but at least I know now what I can work on to know myself better. What was your hardest question to answer?

WONDA and confidence

For us, being comfortable in our bodies and to be confident in a bikini was something that we were lacking before we started WONDA. And we got that feedback from a lot of women out there. Our mission was and is to make all of them feel sexy and attractive in their bodies. On the beach and on the water, this works best when you find a bikini that really fits and adapts to your shape, marks and curves. If you feel comfortable and sexy, the confidence comes along. Therefore, we researched all the different body types and came up with solutions for (almost) everyone. I am saying “almost” because we are still improving with every step we take. If you have the feeling we are missing something in our portfolio, we would be super happy if you could let us know what it is.

My personal favourite is our top Betty in combination with our bottom Cape Town. Betty makes my boobs look round and stable and pushes them more inside (when crossed in the back). Cape Town is perfect for my almost non-existing V shape booty. The “hipster” format in the back lets it appear more round as well.

As you might have recognized, I am still so far away from knowing who I really am, but I am constantly working on getting to know me better and I will definitely keep you posted about how this is going.

The post Confidence through self-awareness?! appeared first on WONDA swim.