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.

Environmental impact of tetra packs

Did you know that tetra packs, like oat milk packs, are usually disposed of in a completely wrong way? As a result, a proper recycling of the packages is prevented. Beyond that the food industry acts barely transparent by claiming that a whole 71% of a tetra pack is being recycled. The Environmental Action Germany DUH on the other hand states that solely 36% of a tetra pack is recycled in total. In comparison to the food industry the DUH also takes it’s disposal  (e.g. missorted packs), the plastic and aluminum proportions and the sealing cap (which accounts for 20% higher greenhouse gas emissions!) into consideration. Due to it’s lavish composition tetra packs cause a total of 721.000 tons of plastic each year!

Our fellow companions

Subsequently we got in touch with local cafes who confirmed us that all those empty milk packs cause a vast amount of waste on a daily basis. Just take a moment and image the enormous wastage worldwide. However, we decided to team up with cafes in the surrounding of our office in Hamburg, such as the Nord Coast Roastery, Was Wir Wirklich Lieben, Copenhagen Coffee Lab and Soul – Vegan Coffee Bar. These committed cafes decided to support the matter and provided us with quite some quantities of oat milk packages.  

Eco-friendly packaging process

And what now? To guarantee a hygienic and clean packaging we contrived a process concept for each milk box. Starting with cutting it open at the back end and scrubbing it out in a water-efficient way. The next step requires a disinfectant spray, which consists in a natural-based liquid.

Wake Up call for the Fashion Industry

As mentioned above we designed a sticker in order to create more transparency regarding the ongoing events of the fashion industry. As we decided to use Oatmilk packs as our new packaging design we especially got inspired by Oatlys message printed on it’s carton. Oatly demonstrates perfectly the food industry’s intransparency when it comes to it’s damaging impact on our environment in terms of the numbers of greenhouse gas emissions amongst others. For instance, did you know that the food industry accounts for twice as many greenhouse gas emissions as all transportation combined? Yet most companies still dont’t see why they should communicate the carbon emissions for each of their products in order to provide comparisons between various products and spread awareness towards the endconsumer. The same goes for the fashion industry. Though many fashion companies claim to operate sustainably, only a moiety does so. The PVC-free stickers we designed for our packaging contain our callout for change to the industry and a warning to our customers and everyone who reads it to be careful with the industry’s sabotage! Here is what we claim:

HEY FASHION INDUSTRY,
STOP FOOLING EVERYONE!

Nearly every fashion brand claims to be „sustainable” these days. But what does being sustainable in fashion actually mean? Like for real! Not just on a campaign title or an Instagram caption. The truth is, it can mean so much, yet so little. Fast fashion brands fool its customers by only telling them half of the truth. Sustainability has too many facets to express its meaning in just one word. Most facets get concealed behind misleading marketing campaigns.* We have this vision of being a company that creates for the better instead of profits. One that is fully transparent and approachable so that you can be part of our journey. We also wanted to prove for the sake of an industry change that it is possible to build products, a brand and a company based on social values. That belief gave us the strength to create WONDA as a symbol for the power of honesty, true relationship, and empathy, portraited in timeless slow fashion products that stand for jointly working on a better future. Be part of the change by staying persistent and demanding. And please, dear fashion industry, let’s be honest… Get your shit together!

*The fashion industry produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions, is the 2nd largest consumer of the world’s water supply, while polluting our biggest water reserves with microplastics and toxins (sources: UNEP, IUCN, UNECE).

To conclude, we saw the opportunity to make the world a bit better by taking advantage of an obvious win-win situation: reusage of waste, extending the lifetime of each tetra pack and an original packaging concept.

The post Unusual yet thoughtful Packaging appeared first on WONDA swim.

Let’s not cause huge quantities of wrapping paper waste considering it’s single use. Let’s not throw away tons of food, because of a lack in meal planning or storage issues. Let’s not buy an artificial Christmas tree, because we think the carbon emissions are lower than getting a real one. They’re not. Let’s not purchase new Christmas decoration items, because we got tired of the ones from last year. Let’s not gift unwanted presents, which end up in the farthest corner of the cupboard or – even worse – become garbage. 

Let’s do better.

A massive ongoing waste generation worldwide is undisputable and there are no signs for it slow down. On the contrary, the overall estimated amount of municipal solid waste will reach 3.4 billion metric tons in 2050, which would represent an increase of 70% according to a prognosis from statista. However, during Christmas season consumption and a resulting waste generation reaches it’s peak.

ABOUT SUSTAINABLE WRAPPING ALTERNATIVES

For instance, producing 1kg of wrapping paper takes 50 liters of water and 5 kilowatt hours of energy. According to this roughly 435 million liters of water and 43,5 million kilowatt hours of energy are consumed. This equals approx. the annual energy demand of a small town with 12.500 inhabitants. Aren’t those numbers shocking? But – no worries – I’ve got good news for you: we can do something about it.

In the first place, switch to recycled wrapping paper. There are lots of beautiful designs! Producing recycled paper takes half as much energy and only a third of the amount of water.

Consider wrapping up your presents in magazine or book papers. Your present will definitely stand out this way!

Upcycle (brown) paper bags or spare craft paper and paint it yourself for an individual touch. This way you can also include nice illustrations!

Buy vouchers of your favorite restaurant, café, cinema or clothing brand. Thereby you support your locals, avoid a bad buy and you won’t need to make use of any wrapping paper at all.

You even have some fabric leftovers? Great! Why not reuse them as attractive wrappings?

ABOUT A LOW WASTE CHRISTMAS FEAST

Let’s talk about Christmas dinner, which for most people is the favorite part during the festive days. Sole in Germany the food industry, retailers, distributors and private households dispose 12 million tons of food waste every single year. Private households account for a whole 55% of it, which results in 82 kg food waste annually per person. In Europe a total of 80 million tons of food waste arises per year. Wasted and lost food along the supply chain account for a 10^th of all our greenhouse gas emissions. However, a big part of the primarily presumed waste is still edible at the moment of it’s disposal. Hence we came up with some suggestions in order to do our part in minimizing those numbers and to help you reduce food waste this Christmas. 

Lots of supermarkets are likely to use discounts during the festive season in order to maximize their selling volume. Give it a thought and weigh up if you truly need those discounted food items or if it’s just for the sake of getting a discount.

Involve family and guests in the meal planning and start on time. This way there won’t be unwanted food options and intolerances are considered, as well as other food remainings are spared.

Organize your fridge before going Christmas shopping and check out Respect Food’s manual in order to use your fridge more efficiently.

If you choose to cook without recipes, make use of an online food planer such as Eat Smater, which calculates portion-wise.

Buy regional and seasonal food, in order to keep transport ways as short as possible and CO2 emissions accordingly low. You can look up the seasons of various food types in online season calendars.

In case leftovers arise anyways, save them from going to waste by freezing them. You can easily look up how to store them correctly and for how long. Still Tasty shows you what has to be considered.

There are also lots of ways to reuse leftovers for distinct recipes. This guide from FOODAL provides you with some ideas regardingly.

ABOUT ECOLOGICAL CHRISTMAS TREE OPTIONS

And what about a nice-looking Christmas tree? Wouldn’t it be more eco-friendly to get an artificial one? The answer is no. A real conventional Christmas tree of 2 meters actually has a comparable low carbon footprint with 16kg CO2e, if disposed of in a landfill. However, if you dispose of the tree in a proper way by burning it on a bonfire, planting it or having it chipped, the CO2 emissions total sole 3.5kg. Meanwhile, a same size artificial tree, which usually consists in PVC and metal, accounts for a whole 40kg CO2e. Owed to the energy-intensive production processes involved, the CO2 emissions are approx. 10 times higher than a properly  disposed of real one. Also the the process of growing a Christmas tree to optimum height takes around 8 to 10 years in which oxygen is produced and is replaced with a new seedling after deforestation.

Thus, when purchasing your Christmas tree pay attention that it is locally sourced and grown in order to ensure a shorter transport distance and support your local business owners.

Also you can buy a potted Christmas tree in order to reuse it the year(s) after. This isn’t only cost-efficient but also extremely eco-friendly.

Meanwhile there are various local services, which offer a Christmas tree rental during the season.

Regarding it’s disposal, check out Christmas tree collection services. They pick up the trees and recycle them, which leads to new production since it is a renewable resource.

ABOUT ECO-FRIENDLY GIFTGIVING

What would Christmas be without presents? Yes, we all love to give and receive presents underneath the Christmas tree. But what about all the gifts that are unwanted or simply not used? Sadly, surveys state that more than 50% of the respondents receive unwanted gifts on Christmas.

So if you go Christmas shopping, why not get a voucher? This way the recipient can freely choose the product, color, size and style that suits her best. Especially these days a lot of business owners are more than thankful, if you support them by getting vouchers.

In case you have no slightest clue on what to gift, don’t speculate and end up with a bad buy. Rather ask the person directly, cause they know best what brings them joy and – let’s be honest – we always have some ideas in mind.

Make use of your creative streak and handcraft something yourself. Good Housekeeping provides you with some great DIY projects, such as Christmas cutout candles, filled glass ornaments or lavender sachets.

If you receive unwanted gifts anyways, there are options to reintegrated them into the cycle by returning it, swapping it, donating it or trading it. Have a look at this guide for more ideas.

Still in need of some eco-friendly gift ideas? Here you go!

LEO zipped-wallet BLACK croc

55,00 €

MADE IN SPAIN

100% LOCALLY HANDCRAFTED BY SKILLED ARTISANS

TIMELESS & CLASSIC DESIGN, WHICH TRANSCEND SEASONAL TRENDS

EXCLUSIVE LIMITED EDITIONS FOR SPECIAL AND UNIQUE PIECES

RESPONSIBLE & ETHICAL MATERIALS SOURCED FROM EU-BASED COMPANIES

LEATHER AS BY-PRODUCT FROM THE FOOD INDUSTRY

SHOP HERE

FELICIANA Bombonera TEJA velours

185,00 €

MADE IN SPAIN

100% LOCALLY HANDCRAFTED BY SKILLED ARTISANS

CLASSIC & TIMELESS DESIGN, WHICH TRANSCEND SEASONAL TRENDS

EXCLUSIVE LIMITED EDITIONS FOR SPECIAL AND UNIQUE PIECES

RESPONSIBLE & ETHICAL MATERIALS SOURCED FROM EU-BASED COMPANIES

LEATHER AS BY-PRODUCT FROM THE FOOD INDUSTRY

SHOP HERE

KANKEN Re-Wool Sling

120,00€

MADE WITH RECYCLED WOOL

65% POLYESTER AND 35% ORGANIC COTTON

BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCED

TIMELESS DESIGN TO EXTEND IT’S LIFETIME

EXTREMELY DURABLE

SHOP HERE

Backpack – INKI

170,00€

HANDMADE PRODUCT

FAIR WORKING CONDITIONS IN PRODUCTION FACILITY

USE OF 100% RECYCLED NYLON IN PRODUCTION

INNER LINING CONSISTS OF RECYCLED PET-BOTTLES

ALL KAALA PRODUCTS ARE VEGAN

SHOP HERE

Fanny Pack – Pinqponq Nik in Sunsand Apricot

30,00€

CONSISTS IN 100% RECYCLED PET-BOTTLES

FAIR PRODUCTION

SUSTAINABLE & ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS

DURABILITY FOR AN EXTENDED LIFETIME OF THE PRODUCTS

SHOP HERE

Scrunchie Lavender

9,00€

MADE IN POLAND

GIVES OFFCUTS (LEFTOVER FABRICS) A NEW LIFE

MADE OUT OF 98% CERTIFIED ORGANIC COTTON SWEAT & 2% ELASTANE

VEGAN PRODUCTION

SHOP HERE

INTI KNITWEAR Mütze Madellin silver

39,00€

85% MADE OF FINE ALPACA WOOL, 9% ACRYL & 6% NYLON

FAIR AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

ETHICALLY CORRECT WORKING CONDITIONS

SHOP HERE

VEST DUMBO FLEECE LIGHT GREY

115,00€

100% ORGANIC COTTON CERTIFIED FLEECE FABRIC

COTTON GROWN IN EUROPE

ZIPPER AND LABELS MADE IN GERMANY

VEGAN PRODUCTION

SHOP HERE

NÖ by LOVE IT GREEN – Sweater

80,00€

CONSISTS OF 85% ORGANIC COTTON AND 15% RECYCLED POLYESTER

GOTS CERTIFIED

FAIR WEAR & PETA VEGAN APPROVED

SHOP HERE

WONDA FACE MASK

14,00€

HANDMADE IN PORTUGAL

CONSISTS OF 78% ECONYL REGENERATED NYLON

RECOVERED YARN FROM LOST FISHING NETS, INDUSTRY TEXTILE AND OTHER PRE- & POST-CONSUMER WASTE

FABRIC MADE IN ITALY WITH OEKO TEX STANDARD 100

SHOP HERE

The post Green Christmas at WONDA 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.

Today we are very proud to say that we have partnered with the Lisbon Surfrider Foundation and decided to donate 1€ of every order through our online shop to them.

What does the Lisbon Surfrider Foundation do?

Lisbon Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to protect and showcase the importance of lakes, rivers, the ocean, waves, and coastlines along Portugal. It was important for us to choose a local partner which is equally connected to our beloved oceans as us and shares the same mission of fighting plastic pollution in our oceans.

Kick-off beach cleanup in Lisbon

In order to launch our partnership, we have done a beach clean up together. 30 motivated volunteers showed up Saturday morning and helped us to keep the beautiful beaches around Lisbon clean. The amount of microplastic we found on the beaches was shocking! Together with the Surfrider Foundation, we are planning on continuously doing these events in order to increase our local impact, raise awareness and help fight the challenges our environment is currently facing.

If you want to support us in organizing such events or have other ideas to rescue our oceans that you would like to realize with us and/ or Surfrider, please don’t hesitate to contact us!!

The post Surfrider x WONDA 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€

Shop here

Offer a story

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.

On World Clean Up Day we joined the amazing girls from Zero Waste Lab and went to Praia da Fonte da Telha for a beach clean-up. As parts of the #breakfreefromplastic movement, we decided to do a Brand Audit in order to help identify the corporations most responsible for plastic pollution.

What are we doing a brand audit for?

What exactly is this movement and a brand audit? Well, even though groundbreaking work and initiatives with the focus on reducing plastic pollution have been growing, corporations like McDonald’s, Nestle, Coca-Cola and Starbucks have continued to pump huge amounts of plastic waste into our worlds. The aim of the brand audit is to identify the worlds top corporate plastic polluters and make them accountable for the branded plastic pollution they have been causing. So how does it work? The idea is that after each cleanup, the trash is being sorted and accounted for every brand, category and type of material that has been picked. Break Free From Plastic provides all necessary information, steps and a tool kit you can download if you want to participate and join the movement.

Our observations from the Brand Audit: Sagres and SuperBock plastic cups were all over the place

When we arrived at the beach, driving down the parking lot it was already absolutely shocking. We drove past and witnessed huge amounts of trash lying around everywhere: bottles, cups, straws, packaging. Everywhere. We didn’t even know where to start and within 1 hour we already had over 70 kg of waste collected. It was so sad to see how people treat our beloved environment. When we finished picking up trash, we sat together and started to sort the waste. And it was unbelievable. We accounted for every brand, category and type of material. And carefully wrote everything down according to the Brand Audit guidelines. The top polluters we could identify after our clean-up were Sagres and Super Bock plastic cups, Mc Donald’s plastic waste and Coca Cola cans. Another outstanding amount of trash was cigarette waste: Packages, but also cigarette butts. It felt really good to actually see where most of the trash is coming from in order to start to understand where this whole problem of plastic pollution has its origin. Plastic polluters must be accounted for, especially since they are huge brands like Coca Cola and Nestle as they are such powerful and impactful brands. They need to change and be a better role model for our society.

Results from the global Brand Audit report: Coca, Cola, Nestle, Pepsi, Unilever, Mondelez take your responsibility!

On October 23rd, #breakfreefrompastic launched their Brand Audit 2019 report in order to reveal which brands are the largest global sources of plastic pollution. They used data from the MASSIVE worldwide brand audits across 6 continents, 51 countries, 484 brand audits, with 71,541 volunteers collecting 476,423 pieces of plastic. With twice as many brand audits and more than double of plastic collected and audited in 2019 compared to the previous year, we got the same results: Coca Cola, Nestle, Pepsi, Unilever and Mondelez are the Top Global Polluters for the second year in the row. Read the full report.

Want to become part of this amazing huge, worldwide movement and stand up together with us in fighting plastic pollution? Join the #breakfreefromplastic movement!

The post Our recap from World Clean Up Day 2019 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.