Slow Fashion at the Museum: Pack & Smooch at MKG Hamburg
In 2015 our merino wool stood in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. Not as a product, but as a material example, in the "Slow Fashion Lab", a specially curated part of the exhibition "Fast Fashion. The Dark Sides of Fashion".
How we ended up in a museum
At Pack & Smooch we make accessories for the present. Even so, we feel oddly at home in the venerable museum at Steintorplatz. Back in 2012 we were able to show some of our products in the exhibition Stylectrical, which focused on the clear, minimalist design of Apple. Our sleeves and cases could hardly be missing there.
In 2015 it was not a product but one of our core convictions that found its way into the museum. The "Slow Fashion Lab" presented alternative materials and manufacturing processes: sustainable fibres, textile certifications, innovative technologies and transparency criteria from young labels.
Merino wool as a prime example
Slow Fashion stands for more respect and responsibility in the fashion industry: eco-friendly raw materials, sustainable production, fair trade, short supply chains, transparency. All values we hold ourselves to.
We were proud that merino wool, one of our main materials, was given its own place in the exhibition. Merino wool is the answer to industrial yarns that often contain synthetic blends or mixed origins, sometimes at the expense of animals, farmers and consumers.
With high-quality merino wool, the raw wool is bought directly from the sheep farmer, then sorted, washed, combed and prepared for spinning. The entire textile chain is traceable, from the finished product back to the individual farm.
Why cheap is expensive
"Fast Fashion" is the production model at the bottom of the fashion chain: mass-produced goods, ever cheaper, in ever shorter cycles, onto an already saturated market. With devastating consequences for people and the environment. The exhibition was the first to examine the global cycle of fashion and accessories thoroughly and critically.
Only that kind of scrutiny makes clear how expensive cheaply produced goods really are. It is the same thought that has had us manufacturing in Hamburg since 2011 rather than buying in.
Made from the same material
The merino wool felt from that exhibition is in our MacBook sleeves and bags and our iPad sleeves. Why it is mulesing-free and where it comes from is set out in Our own wool felt blend is mulesing-free.
"Fast Fashion. The Dark Sides of Fashion", 20 March to 20 September 2015
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Steintorplatz, 20099 Hamburg
mkg-hamburg.de
