Ono: Fair and Sustainable Fashion

A young German designer, Bernadette Bodenmüller, has recently followed her dream of fair and sustainable fashion and established her own design label, ono. The first collection of bags is made from an extremely unique combination of cork and tencel materials, a biodegradable material made from wood pulp cellulose. The young fasion label ono, focuses on fair working conditions and sustainability throughout the product supply chain. Currently the label is embarking on a crowdfunding campaign to support its expansion beyond Indonesia and we’re spreading the word.

If this is the first time discovering Ono, the design label was founded in 2013 in Indonesia, where Bernadette wanted to blaze new trails with her business in a socially, culturally, unique and exciting setting. Using only natural materials and fair working conditions were of paramount importance to ono. Often only one of these and sometimes neither is a given in the textile industries. Following over a year of intense research into suppliers and partners that would meet the high quality standards as well as the requirements for organic and sustainable production, the current collection of bags slowly took off.

The new collection consists of nine bags, they are made with a unique combination of a thin layer of high-quality cork on a backing material from tencel manufactured from renewable Eucalyptus fibres. Furthermore, other materials such as bamboo, organic cotton and reclaimed teak are used for production. Due to the natural materials and the seamstresses making each piece lovingly by hand, every bag is unique. The cor-collection boasts everything from women’s handbags to a weekender-bag, as well as laptop, tablet and smartphone cases or smaller clutches and hip bags. Most models of the cor-collection are unisex and have a wide variety of uses. The bags are free from buckles or latches made from plastic or metal, without compromising stability and function.

Due to its impressive material characteristics, the cork bags of ono are water-repellent, are unimpressed by contact with grease, such as hand cream, and are a fascinating substitute for leather. The backing material, tencel is also water-repellent, light, robust, breathable and even antibacterial. Both cork and eucalyptus offer some of the most sustainable farming methods of cultivated plants. After an intense learning process ono is ready to present their bags to the world and want to shout it from the rooftops. The team of ono are carrying out their crowdfunding campaign on the platform Indiegogo. Helpful supporters can get a bag in exchange for contributing to the campaign and be part of something extra special.

Melanie Stockman

Anyone participating in the campaign receives beautiful, high-quality bags and supports a young and ambitious fashion label. Click here to visit ono online.