#2 EMERALD BERLIN

I come from a very large international family. Almost all of my (German) mother's 9 siblings married internationally. In my family there are Spaniards, French people, and besides me, even more Italians and Pakistanis. My family has a very close bond. Loyalty and reliability always come first. This has always given me a lot of support. Above all, it taught me that all of our differences and peculiarities make us unique. Back then, after the Second World War, my grandmother came to Germany on foot as a displaced Sudeten German. My grandfather spent the war hiding in his parents' barn. Such stories and the stories of my aunts and uncles were always omnipresent with us. That's why I try to remind myself as often as possible how privileged I am and how lucky I am to have grown up in such a safe time in a country like Germany. Even if we rightly consider the current COVID19 period to be uncertain. I've always been aware that not every child is lucky.

I've been donating since I was a child and consciously started donating regularly every month when I got my first permanent job. But I know from my friends that I'm pretty much alone with this. This also becomes clear when you look at statistics on donation behavior in Germany. Since 2005 alone there have only been half as many donors in Germany. This is essentially because older people, who are much more inclined to donate, are dying off and too few young people are coming.

Marketing has changed fundamentally in the last 10 years. Instead of watching TV, we constantly look at our smartphones. No matter where we are and no matter what we do. The cell phone is always with you. And thus also platforms such as Instagram. Instagram is an extremely positive platform that thrives on people admiring and, in the worst case, even envying other people for something they supposedly have. Even if you know that a lot of it is set, the pressure is still enormous for many people. NGOs lack this positive content because their topics often do not fit the common Instagram topics. With our work we want to create this important content and create visual anchors for social media that help create more understanding of social issues and thus permanently increase young people's willingness to donate.

2. Impact Fashion - what does that mean?

We invented the word at some point when it came to reducing our business model to one term.

We use fashion (and now other products) to create social change. So we are absolutely not a classic fashion label and we want to be understood as such.

For us, (social) history always comes first. Our products are, so to speak, the transporters of these stories and give people the opportunity to make these stories visible and to carry them with them. Almost as a constant reminder. In addition, the story behind each product can answer the question “Cool sweater, where is it from?” be told again and again. We love that instead of just saying a brand that has no meaning whatsoever.

3. What do you look for when looking for new projects/NGOs?

At the beginning I tried to choose topics that I would find exciting myself. It was particularly important to me that the topics differed from each other and that they were easy to understand. Our shop works like an awareness platform. With us, everyone should have the opportunity to find the topic that is close to their hearts. Back then, the influencers who supported us chose products from these projects that they wanted to support. There are now many of our own influencer collections where the influencer basically consults with us and we then work together to find a social project for them that suits them perfectly. We have a catalog of criteria for selecting projects.

1. Development cooperation instead of development aid: We want projects that can support themselves in the medium term and bring about real changes for those affected. We also wrote a blog post about this that breaks down the topic well and explains the basics.

2. Free from any discrimination: For us it is very clear and important that we all deserve the same rights and we not only live this in our company but also want to support it with the projects we support.

3. Pro Democratic: We want equality in all areas. Conversely, this sometimes also means that we have to listen to opinions that we do not support, as long as they do not hurt or discriminate against anyone. Because that too is democracy and freedom of expression. Even if, for the sake of simplicity, we often wish we didn't have to have one or two discussions.

4. No religious connection: We believe that religion should be a completely private decision. We therefore ensure that there are no religious references in our projects.