Sustainability is a must at wunderwerk. With a lot of know-how and a real pioneering spirit, the German fashion brand from Düsseldorf has proven that fashion and sustainability are not mutually exclusive. Now she’s working with her supplier to develop a revolutionary, sustainable denim printing process.
Many fashion brands today want to be sustainable – and that’s a good thing. “But simply using organic cotton is not enough for us,” says Heiko Wunder. The founder of the Düsseldorf fashion label wunderwerk knows the fashion industry, its processes and global supply chains and thus also the dark side of the industry from his own experience. For many years he worked in responsible positions at international fashion companies and was able to gain valuable experience in the areas of design, production, social responsibility and sustainability. It was clear to him early on that he wanted to found his own fashion brand that would make a lot of things better. The brand name wunderwerk was registered in 2012: “Wunder” stands for the surname of the founder, “Werk” for the result of honest craftsmanship.
Exclusion of toxic chemicals
From the beginning it was clear to him: “It’s not just about sustainable materials, the processes in production also have to be changed.” This means that neither chemicals that are harmful to the environment or health may be used in production, nor may plastic be used – not in the buttons, nor in the fibers. “Of course I can produce my jeans from organic cotton, but that doesn’t make them sustainable. A pair of jeans requires between 30 and 160 liters of water in “normal” conventional production just to wash, but that’s not the worst of it. The question is what happens to the water? That is contaminated with chemicals, from various chlorine compounds to potassium permanganate. Of course you can filter the water, but what happens to the filters? The best thing is not to use these chemicals at all,” Wunder is convinced. He knew it worked. Through his long-standing contacts in the production countries, he also knew like-minded people who were willing to invest in the sustainable conversion of production.
No water consumption: digital denim printing
For denim, wunderwerk initially had to do without bleach washing because there was no environmentally friendly alternative. Today, the brand uses an environmentally friendly ozone production process and other sustainable alternatives to bleaching the jeans. wunderwerk will soon be presenting a new innovation: jeans digital printing. Instead of dying, cutting and then sewing denim by the meter, wunderwerk works with a process in which the pattern pieces of each individual pair of jeans are printed on white denim, in every size and every length. This eliminates the dyeing process for the piece goods and the finish for some of the trousers because the wash is simply printed at the same time. That also means: “If I print the ink, I don’t need any water at all,” explains Wunder. In the summer of 2023, the first printed jeans from wunderwerk are set to hit the market. If everything goes well, maybe even sooner as a Flash program.
Sustainability as a design concept
wunderwerk is a fashion brand and not only in the eco niche, that is important to Heiko Wunder. “We are a fashion brand and sustainability is simply a matter of course for me.” Fashion is just as important to him as the way it is created. His collections are not intended to score points because they serve a niche and the customer is willing to make design compromises in favor of sustainability. Wunder: “We were uncompromisingly sustainable right from the start, but modern in look and timeless in style.” However, he does not want to be a trendsetter. What’s hip today is out tomorrow. That’s not sustainable. Instead, he develops his collections in such a way that they can be worn for a long time without just relying on basics or essentials. Even a bright red ‘jumpsuit’ is no problem for him if you split it in two: “We simply separate pants and blouse into separate parts. Nobody sees it worn together, but trousers and blouse are much more variable separately and are certainly worn more often than a jumpsuit.”
Pioneering work for sustainable fashion
What distinguishes wunderwerk from other fashion brands is not just the sustainability that runs through all areas, or the honest willingness to seek and break new ground. Equally striking is the passion for quality that speaks from every product. As a product enthusiast, Wunder is not satisfied with the standard, but invests a lot of time and money in the right materials, which he mostly develops himself in close cooperation with the weavers or even spinners. His marvel Premium Tencel is a proprietary fabric development with Tencel from Lenzing, “where the yarn is spun much finer, the fabric is woven more densely and no formaldehyde is used in the preliminary stages,” he enthuses. The same goes for the “Metro” T-shirts, which are made from extra-fine organic cotton with modal edelweiss from local beech wood – wunderwerk was the first brand to use this fiber at all. Fashion and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, that is his message. Wunder: “It is important to show the industry that many things are already possible today.”
