This is how social entrepreneur Verena Benz is revolutionizing the fashion industry:
With digital scanning technology on the way to mass customization
Dürmentingen – The dream of fair, sustainable fashion beyond linen frocks and felt cuffs: Verena Benz has been living it for eight years now.
The 33-year-old, who worked in an organic supermarket in her early 20s to finance her studies, has long since become a successful businesswoman, founder of the fashion label LOVJOI, social entrepreneur and managing director of four companies that live up to their motto “People over Profit”. before profit) lives.
She has never lost sight of her goal: to produce sustainable, fairly produced organic fashion for modern and trend-conscious women – with daring cuts, innovative materials such as wood fibers and timeless designs. Her own label: LOVJOI, named after a comet. The brand name should reflect the love for nature and the joy of fashion.
It all started in 2014: Verena Benz noticed a discrepancy in her life: she bought organic food, but the clothing she liked from conventional shops was anything but fair and sustainably produced. After the Rana Plaza fashion factory collapsed in Bangladesh in 2013, no one could turn a blind eye to this fact. At the same time, she questioned her job in the marketing sector. “I asked myself: What do I actually want to advertise for?” says Verena Benz. The answer: “The only thing left was the organic sector.”
Because the fashion that Verena Benz wanted to wear herself didn’t yet exist, she quickly founded LOVJOI – with her own production at the company’s location in Swabian Dürmentingen (district of Biberach). Refugees also work there in the sewing workshop. Verena Benz organizes family reunions, looks for apartments for them if necessary, or helps with bureaucratic hurdles. For the 33-year-old, sustainability begins with her employees. The fashion label now has around 20 employees. All management positions are held by women – some of them part-time. Verena Benz is herself the mother of an almost two-year-old son. The issues of compatibility of family and career and the advancement of women are close to her heart.
The LOVJOI range now includes not only classic women’s outerwear, but also underwear, jeans, swimwear and even shoes. In the 2022 summer collection, the focus is on elegant business suits, excitingly cut dresses with extravagant prints and non-dyed denim products: Because no dyes or washes are used, these are particularly resource-friendly.
The Verena Benz brand family is growing steadily: in 2019 she also became managing director of the Munich organic fashion label ThokkThokk. In 2020, the vegan shoe brand Rice from Spain was added. Since 2021, she has also been an investor in BEAWEAR, a start-up from Constance that has been researching for eight years: With innovative scan technology, it is possible for customers to create a digital twin of themselves with their smartphone and thus to to find the right size for your body in the shop. On the one hand, this should significantly reduce the return rates for the benefit of the environment, and on the other hand, it will enable the mass customization of vegan organic fashion in the long term. In this way, LOVJOI can also take into account the physical characteristics of customers in the future and become even more size-inclusive. And make the entire supply chain from production to shipping even more sustainable.
We are available at any time for more information about Verena Benz or possible interview requests. Images of Verena, the team and the production can be downloaded from the following link:
