RENTING FOR A GOOD CAUSE | Creative Matterz Fund
CREATIVE MATTERZ FUND PROJECT PRESENTATION
From 100 submissions, this project idea was selected as 1 of 10 by a renowned jury based on the criteria of sustainability, originality, inclusivity, impact and aesthetics. The Creative Matterz Fund has supported all projects with €500, mentorship opportunities and pr. Now you can see what the creatives have realized in the last 3 months and vote for your favorite 3 project to win a total of €1000 in support of their work.
RENTING FOR A GOOD CAUSE | Kantamanto Fire Relief
With this charity rental campaign we aim to raise awareness of the place most people don’t think about when purchasing a new (fast fashion) item. It will educate about Kantamanto, one of the places where our clothes end up when we think we do something good by donating them to a charity collection bin. By opening the wardrobes of influencers Blogger Bazaar, Helen Fares & Lois Opoku to the public, renting, a circular way of consuming fashion is made attractive. Renters can choose between 3, 6 and 12 Day rental and get it delivered emission and packaging free straight to their door. With all rental proceeds going to the Fire Relief Fund we’re able to get them closer to their go-fund-me goal and have people looking good while doing good.
CLOTHING LENDERS
Lisa & Tanja | rauwm
Helen Fares
Lois Opoku
CLOTHING RENTERS
Clothing renter Sonja
Clothing renter Lilly
Clothing renter Veronika
MEET THE TEAM
I’m Ivana, I was born in Accra, Ghana and grew up in Germany where I started my journey in the fashion industry at the age of 17. Mainly I worked as a Visual Merchandiser for luxury brands. During the lockdown I retrained as a UX designer and founded Ward’ROBE Affaire, a Berlin-based fashion rental start-up. We're currently a team of 3, consisting of Marc Stegner, Estephania Sánchez-Méndez and me. Through the True Cost Documentary I have learned to cherish garments and began to radically reduce my own fashion consumption to no longer be a part of the textile waste problem that countries like Ghana have to face. 15 Million items from the western world are unloaded in Kantamanto (Ghana’s second-hand clothing market) every week. An estimated 40% becomes waste and is dumped in the Gulf of Guinea or sent to landfills where it burns in the backyards of Accra’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. My main motivation is contributing towards a fashion community which makes use of what has already been made to counter the production of waste.
How did the Creative Matterz Fund help you realize your project?
With the help of the Creative Matterz Fund we were able to gain the collaboration with rauwm ( previously Blogger Bazaar) as one of our Charity Lenders. Furthermore we’ve been provided with great mentoring regarding Influencer marketing and PR. The funding helped us to offer an all inclusive rental experience, meaning renters received their charity rental items without any delivery or cleaning costs. We took care of the entire process, so the renter could solely focus on looking good and doing good at the same time.
Who were your mentors?
We had the first and second mentoring session with Kim Gerlach. We discussed the project goals and got help with selecting charity lenders. For the third mentoring session we dived into the world of PR with Inga Mücke and had one more, the final and fourth session, for a last check before the project deadline with Cherie Birkner. We discussed the current standpoint and business possibilities for the future of ‘ROBE.
What learnings did you have?
If you have a good idea, don’t be afraid to reach out to others for help, even if it’s someone with a huge audience where you might think it’s impossible to collaborate. This was the main learning from getting into contact with the charity lenders we had to support our campaign. In terms of fashion rental, we learned that it still takes time (at least in Germany) to get a lot of people on board with this new way of consuming fashion. All Renters had their first experience with rental and this is absolutely something we’re really proud of because if you tried rental once you’re more likely to try it again!
What is your vision for the future?
We started our fashion rental service in Berlin and are currently putting all our energy and effort into scaling what we’ve started, by finding investors and building the final product, an app that enables lenders and renters to communicate directly with each other all over Germany. Our goal is to get as many people as possible into renting and lending as it’s proven that renting can absolutely satisfy the feeling of having something new (which is normal and we all have from time to time) without actually buying/owning it.
How can one best support you?
We’d love to have you either as a renter or lender in our community or if you’re an investor please contact us (HAHA!). No seriously, think about all the unworn clothes that could generate an income on the side instead of sleeping in your wardrobe or think about the next party you’re going to. Need an outfit? Be smart, more sustainable and actually save money by renting the look of your dreams instead of buying new.