A hoodie for the orangutan, a T-shirt for the elephants: The young Giessen start-up “espero” is now also protecting the rainforest in Sumatra. And there are already many prominent supporters.
Support the project: the musicians of the band of “Culcha Candela”. Photo: espero
GIESSEN – The young Giessen start-up “espero” has been able to win another well-known project partner for its concept and has published a new collection: 25 percent of the surplus from the sale of the new collection will be donated to “Project Wings”. The project is under the patronage of actress Lilli Hollunder and ex-national player René Adler as well as the “Band Culcha Candela” and actor Jonathan Elias Weiske.
In Indonesia, “Project Wings” is currently building the largest recycling village in the world from 250 tons of collected plastic waste. The collected plastic waste is processed on site into a so-called Ecobrick, which in turn is isolated from the environment and used as building material for the recycling village. The sustainable building concept developed for this was created in cooperation with several German universities.
The local population has an additional income by processing the Ecobricks, while nature and the environment are freed from plastic. An exchanged Ecobrick is roughly equivalent to a meal. The project also promotes species protection measures on Sumatra. Sumatra is one of the most species-rich regions on this planet and is home to some species that only occur there, such as the Sumatran tiger or the Sumatra elephant. But other endangered species such as orangutans also have one of their last habitats there. And that is what makes the region so worthy of protection.
This project is supported by the new “Wings” collection from the Giessen fashion label. 25 percent of the surplus from the sale of the collection is donated and then goes into reforestation programs in Sumatra or into the training of rangers to protect the species that are native there. The new collection includes various hoodies, sweatshirts and t-shirts for women and men, all of which can be purchased in the “espero” online shop.
“I am incredibly proud to have won such a great project partner for our fashion label. This shows that our concept of protecting animals and nature by wearing our clothes is really being accepted,” explains Giessen founder Tim Weinel.
In order for the clothing to have the greatest possible positive effect, the purchased raw materials are already fairly certified for all textiles. The textiles themselves are made exclusively from organic cotton and recycled polyester so that they also meet our own sustainability criteria.
“It’s not about selling as many parts as possible. We don’t see ourselves as a fast fashion provider. We want to change something with our clothes. It is also important to us that the parts last a long time, even if less is sold as a result. But that is exactly what sustainability is for us. ”
Since the online shop was published in August 2020, over 1000 euros have been raised in donations. The new collection, which customers can find at www.espero-clothing.de, should now add many more donations for the rainforest in Sumatra.