WARSAW, Poland — This is the place where, three years ago, I met Ola Was, the mastermind behind the ethical fashion brand Wearso, for the first time. A friend suggested me to visit a new boutique called Wearso.organic located in the heart of the main Warsaw’s shopping street, Mokotowska. Upon my arrival, I discovered one of the most magical fashion places in town. A magical place for three main reasons: The aesthetics of the boutique, the inventive, multifunctional and organic clothes and most importantly, the creator of this brand, Ola Was.
This talented designer, in love with the nature and addicted to responsible fashion, is a lady with a vision – very much aware of how her designs should look like and what message they should convey. As Ola describes herself:
“[I am] a creator and material at the same time. Life is in me and floats through me towards others and comes back to me richer and fuller. I accept all experiences with gratitude; they deepen my consciousness. I am full of passion, I make friends and I love fervently. I am generous and so is life to me. In the end, I have an intuition which guides me.”
Wearso: Interview With the Founder Ola
I had the pleasure to meet Ola again and have a better understanding of the ethos behind this brand, Ola’s approach to organic clothing and her plans for the future.
How did you come up with the idea of Wearso.organic?
It was a moment. One morning I woke up in Brick Lane in London [Ola had lived in United Kingdom for four years] and realised that this was exactly what I wanted to do in my life. It was the end of a certain process that had progressed inside me for several years. The creativity that followed immediately afterwards only reassured me that it was the right decision to take.
There was no force which could have stopped this machinery in motion. I decided to create and design in an environmentally friendly way. Wearso.organic is a clothing brand based on the understanding that it is a high time to slow down the process of environmental degradation.
Could we say that it was all about an environmental matter?
Yes. And the next important thing to me was to create a simple and clear message. I wanted to be able to offer my clients a product which would be well designed, of great quality and with a reasonable price. Such a product would enable them to make a conscious decision of buying clothes made of environmental friendly materials instead of those being produced on a massive scale.
Why did you name your brand Wearso.organic?
The name originated in the same way the concept of the brand did. I can remember very well the precise moment when this idea came to my mind – I had been looking for it for a long time. It happened during a night in my Warsaw’s flat on Mokotowska Street. I immediately felt that this name would exactly describe, on various levels, what I wanted to do.
By the way, Wearso sounds and is often pronounced like Warsaw, which adds one more meaning and context to the brand as Warsaw is the place where I decided to be and create.
How did you put in practice your organic approach to your collection?
First of all, I believe that pro-environmental attitude can change the whole clothing business and, at the same time, dramatically moderate the attitude of the consumers. During the creative process, I always like to ask myself ‘why’ prior to ‘how’.
At Wearso.organic we do care a lot about our clothes to have a long life. This can be achieved thanks to organic cotton which we exclusively use in our brand. It is a fabric of a greater durability, originates from regions where its cultivation and production are strictly regulated and is produced in accordance to traditional techniques known for hundreds of years.
Why is this approach so important for you?
Being a designer of an applied art, I should think in a different way than the majority of people, doing different things in their lives. My everyday life is questioning the existing order. And if I manage to convince at least few people to become ‘green’, this will be considered a success to me.
Your designs feature an influence from the Far East. Are you fascinated with this part of the world?
Yes. The Japanese approach towards designing, their respect for craftsmanship and the old methods of production fascinate me the most. Another influence comes from Tibet, mainly how people combine colours there. But above all, I am inspired by the antiquity and the way people thought about the clothing back then. The kind of drapery would always depend on individual style. The ease of movement was of great significance and the human body was treated with an enormous respect. It is the idea of ‘less is more’ that corresponds with Ancient people’s way of thinking.
How important is multifunctionality in your designing process?
It is about creating a relationship with the garment and giving the clients the possibility to wear one piece of clothing in various ways so that it enters into their consciousness as something multidimensional.
I wish people would treat clothes with a bigger respect and awareness. For example if we think of the process, it takes a lot of time for the cotton to grow, it requires significant amounts of water, there is real people taking care of it not to mention the actual making of these clothes. It is a concept in contrast to what Fast Fashion aims at. Chain stores have the ability to constantly create the desire in people for new clothes making us throw away the clothes we bought a year ago or earlier. As a result of this, there are tones of clothes that end up in dump sites.
Where do you sell your clothes?
In a stationary boutique in Warsaw at Mokotowska Street. You can also buy them in Berlin, Prague and soon in Paris and Tokyo. We are also working on an on-line shop which is to be launched really soon!
