How did I come up with Aura, my latest venture?
If you missed my post on social media,
I shared about a new project I've started - A business shirt for women.
You can read the post by going to my Instagram: see social links in my footer at the end of this page.
But for those who saw it, and are wondering HOW I came up with the idea,
Here are the three purposes that formed it:
📣 I've always loved wearing shirts - preferably a little oversized and tucked into a pair of jeans. Living in an urban city, working a corporate job, I always envied my male colleagues when they were wearing cufflinks.
I found the accessory very attractive and elegant.
So I bought myself a pair.
I started looking for shirts with sleeves for cufflinks, but for women.
I didn't find any.
I started cutting & sewing extra holes in my female shirts, to be able to wear the cufflinks.
The clerks at the male departments frowned at me as I asked to try out their shirts.
Or as I was piling them in my arms before hitting the fitting room were approached by personnel saying things like
'Wow, that's one lucky man you got there at home'
or
'What's your boyfriend's size and I can help pick some out for you?'
📣 I've always had an interest in fashion. I designed and sew a lot as a teenager. I would plow through the fashion magazines to find inspiration.
However, as I grew older - and wiser - I learned about the dirty backside of the fashion industry.
I watched documentaries on third-world countries and how we and our close, more industrialized, neighbors were exploiting them.
How could I ever go into fashion with a good conscience?
Today I know I can inspire people to make better and more conscious choices. And that there are better ways to produce garment.
Because we will always need clothes.
📣 I got pretty tired of reading and hearing about how unequal Sweden - and the world in general - is when it comes to gender. But nobody was actually taking ownership and presenting a plan on what to do to change it. Only statements like "Men: invest more in women!"
And so all the men who read it invested in women and the problem was solved.
Not.
So I sat down and did some research on how the economic state looks like gender-wise in the world.
I spoke to some experts on the subject.
And then I crafted some ideas on what to do to shift them.
How do I make the biggest impact in the fastest way?
Well, it's gonna take time either way. So I better start now.
💙 Aura was born.
If you are with me on this one, and would like to learn more about the subject,
check out my website: aurastockholm.com