this summer was my first impression of freak stock- a great festival by jesus freaks. i met lots of different openminded and warmhearted people and got introduced to this cute little fashion stall from GLIMPSE clothing by a friend. there i met teresa one of the managers of this humanitary fashion label and ask her for an interview.
fotocredit: http://www.glimpse-clothing.com/team
hey teresa, tell me about yourself, what you do, wich places you lived in and traveled to?
i was born in franconia in the state of bavaria. i’m a master tailor and fashion designer.
during my apprenticeship i lived in a village in franconia, in the basement of my instructor. while doing my masters, i was living in the north of munich in a smaller town. i moved after that to australia for 9 months, where i lived at the wonderfully beautiful sunshine coast. during that time i traveled with a christian organisation to bali and thailand, where i was deeper involved with the issue of human trafficking. this days i travel about twice a year to india to introduce the new collections from glimpse in our workshop there.
where are you now and what are you doing there?
my life drove me into the great city of munich, where i currently live for the last 5 years. the cost of living was as expected: it is expensive, but also incredibly beautiful and worth living! i have my workshop in my flat itself. that’s where i design the GLIMPSE’s collections and produce all sample parts. once a week workshop doors are opened and people can check out the little glimpse store and get some personal advice while shopping.
tell me what is the soul of GLIMPSE ?
GLIMPSE is a humanitarian fashion brand with a mission: love sells. we’ve built a sewing workshop in mumbai in india, where we teach former forced prostitutes to become seamstresses. the women even get math and english lessons, therapy, and all the support they need to lead independent, healthy lives. we want to show them what true love means. a love for which they do not have to undress themselves for. in this workshop, the women then sew the GLIMPSE collections that we sell in europe.
i founded the company in 2012 along with nathalie and simon schaller.at the beginning of 2013, the production of our first collection started. nathalie is a lawyer and responsible for all administrative tasks and simon is a web designer, taking care of our website, look book, corporate design etc. we work together with an ngo in india called chaiim foundation. the directors, ramona and keith, who are indians, are also the head of our workshop. we also have additionally a teacher, a social worker, a master cutter and several helpers hired to allow the production to happen as it should.
you doing a great work with good intensions! how did you get the idea to start this?
while spending time abroad in southeast asia, we got to hear and became more aware of this massive issue that is forced prostitution. we also discovered organisations that freed women from the clutches of a pimp and accommodate them temporarily in shelters. it was, however, lacking something for us because these women still did not have a proper perspective of what living was all about.
with GLIMPSE we can allow this step for a self-determined life as well as getting a sustainable training, therapy and a sense of family living with us.
how do you get in contact with the women and how do you finance the project?
Among other organisations in the vicinity, we work together with IJM, a Christian human rights organisation which rescues women from brothels and integrate them into aftercare programmes. Once these women are 18, they are done with these programmes and that’s the moment when they can apply to be an apprentice in our workshop. If the women are found to be interested in sewing or doing other work related to the production, they can start right away.
Since we are located at the centre and heart of Mumbai, our monthly costs are extremely high. The renting prices could be comparable to those in Munich. It costs us a total of € 10,000 monthly for all the expenses incurred in India. This is covered only to a small extent through the sale of the GLIMPSE Collections. The big rest is funded by donations, which we have to acquire every month. It is never an easy task. That is why the three of us are doing our work at GLIMPSE till now without any remuneration, next to our normal jobs.
wow i can feel you are investing a lot of heart within GLIMPSE, what is your mission with it?
from the beginning on, i had this passion for meaningful fashion. and fashion makes all sense to me with GLIMPSE. it is no longer just about fashion, but about the people and the women who are behind it, taken care of. and all of a sudden, fashion can make the world a better place.
what are your plans for the future with glimpse?
our goal with GLIMPSE is to be able to build more and more workshops where more and more women are able to seize this chance of receiving a new life perspective. we also want to enlarge our collections and thus serve the increasing important group of buyers who bring a change with their purchase in this fashion business and stop the exploitation happening in it.
thank you so much for your detailed aswers and i wish you all the best for your future with this great project! keep on doing this and thumbs up for you dedication!