This month, Purple Mango's co-founder Renata Reis shared with The Green Hub Online her experiences in founding an ethical and sustainable fashion label in an interview. Check it out:

(Words by The Green Hub Online)

"Uniting style, ethics and sustainability, Renata Reis, founder of Purple Mango Eco Fashion is on an unstoppable mission of finding unique fashion that translates the perfect balance between ethics and aesthetics.

She wants to educate consumers around the possibilities of making more responsible buying choices and start conversations about the stories behind their products.

As fashion curators, Purple Mango haven’t designed a collection (yet!) themselves but what they have done, is bring some of the most unique and innovative sustainable jewellery to Australia all the way from Brazil.

Their first range, a jewellery line made with upcycled plastic bottles, faced a concept barrier when launched five years ago. The jewellery was featured in the Sao Paulo Fashion Week but was met with some confusion when launched in Australia. “People not having a clue what we were talking about when we mentioned ethical and sustainable fashion!” says Renata.

Five years on, Purple Mango has grown to represent leading ethical and sustainable fashion designers and artisans from South America and house a collection of beautifully made handbags, jewellery and homewares inspired by Brazilian culture.

TGH (The Green Hub): Tell us about your business journey so far.

RR (Renata Reis): It is has been a challenging but fun journey so far! Entrepreneurship is definitely not an easy journey, but being extremely passionate, energetic and positive has helped me a lot throughout those years. One of the bits I love is the researching process for new collections. Also, definitely one of my favourite parts of the business is the relationships we create with the designers and people behind the projects we represent.

What made you want to create an ethical business?

Ethics and sustainability matters have always populated our minds and ways of life. When we decided to begin curating tropical fashion products from our home country we realised that there were incredible projects that were uniting all 3 things we loved: style, sustainability and ethics. So we realised that we would be able to unite our passion and our beliefs. It was a special moment! It has been an incredible journey researching for the beautiful projects that we support. Knowing that we don’t have to compromise on style and we can be fair and respectful with the world, the environment and the society is a very fulfilling and enjoyable experience.

TGH: What made you want to create an ethical business?

RR: Ethics and sustainability matters have always populated our minds and ways of life. When we decided to begin curating tropical fashion products from our home country we realised that there were incredible projects that were uniting all 3 things we loved: style, sustainability and ethics. So we realised that we would be able to unite our passion and our beliefs. It was a special moment! It has been an incredible journey researching for the beautiful projects that we support. Knowing that we don’t have to compromise on style and we can be fair and respectful with the world, the environment and the society is a very fulfilling and enjoyable experience.

TGH: What do you think separates Purple Mango from everything else out there?

First of all, I would say the look and style of our products. We have a remarkable and unique signature, that is generally very tropical, feminine, unusual, bold and pretty. And added to this, of equal value is the power and depth of the stories behind each of our products. We are so proud of all of them, and it is a really enjoyable experience to share that with our audience! I actually love that fashion can be a point of start for a conversation, and that your style can actually be an expression of your beliefs of a better planet and a more fair society.

RR: What is your favourite product from the range?

Oh no, can I only choose one?!? lol… I can’t decide if i pick the Jewellery made from organic rubber from the Amazon forest (which is incredibly gorgeous and so intriguing too!) or our sustainable handloom bags that use recycled VHS tape. I love both ranges so much for the incredible stories behind them! They are not only ticking environmental aspects, but both are part of a social initiative empowering citizens through fashion. I love those projects with all my heart!

TGH: What does the future hold for Purple Mango?

RR: We are always looking for new projects and designers to add to our portfolio. That is actually one of the nicest part of the job. We are also looking into start signing an exclusive collection with one of the designers we work, and bringing a new product range. On the long term, we have our plans to start designing our own ranges – without leaving our partnerships with the projects that we work. We are also expanding into new product lines. Initially we only had jewellery, and the demand for sustainable designs is so great that we have expanded. We now have bags, homeware and soon coming shoes!

TGH: What does a typical day look like for you?

RR: It does vary a lot. As we are mostly an online business, there is lots of digital activity going on. From social media adventures to digging and working on the website. It is actually so interesting the level of connections we can via digital platforms. Another typical scene at a work day is preparations for events and markets. We are doing it on a regular basis, and it is very rewarding interacting to customers face-to-face.

TGH: Your 5 tips for starting a sustainable business

RR:

First of all, research, research and research. There is always alternatives in the daily activities of running a business that can be re-thought and new solutions that are sustainable can be found.Don’t be scared of doing it for fear of being complicated. Most of businesses, and people in general are obviously not ready to commit to sustainability. But I suppose a lot of people could at least try to implement smaller and achievable measures to reduce our impact on earth. I get surprised how many businesses struggle to put in place simple actions such as recycling in the office.Exchange experiences and network. Ask around, chat with other people that did it. There is so much information online, so many channels for communication. Get inspired, get connected, as the world is going sustainable!!!Get informed. Education is the basis of everything, and there is plenty of information out there. When digging through information, things will make more sense, and you will have real purposes on why to go sustainable. It can actually be a fun journey!Most businesses have the potential of being sustainable. Stick to what you love and to your passion, and bring sustainability to it.

TGH: Your best tip for living a more sustainable life

RR: Pause and reflect before you go on with our daily habits. There is always silly little things that you can adapt in your everyday life. I understand that most of people are not ready to fully embark on a sustainable lifestyle transformation – and that is totally understandable! But if we could all at least have a bit of sustainable awareness, and try to implement small actions and changes to everyday habits, that is a big transformation on its own. I would say that education goes side-by-side with this too. People won’t make adjustments to their living if they don’t actually understand why doing it. In addition, probably educating the future generations is an awesome investment towards sustainability! (i have started this myself with my two little boys – my 4 year old is always attempting to sort out the bins and put things to recycling, and usually asks if a juice is organic before he drink it lol).

TGH: Finish this sentence. The world needs more…

RR: Respect. I’m such a hippie in my heart that I was very tempted to answer ‘love’. But I understand that not everyone is ready to openly spread love around, and respect truly feels to me as an achievable, necessary and implementable thing that the world desperately needs! And I mean respect in every possible version; not only to respect one another, but also to respect our own selves, the nature, the natural flow of the world, and on it goes.

This month Purple Mango co-founder Renata Reis was trilled to be interviewed by the outstanding sustainable and ethical fashion and lifestyle personality and blogger Jennifer Nini, from Eco Warrior Princess.

Right when Purple Mango started, Jennifer interviewed Roberta, also co-founder; so it was great to share the brand story a few years down the track.

So, here are Jennifer's words:

"Three years ago, I published a piece about sustainable jewellery brand Purple Mango and interviewed one of its founders Roberta Rangel.

I lost contact with Roberta in the years that followed so when Renata Reis – Roberta’s business partner – emailed to invite me to their pop-up store event in Sydney last year, I was thrilled to learn that they were still in business.

In the six years that Eco Warrior Princess has been operating, I have seen many brands come and go. To learn that a sustainable brand is still alive fills me with joy. In her email, Renata explained that she and Roberta did take a hiatus from the business (oh…), but had refocused and are both fully back on board (phew..!).

I’m delighted that Purple Mango is back in business. They are exclusive stockists of sustainably-made jewellery by Brazilian designer Flavia Amadeu. The jewellery is unique and handcrafted using 100% recycled certified metal and organic wild rubber produced by rubber tapping communities from the Amazon rainforest. Each creation is like a wearable piece of art. I don’t think I’ve seen ethical jewellery like it; it’s striking colours and design cuts through the fashion clutter, particularly in the Australian marketplace.

Purple Mango’s genesis story

One look at the unique ethical jewellery pieces and it comes as no surprise that Renata and Roberta hail from the vibrant country of Brazil. The jewellery is as showstopping as Brazilian women themselves. “I remember when I moved to Australia I was surprised how many compliments I would get quite regularly on the unique fashion pieces and accessories I wore,” Renata recalls. “Until moving to Australia, I actually hadn’t realised how incredible and special our Brazilian fashion style was – I mean, I always loved and thought we had great fashion in Brazil, but only when moving over overseas I actually realised how unique the style was.”

The women sensed a good business opportunity and took entrepreneurial steps that would eventually lead to Purple Mango. “When we started researching fashion projects in Brazil, we came to realise that the passion for our tropical culture wasn’t enough,” Renata explains.

As they explored the brand’s central philosophy, the two realised they shared interests in environmental and social issues. So it was a natural conclusion that the women unite their love for their heritage with sustainability and ethics. “When we realised that our fashion could have a purpose, it was a really special light bulb moment. Everything then made sense!”

Since its launch, the brand has now expanded its collection to include shoes and homewares.

Why call a sustainable brand Purple Mango?

It’s a question I failed to explore years ago when I interviewed Roberta. And in writing this piece, I again almost forgot to ask until I played back my tape recording and realised I had failed to ask it again! So I shot a quick email to Renata. Thankfully she responded in detail:

"I actually had a dream with the name Purple Mango. For us, this sounded like a great representation of a strong – but delicate – feminine and tropical name. In Portuguese, substantives actually have a ‘gender’, and both the word ‘fruit’ and ‘mango’ in Portuguese are feminine words – so mango was a super feminine word. And ‘purple’ for us added an extra touch of femininity, uniqueness and strength."

Hence, Purple Mango. I would never have correctly guessed it if I hadn’t asked!

Industry challenges

For all the hopes and hard work that these mindful entrepreneurs bring, the fashion industry is still a tough marketplace. It’s overcrowded and it’s highly competitive. And for emerging ethical brands it can be even tougher as it not only competes with fast fashion companies that have huge marketing budgets, but it also has the additional task of re-educating consumers as to why their products are dearer.

“The biggest challenge we face is the lack of education for the general fashion consumer around the concept of ethical and sustainable fashion,” explains Renata. “In fact, sometimes [ethical fashion] almost sounds like a ‘turning off’ point, and people might immediately associate it with less quality, weird, hippie; so breaking that initial misconception is always a challenge.”

Fortunately Renata has a marketing background and its these skills that gives Purple Mango an advantage. She knows that a fashion brand must stand on its own if it is to compete and that means being stylish and desirable enough to the consumer. Unfortunately, a brand cannot compete on ethics and sustainability alone.

“Most of the fashion influencers have the mainstream fashion mindset and ethics and sustainability are just not at the top of their agenda,” Renata admits. “They are there for the styling and the fashionable aspects and that became very clear to us early on.” Focussing too much on the ethical aspect of a brand and not enough on the fashion aspect sets an eco brand up for failure. If a brand wants to attract more customers, it must focus on how the product looks. After all, fashion doesn’t just serve a function, it is used to explore and express identity.

The Tropicca sustainable clutch bag perfectly illustrates why style should be the central message when reaching fashion conscious women. It is a beautifully designed handloomed bag made from old recycled VHS tapes, something that is not obvious to the naked eye. If these bags looked like a horrible upcycling project, I doubt it would have been featured in Vogue (Brazil). The bag has also won an award for its sustainable design concept.

Good design is the reason that people are interested in the first place. The story about Brazilian artisans and their time-honoured handloom techniques is a secondary concern. Women’s primary concern is style. Brazilian fashion designer Joao Antonio understood this and produced a bag that isn’t just eco-friendly, but is absolutely stunning.

Tropicca also gives people an opportunity to make an income using their traditional skills. The bag’s popularity has helped to revive the handloom industry that was almost dead in this rural area of Brazil.

Although a career in marketing has helped Renata understand why women’s focus is on style, she still wishes for the maker’s stories to be front and centre. “It breaks my heart when people show zero interest to hear the beautiful stories about the people behind our brand – because in fact, we are so passionate about all of them; we actually don’t even like to use the expression ‘behind the brand’, as we strongly believe Purple Mango is a collective effort – and we all walk side by side.”

It is clear that Renata is proud of her heritage and uses Purple Mango as a vehicle to celebrate her culture and introduce Australians to eco fashion from her home country. And if this is just a taste of what we can expect from sustainable designers in Brazil, I’m excited about what else is in store."

To check out the designs by Flavia Amadeu and Tropicca, visit our online store

What if your next clutch not only ticked the fashionable and glam aspects of it?! Could your fashion purchases be also helping the environment and the society?

Well, us at Purple Mango not only think it could, but it should :-) The exponential growth of ethical and sustainable fashion brands and projects fills us with extreme joy and hope that we, step by step, walk in the direction of a better future as a global community.

One of the incredible projects that is ticking many positive boxes in the sphere of eco fashion, ethics and sustainability is the Brazilian team from Tropicca.

Tropicca was born by the love of handloom techniques and it became a collaborative initiative with artisans in a small country town in Brazil. With the motto of "our tool is love and sustainability is the result", Tropicca has been producing outstanding fashion products that are not just stunning, but very importantly they are on a mission of delivering ethical and sustainable fashion initiatives.

Tropicca's Handloom Bags - which were recently featured in Vogue Brazil - are made using recycled VHS tapes, mixed with natural yarn. Yep, the old school VHS tapes, that some of the newer generations might not even know it ever existed!

The designs won of the 12th House & Gift Fair Design awards in Brazil, recognised by its sustainability concept.

The project not only ticks the environmental aspects of the design, but it also is proudly transparent about social and ethical practices.

As a living proof that ethical fashion is possible, the they proudly introduce the ‘hands who create’ as a feature of their story. Workers have a face, are valued and respected. And this love is translated to the final result!

The production of this clutch is part of a social project that is empowering women through fashion and bringing back to life the handloom industry in a small town where the industry was nearly extinct.

Purple Mango feels honoured to bring this outstanding ethical fashion project to Australia and New Zealand!

How this project started - what a fantastic story!

The handloom industry for a long time was a growing and prosperous sector in the small Brazilian country town where Tropicca was born. But, as you probably won’t be suprised, big corporations and industrialised methods took over the market and not much was left for the artisans.

One of the leaders of the team is Joao Antonio , a Brazilian fashion designer. His journey with the handloom world began as a child. Along side his mother Vaninha, Joao used to closely watch the whole handloom process: from the yarn stage up to the sales stage.

His roots with this culture were so strong that Joao decided to get professional skills and enrolled himself in a fashion college.

Witnessing the whole artisan culture he grow up with being nearly extinct hit Joao hard. For the passion of this industry and in honour of his beloved mother, Joao and a group of local artisans decided to pick up the pieces that were left and bring back the handloom industry to life. And step by step, they are doing it!

The team at Tropicca is composed by these wonderful artisans that take the handloom technique and industry as it’s passion, life and source of income. Some of them have been doing it for nearly their whole lives.

The team at Purple Mango can’t express how much love and joy we feel to be able to support this fabulous initiative and crew - and be able to bring to Australian fashion lovers a absolutely gorgeous and unique fashion piece!

So it has come to an end! What an incredible past two weeks with the 2016 Olympic Games being hosted by our homeland Brazil!

Rio, you nailed it! We absolutely loved to watch the wonderful atmosphere created around sportsmanship. It just beyond amazing to see the world united - call us utopian, but we so wished diversity was truly celebrated like this at all times...

Overall, the games will leave plenty of positive memorable moments. Purple Mango founders, as Brazilians, couldn’t be prouder.

Undoubtedly Brazil is undergoing tough times right now, and there are no shortage of opinions against the expenditure around the Olympic games.

But we are here to concentrate on the positive side of things… Hard working Brazilians deserve to be proud of their country, and this encouraging and motivating feeling around the games was much well deserved.

From the many astounding moments of the past two weeks, one in particular caught our attention! As the conversation around environmental issues spreads around the world, the Rio Olympic Games placed a great focus of it’s opening ceremony to raise much needed awareness for this global issue. What a perfect moment to remind eyes around the globe of our biggest environmental tragedy of all times: global warming.

Good to be green. How Hwee Young/EPA

A particularly special moment from the ceremony was when athletes were invited to plant seeds that will be the start of a new forest in a suburb in Rio de Janeiro. What a remarkable gesture to spread a sustainability message: to get the hands of sports people from around the globe to physically get involved in an action for environmental transformation and sustainability.

"In a sudden change in tempo and mood, the dangers of global warming were depicted in images and numbers. It was a powerful illustration, not only of the impacts of climate change and the urgent need to do something about it, but also of Brazil’s determination to contribute to debates of international significance.” Diego Azubel/EPA

We could not leave this post without making mention to the participation of our home-made fashion mogul Gisele Bündchen. Bringing a touch of glamour and no shortage of charm and beauty, Gisele walked her last runway event in her delicate, yet so powerful, signature way. Thumbs up for the Olympic Games for bring fashion and sustainability to the world’s spotlight! We love it!

A touch of glamour. Sergey Ilnitsky/EPA

A perfect recipe to start an awesome sustainable fashion conversation:

Hand pick a bunch of very cool sustainable and ethical fashion brands,

add some superb fashion influencers,

get a magnificent fashion agency to mix them all together,

and serve it on a sublime eye-inspiring venue featuring a mouth-watering vegan brunch;

to top it all, the cherry on the cake: get a stellar Aussie top model to host it all up.

Tick!

Purple Mango feels very honoured to have been hand-picked by the amazing The Helm Agency to, along side a group of fantastic sustainable fashion brands, participate on it's latest 'Bring Back the Beauty' soiree.

The event was hosted at the 'The Plant Gallery' in Bondi, and the out-of-control-jaw-dropping-gorgeous Jesinta Campbell - our host for the day - welcomed a creme-de-la-creme guest list, including Beck Stevens, Stormy Keating, Faye De Lanty, Helen Chix and Marc James - to name a few...

The guests enjoyed a beautiful vegan brunch while hearing so many beautiful stories on each sustainable and ethical brand and the new fashion directions they are setting up.

We at Purple Mango believe that fashion choices are crucial for those that care for the society and the environment, so we felt absolutely honoured to have been able to share our story with this very special audience.

All our products are carefully curated, as they are not just pretty and high quality but also socially responsible and environmentally friendly.

For example, the handloom Bag featured on the photo - which is designed by a collective called "Tropicca" in Brazil - is the winner design at the 12th House & Gift Design awards. The design has been recognised by its sustainability concept. The bag has recycled VHS tapes mixed with the natural yarns in a beautiful handloom technique.

We very much believe that it's time to start - and don't stop - the conversation about ethical and sustainable fashion. ✨

How can we all as a society contribute for a better future with a more conscious and responsible living? Small changes make a really big difference :-)

xx

Purple Mango team

Who could ever imagine that sap from Amazon rainforest trees could turn into highly fashionable organic jewellery? The Brazilian fashion designer Flavia Amadeu did.

Flavia Amadeu is a Brazilian jewellery designer, researcher and design consultant. The focus of her work relies on supporting the work of local communities through collaboration on handcrafts and on the production of materials.

Flavia's career as a designer spans more than fifteen years, during which she has developed many projects and taught in different design areas such as fashion, jewellery, graphic design, scenery and costume design.

Since 2004, Flavia Amadeu has been researching and designing with the coloured rubber called 'Semi-Artefact Rubber Sheet' (FSA), which is produced locally by rubber tapping communities in the Amazon Rainforest.

She is currently a Lecturer at University of the Arts London and a PhD Researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, (UAL).

The rubber tappers collect the latex, which is the sap of the trees that grow wildly only in the rainforest. These trees can be productive for generations. The liquid is brought to the production units built beside their houses, where the coloured rubber sheets are produced.

The beauty of Flavia's project is the interconnection of the environment and the society. Flavia’s places equals love and respect for the forest she is working from and the local communities around it.

The demand for the FSA rubber promotes the involvement of young adults, especially women, in the economic activity. Incentives include better conditions of work, for example, allowing women to work near to their homes while taking care of the children.

Importantly, the economic return of this rubber is superior to all the other kinds of rubber produced locally, enabling the manufacture of numerous local artefacts that can increase even more the family income. Overall, the process is environmentally friendly.

The result of this incredible project is a bright, bold and fashionable piece of sustainable jewellery.

Purple Mango is very proud to welcome the beautiful designs from Flavia Amadeu to Australia. To check out her designs, click here.

When we started our brand 4 years ago we came to the important realisation that our love for fashion shouldn’t be more important than ethical and sustainable matters.

We came to realise that we couldn’t feel comfortable wearing a fashion piece that was brought to the world through pain and unfairness, both to earth and to it’s inhabitants...

And our motto was clear, our curated fashion collection had to be more than just pretty.

It is just beautiful to watch how much this conversation has grown over the past years, and to see that actually a significant number of people are joining this way of thinking and that this is not a fad!

Good on everyone that has joined the ‪#‎fashionrev‬ conversation and started asking‪ #‎whomademyclothes‬