“Sustainability is all about education. With the volume of greenwashing, you can become disillusioned with what’s actually sustainable and what’s not”

Sophie Larsen: “As a child I remember reading my encyclopedia on the topic of fossil fuels and renewable energy. It really stuck with me as the subject was so urgent and this was way back in the early 90s. There has been so much harm done and we are now at a tipping point whereby there is no option apart from to be mindful of our choices, with fashion playing a huge role in this. I’ve worked in the fashion industry buying for around ten years and ‘more, faster and bigger’ can only be sustained and managed for so long without compromising our future.

To me, sustainable and ethical fashion means buying only what you need, consuming less and consuming mindfully. It’s about looking at the future and having a responsibility to people and the planet, ensuring that workers are treated fairly in the supply chain, making sure a brand is mindful of its carbon emissions and ensuring that no harm is carried out to animals in the production of the goods.

It’s also about brands being transparent and having traceability in their supply chain from design to delivery. 

Chris (co-founder/husband) and I have always been passionate and inspired about sustainable ways of living – we’ve always wanted to incorporate this into our personal and professional lives. Passionate about authenticity and transparency, we wanted to challenge the incredible amount of greenwashing and lack of transparency across the industry. We both wanted sustainable and ethically minded fashion and lifestyle products which also sat within our own personal style and design aesthetic. The more we researched, the more beautiful sustainable brands and products we found and realised there wasn’t a one-stop-shop for them. This led us to develop Lårs Labels.

Each brand and product on Lårs Labels is curated and shares our value of taking a long term approach to design, manufacturing and the consumption of products, whilst also focussing on what is morally right. Lårs Labels champion brands which are fully transparent in all of their processes who create goods which avoid harm to people, animals, and the planet, but also meet our love for beautiful, design-led products, marrying both ethics and aesthetics.

When Chris and I conceptualised Lårs Labels back in 2019, we had no idea (like anyone) that we were going to launch during a global pandemic. This has brought a variety of challenges however at the same time during this period of change this year, there has been a shift towards mindful, more responsible consumption. A lot of people have changed their views recently and want to invest in pieces that do more good for the world, which is what we advocate.

We’ve received a really positive response from customers and the wider fashion community. This period of change has really allowed consumers to assess their basic needs and what’s important to them. We wanted to create a ‘one-stop-shop’ of beautiful, ethically minded pieces where customers know that what they are purchasing. There are websites that have sustainable attribute filters however I think this can also lead to more confusion about what’s sustainable and ethical and what’s not. We do the due diligence of all the products that are featured on Lårs Labels to ensure everything is fully considered across the whole supply chain, which is what makes us different. 

We work with brands where sustainability and ethics is at the forefront of their business model. We are consistently on the search for new exciting brands – across clothing, footwear, lifestyle, beauty and kids – which speak to our brand values and core sustainable attributes. 

Stella McCartney has always been a visionary for sustainable and ethical fashion and sustainability is at the core of their business model, not an afterthought; they are consistently looking at new, innovative fabrications and ways of working and show that design can be married with ethics.

I would like to see the use of virgin plastic eliminated in fashion including packaging. I would also like to see advancements in product packaging offers including pumps for beauty/skincare items which, at present, can only realistically use plastic and are not able to be recycled.

We do not feature any leather products due to the environmental impact and there have been a lot of advancements in non-leather items, eg bio-fabrication and the use of fruit for fibres (as an example Piñatex made from pineapple leaves). I would love to see how this develops over the coming years so this becomes more accessible and a mainstream alternative to animal leather.

We encourage our customers and visitors to the site to ask us questions about our products and the brands which we feature. Sustainability is all about education. With the volume of greenwashing, you can become disillusioned with what’s actually sustainable and what’s not. We want to be a point of education that allows people to understand that you don’t need to compromise aesthetics with ethics. 

If we all made lots of smaller changes, this would be far more beneficial than a few people doing everything right. Firstly, I would encourage people to only buy what you need which affects everything you buy – from  clothing or food. Reduce, reuse and recycle. If you are buying something new, take the time to ask questions on how ethical the product is, what fabrics are used, where is it produced, who manufactured it? This takes time and research and this is why we set up Lårs Labels, to allow customers to trust that what we feature is considered.”

The Sustainable Shopper shopping list: the Lårs Labels pick

Opening image: Veryan

All images: courtesy of Lårs Labels