“The fashion industry is a dirty bastard.” This is the first sentence on Organic Basics’ brand description on their website. Alexander Christiansen, Mads Fibiger, Christoffer Immanuel started Organic Basics, as a reaction to what they thought was a lousy and unethical industry, without knowing a thing about underwear or the fashion industry. The Danish brand was launched in 2015 with the help of the crowdfunder service Kickstarter, as a subscription service for durable socks and underwear, and today manufactures everything from underwear to shirts and dresses, with retailers and collaborations all around the world – but the purpose and core values are still the same: ethics and sustainability.

“By entering the industry with fresh eyes, we were able to question the whole process and ensure that every step taken would be better for the environment, the workers and the industry,” the brand says in an interview with Sustain Your Style.

“We realized that the fashion industry was the second most polluting industry and that no one was doing anything to change it. We decided to try to do something about it and created Organic Basics, an organization with a purpose.”

What sets Organic Basics apart from many other brands with the same stated goals is the transparency. O.B set a new standard early on through their publications of the brand’s climate impact index and a detailed list over the brand’s factories and manufacturers.

“Sustainability and ethical methods are at the heart of what we do. We try to take sustainability as far as we can – from our supply chain to the decisions we make as a team at the office. No decision is made without considering whether it is the most sustainable alternative available.”

“Our strongest commitment is our organization that works fully to help and inspire a dirty fashion industry to reinvent itself. The beauty of sustainability lies in the fact that it is a process, not an end goal. The goal is to constantly try to do better and limit our impact as an organization and as an industry. At Organic Basics, we believe that it was a million bad decisions that made this industry end up where we are today. And it is a million better decisions that will take us out of this crisis of over-consumption and pollution of our planet. When we say sustainability is our main commitment, we do not mean that sustainability is something nice to have  – we mean that it is the only way we can act”.