Read our interview with ABloom Collection

We are very proud to introduce Abloom Collection - a Stockholm based brand that combines the skills of an Art Director and a Dressmaker creating unique and creative designs.

Green Little Heart says welcome to ABloom - a brand where every garment is a work of art!

Tell us a little about your company and why you started it.

Answer: The idea came to me when I was giving workshops in spiritual painting and found it interesting that everyone really has their own unique style and got a strong feeling that I wanted to manifest that and the process of blooming from within. I tested how it would look with a circle of different floral fabrics on a sweatshirt and I loved the look!

Why slow fashion? How is your work in slow fashion more sustainable?

Answer: Having to look for the right garment for an idea that we want to implement automatically slows down the creative process. But since Fredrika and I are both passionate about sustainability work and have both bought secondhand and remade clothes for a long time, this still feels like a natural part of our creative process that we embrace.

How does Joanna’s background as an Art Director combine with Fredrika’s talents as a dressmaker to inspired and influenced your collection?

Answer: As an Art Director, I have a strong intuition, usually with a strong visionary eye and a bit of a daring mind, this combined with Fredrika eye for quickly seeing what will work, what is realistically and technically possible, and what will be too difficult and time consuming makes an unbeatable creative process.

Who makes your products and where?

Answer: We produce our products in Fredrika’s studio in Stockholm in Solna.

Could you tell us how the production works?

Answer: We regularly look for good quality garments on the second hand market and monitor Swedish designer fabrics on the web. After that, Joanna designs possible variations and new possibilities for old garments to get new fresh life. After that, Fredrika starts her work. Sometimes she adds applications, sometimes she adds embroidery, sometimes she changes the clothes completely, sometimes we buy second hand fabric and sew completely new clothes. Joanna then works closely with a photographer to get high quality material for our webshop.

Which type of materials are you using in your production process?

Answer: Denim, Linnen, Cotton mostly.

Can you tell us about how needlework and embroidery factor into your pieces?

Answer: We feel that every garment we make is a small work of art where the embroidery reinforces a message or creates a beautiful finish or decoration of the garment.

What are your bestselling pieces? Which pieces are your personal favorites?

Answer: It’s about showing colors, fabrics and garments that we remake work so well together. It is hard to tell in advance really, but some of our pieces just turn out better than we imagine. So it is about experimenting and learning and being in touch with your intuition. When it has felt this way, these pieces have usually been sold in the store quite quickly.

I would say that the Peace Jacket and our Sunflower Jacket have been two of my favourites so we are thinking of making similar pieces.

Which certifications do you have and/or strive to have in relation to your company and the production facilities?

Answer: I have not really considered this since we operate in such a small scale right now and we do not produce in factories.

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How do you tackle your environmental impact? What are your next steps in terms of lowering your impact?

Answer: The big difference if we are compared to many other fashion brands is that we are a remake brand, we produce locally and we do not use factories. Obviously it is possible to do more but it may not be on the same scale as these items.

Do you work with any NGOs or special projects to give back to communities?

Answer: No, not at the moment. This is something we may pursue when we have increased our production.

When it comes to packaging communication, how do you work with a sustainable approach and inclusion?

Answer: We are currently working on our external communication and since we support the one of the kind thesis with our products, inclusion of all sub-cultures is a matter of course for us.

What are the main values of your brand?

Answer: Creativity and your uniqueness.

What are you as founder most proud of?

Answer: That I dared to run this fantastic project.

What is your 5 or 10 year vision for your company?

Answer: In 5 years, I hope that we will be one of those who make Sweden a given market for beautiful remake clothes. In 10 years I hope that we have made a tangible impact in shifting our societies attitude towards remake. To make people understand that newly produced actually is inferior to remake.

As female entrepreneurs, can you give some do’s and don’ts to young entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting their own entrepreneur journey?

Answer: Stick to your heart and what you are passionate about, neither listen nor look too much at others. You cannot imagine the entire course of your business, you simply have to dare to start and then remake 🙂 step by step.

Feel free to add anything you would like the world to know about you and your brand!

Answer: If you like Swedish design and Swedish nature, we work hard to preserve and convey the Swedish cultural heritage in the beautiful fabrics and Swedish craftsmanship. We will work even more with, for example, hand-made patchwork that women in Sweden in the past sat and made art of by hand.