How We Do

How might the fashionbrand Astrid Andersen foster positive societal changes by connecting with the consumers of the future?

For my bachelor thesis, I investigated how fashionbrands could be key actors in regards to making positive societal changes. As the fashion industry (in general) is very influential —and one of the great contributors to many of the social and environmental issues we face today—  I wanted to look into how fashionbrands might use their cultural capital to do good. 

Firstly, the future consumers. Very broad segment. My focus, however, was redirected towards the Gen Z and Millennials, as they would, in the near future, make up the majority of consumers worldwide. A segment of great interest to any capital-driven business; and a segment whose consumption patterns are increasingly driven by their ethical and moral compasses. They're fed up with fashionbrands' broken promises, manipulative acts, and lack of responsibility; they crave authenticity. Put simply, they want to see fashionbrands walk the talk.

I found decentralisation and democratisation to be a great starting point. Additionally, I found that the concept of profit wasn't the problem; it was the extraction of said profits. My solution proposes evolving Astrid Andersen into a community-driven facilitator of alternative value creation, by redistributing profits towards doing good, and financing community projects. As the first step, I set up a Discord server, in which also open-source mending instructions, opportunities, learnings, inspiration, and ideas also could be shared with one another.

To get started, I established a new vision and mission statement. Then, I identified a set of brand values, by overlapping the degrowth vision and the cultural roots of the brand. I combined everything in a manifesto; an invitation to partake in challenging status quo, using Astrid Andersen as the vessel. I put emphasis on including past and present cultural codes, and on using active verbs to make the writing come alive. Without revealing too much, you might be able to find shout outs to Biggie, Ice Cube, and Tupac.

The written manifesto were first and foremost to live on the Astrid Andersen website. Here, one would purchase a physical version of the manifesto, to receive an invitation to join the community. A donation to the cause, if you will. In return, one would receive a nostalgic representation of a CD —inspired by the idea of fusioning 90s and 00s hip-hop culture and the degrowth vision— manufactured by local business partners, and made from upcycled plastic waste.

Additionally, I included a holographic disk sticker carrying the values, to put dressing on the wound. And possibly spread the message even further.

By archiving all existing Instagram posts on the Astrid Andersen account, I wanted evoke a little mysticism. In posting one picture after another, over an extended period of time, I aimed to spread a little awareness and engagement, inviting curious souls to visit Astrid Andersen's profile page, in which the aforementioned posts would depict the CD.

For the dreamers, ballers, artists, creators, dawgs, thinkers, visionaries, and the OG's

Again and again, people and communities are exploited by greedy opps. Many struggle to make ends meet. Opportunities, dreams, interests, ambitions and hope dissolves. This is the age of exhaustion. We’re surviving, but not living. Another day, another struggle. Who for? What for?Things should be different. We should all be able to say: today was a good day.

Our mission
From today, Astrid Andersen is in business to equip people with purpose, figuratively and literally. We’re going to make changes; might have to call up Elton John.

Our vision
Astrid Andersen was founded with hope, imagination, belief and love for the culture. Once, it was all a dream. Thanks to the culture, the community and the people the dream turned real. Now we want to give back. To you, to the community, to the culture.

For starters, here’s what we dream about: In 2053 Astrid Andersen facilitates and contributes to the collaborative efforts of establishing an egalitarian and exploitation-free society; here, caring is cool, generosity is the default, and differences are celebrated; even encouraged.

Ambitious? Yes. Unrealistic? Maybe; but it gets the people going.

How We Do
What are we but yet another inauthentic brand, if we don’t walk the talk? Working on bettering the current societal conditions takes action; principles and values to act from. This is an invitation.

From this year on, our profits will be allocated towards making changes. By redistributing our profits, we’ll be supporting organisations and causes working on establishing similar visions for the future; and we’ll be making community ideas and projects come alive. Which ones, you ask? That’s a decision we’ll make together.

Come reshape Astrid Andersen with us. Connect with likeminded people all over the world. Open new doors; and have new doors open to you. Claim agency. Affect your surroundings. Co-design the future with us. Come make changes; the Astrid Andersen brand will be our vehicle, guided by our values below.

Love  When we think, speak, and act we do it from a place of care, commitment, trust, responsibility, respect and knowledge.

Imagination  We believe this to be the core of creation, play, and fun. Being able to imagine what doesn’t yet exist can spark hope and inspire. We dream big, boldly, and openly.

Generosity  We can never go nowhere, unless we share with each other. Being generous means sharing our knowledge, learnings, resources, opportunities and tools. When we eat, the community eats.

Quality  Attention to detail and high quality are at the heart of our production, but it flows throughout all our actions. We’re no mid machines.

Integrity  Walk the talk. We learn from our mistakes. This means staying accountable to our way of being, to our community, to our intentions of creating future where people thrive.

Unconventional  We do it our way. We question everything. Nurturing creativity and innovation means challenging conventions, and believing in our visions, and building creative confidence by supporting one another.

Intrigued? Take action. If nothing, you’ve donated money towards doing good.