What made you start Zealous and what does the name mean?
The word “Zealous” means to be enthusiastic about something, to be eager. I chose this name because it describes our way of life so well. We sacrifice and work a lot to be able to live this kind of lifestyle, to be in the ocean often and to spend as much time in nature as possible.
I started Zealous about 9 years ago when I asked my grandma to teach me knitting so I could make a beanie for my friend’s birthday. Back then we were snowboarding a lot, and this fluro bright, handmade beanie just hit the spot! I promptly received the first orders and from then on continued to make customized beanies for European winters and snowboarding adventures.
Tell us a little about your brand ethos?
Because I have quite some experience in clothing retail as well as in production, due to running Zealous for several years and being a Clothing Engineer, I knew quickly what I wanted Zealous to be like.
All the plastic waste that accumulates in retail stores horrified me. All the hard deadlines in factories seemed very stressful. That’s why I decided to make Zealous as green and fair as possible. Use as many sustainable fabrics as I can find, donate 1% of all sales to 1% for the Planet® to make the world a little bit better, use plastic free packaging and e.g. use fabric scraps to make scrunchies.
Besides that, I work with small to medium sizes family run manufactories on the island of Bali. Those I visit regularly and am in touch with the people who make the clothes. They can feed their families and can send their kids to school. They get paid for overtime and had so many other possibilities for work on this very touristic island if they wanted to do something else. You can meet some of them here.
You’re based in Bali, is this where you get most of your inspiration from for the collections?
Definitely! There’s such a wild mix of fashion styles to be seen here and the ocean itself is a never-ending source of inspiration. But I also like to get inspired by artworks and photography. So, a little bit of big city life is needed every now and then to get inspired through art gallery visits or just strolling through the streets to see what other’s wear. Sometimes a certain color combination of shoes turns into the colors of a bikini pattern!
You also work with locals to create your swimwear, could you tell us a little more about why this is important to you?
Because I want to know who makes my products! That I know where my and my customer’s money ends up and to know that I can help to create employment opportunities here. I want to be able to be in touch with them regularly to check on production status, quality and problems. The possibility to meet them on a regular basis, provides the tools for a good relationship and to create smoother processes and therefore better products.
What is your favourite piece from the collection?
Oh, that’s a difficult one! There’s our current main collection of surf wear, which I absolutely adore the Akas Surf suit with Leopard accents of! Then there’s our Ocean Collection made from recycled materials. From that collection, I love most the Signature Top in Shades of Blue. Our Streetwear Collection contains my absolute favorite, the Ocean Crop Top! But we’ve also just launched the breeze by Zealous line that includes super limited (sometimes as little as 2 pieces) designs and fits, all made from hand printed fabrics. I love those easy to combine summer blouses. It’s so hard to decide every year what to wear myself because I don’t want my mini wardrobe to explode!
How would you describe the Zealous girl?
Authentic, sporty, environmental conscious, connected to nature, out of the box!
Where is your favorite surf spot?
Well I love my home break Berawa in Bali. But I’ve surfed lovely waves on other islands around Indo. And I’m going to explore the Mentawais soon – so this might change =D
Where is on your travel wishlist?
First up the Ments! But also Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka.
What is on your spotify playlist?
Ha, great question! Two current faves: Gray by slenderbodies and Work (feat. Pongo) by Kazy Lambist
If you hadn’t started Zealous what would you be doing now?
Probably something very similar!!
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