giving back
Local communities we are supporting through art and craft projects
Terény Village Ceramic
We continue to create employment opportunities for women in the Hungarian village of Terény, through the production of ceramic items and buttons for Nanushka, an ongoing community project we have committed to since the start of our partnership in 2019. The motivation of this project is two-fold: to support and empower this community, while increasing the ratio of preferred fibers and materials in our collections by phasing out plastic detailing and replacing it with organic, handcrafted finishes.
Design for Life Mentorship Program
We launched our Design for Life Mentorship program in 2020 to focus on what we can do, as a retail business, to improve the opportunities of members of marginalized communities. The initiative was continued in 2021, with the goal to support young fashion talent from Black, Asian and minority communities by offering paid internships in our Design department.
Six judges were nominated for the panel; including magazine editors, buying directors and our founder, Sandra Sandor. Two winners were selected for the program: Janet from the US with Korean heritage – who did her studies in the US and London – and Abhijeet from India, who finished a Bachelor’s of Design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology of Bengaluru. Both completed a three-month paid internship at our headquarters in Budapest, working with our design team to assist in the creative process, from the initial inspiration through to delivering of the new collection in time for market launch.
Conscious Textile Group
Nanushka’s partnership with MOME Innovation Center, was launched in November 2022 - co-creating the Conscious Textile Group, a material R&D Hub designed to explore innovative ways to use post-production textiles in a circular manner.
The Conscious Textile Group will comprise of international researchers, academics, students, and industry experts, all dedicated to advancing responsible efforts in textile production and usage within the fashion industry. The research fellowship is planned to last 12 months, during which fellows will receive financial and operational support to conduct their research. The research should aim to contribute to textile waste recycling and should capitalize on the design expertise available in the University’s community and industrial perspective from the Nanushka team.
Volunteering Days
To encourage employees to give back to our communities, we launched our volunteering program to provide all of our team members with the opportunity to spend two paid working days a year helping at a range of charitable organizations while team building outside of the office space. In Budapest, one day has been dedicated to supporting our community by renovating a kindergarten while two days were dedicated to the creation of a herbal garden through permaculture, whereas in London, we supported a city farm in their daily activities for a day.
Farkaslyuki Kindergarten
Next generation represents the earth’s future, and Nanushka has supported with donations a kindergarten in Farkaslyuki, and purchased and donated essential items for kids such as underwear, books and toys.
Fabrics Donations
Reducing material waste and ensuring that our fabrics become utilized at their most is at the core of our responsible approach.
In 2021, we organized a local fabric sale for any surplus materials that we are unable to use in our collections, during which we sold more than 500 meters. All unsold surplus fabrics were donated to local theaters and design faculties of local universities (more than 400 meters).