Interview with naturanyu

I have to confess it was a huge dilemma who to ask about the topic of organic clothing. I truly have no much experince about it. I wanted to learn more and know more and I think I picked the right person. Bokor Zsófi is the creator of Naturanyu who provides all organic and natural products to Moms and to kids from early childhood already. Read her words with care.

Please introduce yourself!

I am Zsófia Bokor, originally an economist and at the moment a Mom of a 2 and a half year old boy. After a year planning I started this year January the webshop where I sell wide range of organic cotton baby clothes.

What did lead you towards opening a webshop?

At my workplace I always got many appreciation and I wanted to prove something to myself. I wanted to start something small on my own. I wanted to do something what shows and transfer real values, connected with environment and sustainability. Above all I wanted to have flexibility in it.  Taking into consideration all these I picked to open and manage a webshop. I just got the new couple of days ago that my webshop was selected in the first 25 from 200 webshops in Hungary at a yearly award. This is a huge result for me. I am really happy.

Why is it important to wear organic clothes?

You cannot imagine how much chemicals get into ourselves through what we eat, cosmetics, cleaning products and also with the clothes what wear day by day. In case of a small baby or a kid this is especially important issue as their skin is much more sensitive for all this. These can cause ecema, skin dieses and more serious other dieses as well. If you continue to think on this topic you might wonder how much chemicals is needed to produce the clothes at the cotton fields, what are the circumstances that the workers are in – both at the fields and in the factories – where kids and women are working hard everyday and how polluted can be all the rivers and waters nearby the clothes factories.

Can you explain what is the difference between organic and bio?

In case of fabrics we have cotton or LEN what are all natural materials and we have synthetic materials as well. The cotton material lets the skin breath naturally on the other hand the synthetic ones are not so much. It can happen that during the production process they treat natural fabric with non natural materials – like toxic paints or other chemicals what are transforming the natural materials into non natural. I think we have all experienced that our natural 100% cotton t-shirt doesn’t even feels like that and after washing became uncomfortable to wear. In the other hand organic clothing are not treated with chemicals and  they can add (max. 5%) elastin to it. It is important to know about, that just as the food and cosmetic field – the fashion industry realized as well that organic and natural products are sold with higher vale and people are looking for those. Unfortunately for higher profit many brands are selling their products as organic with a higher price and in this way they mislead the consumer. This is called greenwashing. If you want to be sure you get what you wanted you have to search for label certificates like GOTS. It has to have this label on.

Why is it important for you to sell these products?

All above this certificate means they pay attention for our health during production, for the environment and sustainability also has an added ethical and social value. It means a GOTS labeled brand has to pay fair wages, has to keep strict hygienically and safety rules (for example to avid tragedies like Rana Plaza) and they do not use kid labor.  The system is clear and transparent the customer can easily see through the production line (Who made my clothes?)

You know a bit more about kids fashion industry. How do you see? How is it in line with what you want to present?

Just as fast fashion industry for adults – also in kids fashion became creating more and fast. Just as adults also kids have a tremendous amount of clothes – it is easy to trick parents, grandparents and relatives into this vicious circle – how cute the baby will look in this or that – an at the end it will be worn only few times. Not so long ago I got a huge bag of children’s clothes and I was shocked that I found absolutely new ones with the label on. I think with this behavior we also lead kids into hording tremendous amount of clothes when they will grow up. There is an other thing what bothers me in kids fashion – I think it is not practical. Slim fit jeans and tutu skirt might be fashionable and good looking but for kids cannot be comfortable. Kids need to move freely and I doubt it can happen in clothes they can hardly move and get injured in. One more thing I have to mention. They put on also on kids’ clothes the actual “cool” cartoon figure or movie star – and with this they create the brand / star culture that people follow. Later the want to have only specific brands / clothes from celebrities, etc. I also have favorite actors and sportsmen but I do not believe they are any other special than everybody else who works every day, raise their kids and be with the family. That is why I do not sell any product with famous people’s brands. That is no value, only extra cost for the customer doesn’t add to the quality. All clothes what I sell are excellent quality what can serve over time. I am filled with joy that also my customers see this value and I get positive feedbacks to the products.

How do you demonstrate sustainability in your daily life?

I am really far from the sustainable life I want to live but I do my best in what I can. I have my own small kitchen garden and I compost at home. I reduce plastic usage especially I avoid the single use version of it. I pay attention on what and how much I buy. Overconsumption is valid especially when it comes to food. For example I prefer to buy only 200 g of quality meat from what we eat twice, instead of buying 1 kg of something because it is cheap and after leaving it to rot in the fridge. M y other preferences to buy seasonal and local. I reduced also our meat consumption. All in all it doesn’t cost more than buying cheap products in big amount. We never throughout any food. My Mom lived during the second world war and experienced how is when you do not have. This is what I have learned and this is what I live accordingly. I do not use detergent and softener for washing. My son used to have cloth diaper on and I myself use a washable intim pad.  When it is about to buy something new, I always stop for a moment and I ask myself if it is really needed, can it be repaired.  Except, when it is about books – I loose all my consciousness…

Who are your customers?

I find it very diverse. Mainly Moms, who are already environmentally conscious, or they are looking for unique pieces, designs or Grandmas who are searching another solution.

How did the market / your customers welcome you and your products?

I think we still have a long road ahead to learn about sustainability, but surprisingly many people know already about GOTS certificate or at least they heard about it. Many times they buy for the first time only 1 piece (maybe because they had negative experience because of greenwashing) and after they are reassured about the quality they come back for others. It was also surprising for me how many people gave feedback and encourage me to continue this way. They are ahhpy to get what they were looking for.

Are there any trend what you follow?

I never followed fashion, now I am checking time to time but I consciously following my own beliefs and ideas.

I am satisfied, when…

When my customers, (Moms) dedicate time for me, sopping me on the streets and telling me how satisfied they are, they wish me all good and they return also as customers. It makes my heart sing.