Episode 56 Laura Meijering – Unravelau

About Laura Meijering

My name is Laura Meijering, I am currently 27 years old and I live in Almere. I grew up in a village named Castricum and I spent most of my younger days dressing up as a princess and daydreaming. After receiving my high school diploma, I had to choose between Psychology and Fashion-design. I was always interested in Psychology because I wanted to unravel the human mind and understand how people make choices. I was also interested in fashion because I was always trying to express myself via the way I was dressed. This meant that I loved shopping at H&M, Zara and Thrift shops to find my identity.

I decided to study Fashion Design because I knew that if I wouldn’t do something creative, I would not be happy. This was also the time when I discovered the downside of the fashion industry by watching the documentary ‘The True Cost’. And after watching this documentary, something inside me snapped and I realized something had to change.

In 2016 I received my BA in Fashion Design at the HKU in Utrecht, The Netherlands. With the freedom of making my own choices also came the responsibility to tell a genuine story. To make my lifetime dream in the fashion industry come true, it did not feel fair to take away any vital resources and add new clothes that are harmful to our planet.

I founded UNRAVELAU in 2017 to unravel the threads of fashion and keep only the good parts. In doing so, I hope to pioneer a new way of designing the clothes we are wearing.

UNRAVELAU is a Dutch high-end fashion brand with a low ecological footprint. UNRAVELAU’s goal is to “unravel” the fashion industry, leaving behind only the good parts, and putting an end to fast fashion.

Unravelling the fashion industry is a big job, which is why we start with (literally!) cutting the crap, and spreading awareness about the impact we have as people on our planet. 

We “cut the crap” by only using organic and second-hand materials, turning them into limited or one-of-a-kind garments. The second-hand materials come mostly from the citizens of Almere, but we encourage anyone that has unwanted or worn-out clothes to send them our way, so we can give them a new life. We only produce when a customer commissions us to make something for them. This way, we don’t create dead stock, and we can even make sure the new item fits exactly to each customer’s needs, by changing some details or making it made–to-measure. This is why our production takes time, and we show our customers every step of the process behind their new item so they feel as much a part of the process as we do. By doing this we hope to share our responsibility towards the earth we live on.

We feel very responsible for our earth. Reusing and upcycling second-hand materials is one way of addressing the huge amount of textiles that get thrown away every day. Another way is to prevent waste by using our zero-waste cutting technique. This way, we don’t end up with fabric leftovers, and make sure even the tiniest threads are saved up to use again for unique details.

However, simply offering a sustainable product is not the answer if consumers are not aware of the impact they have on our planet. Therefore, UNRAVELAU also focuses on spreading awareness. By giving classes, lectures, and asking students questions, we help them to discover their harmful behaviour and show them the easy ways to change this into positive behaviours.