Frequently asked questions

Our responsibility
Sustainability indicates that it is something that is good for the planet, and the production of clothes probably never will be. But it is possible to make it better and greener than what we see with the majority of the clothing industry. Sustainability is therefore also a word we try to distance ourselves from, and only use it for lack of a better one. We prefer to call it propriety instead. Neatness means that we choose good materials and that the environmental impact is reduced throughout the clothing's cycle. This also means that we try to make durable products that can be used for many years to come. We also do our part to inform the consumer about what clothing production means for the environment and how they can make demands for better solutions. By doing this, we get the consumer to make demands on producers and companies, and thus the industry is shaped in the direction of more proper clothing production. We believe that as a company that produces and sells clothing, we have a huge responsibility. Therefore, our plea to the consumer is also that they buy less, but better.

Why sustainable clothing?
We do not believe that it is possible to call clothes sustainable. Making clothes will always pollute, and therefore it cannot be called 100% sustainable. For that reason, we also do not allow ourselves to call ELSK clothing sustainable clothing. Having said that, however, it is possible to make clothing production more sustainable than it is today. This means that it can easily be done with less polluting methods and materials compared to what many companies currently use. The clothing industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. Therefore, it is an area where a change really needs to happen if the goal of a more sustainable world is to be achieved. We are just trying to do something in this area and make the production of clothes just a little greener. We do this by choosing durable materials that have been produced under responsible conditions with the least possible environmental impact. By doing this, we are helping to set the standard for clothing production and the quality of the clothing, thereby also moving the rest of the industry forward. We are not perfect, but we strive for it. This way we are constantly getting better.

How do you differentiate yourself from other companies?
We all have in common that we are trying to sell clothes. Where we differ from many is that we do not create collections. We do not have a summer or winter collection. Instead, we update our stock continuously when we think we've created something new and cool. In addition, we do not allow ourselves to be influenced by trends. We try to create styles that are timeless and can therefore be used for many years. We therefore do not produce based on what was the big hit at Copenhagen Fashion Week, but instead based on our own values ​​and what fits well with our philosophy. We are speaking into a greener trend. "Yes, yes, there are so many who insist that they do, but in reality the organic cotton comes from a country with corruption in certifications", you might think. But we don't greenwash, we actually do something to make the production of clothes greener. Our suppliers are selected with care and thought, as are our materials. Sustainability permeates all of our choices, even if it may not always look that way from the outside. There is always a point to the madness, whether it's creating a stir or testing new, greener options. Some think that LOVE is expensive. That is probably also the case with many fast fashion brands. The reason for this is that we produce in a somewhat different way than these places. Many companies get a piece of clothing produced by going to their designers and saying "we have x amount of kroner for this piece of clothing. Design and negotiate prices based on that”. That's not how we work. Instead, we give our designers an idea of ​​what we would like - without talking about price. Only after the clothes have been designed do we assess what the product is worth and what it will sell for. The clothes are therefore only assessed at the end of the process instead of from the beginning of determining what it should cost. In this way, we create a freer framework for the product. Which means we can use better materials and create higher quality clothing. This is what you pay for at ELSK: Greener production and materials, as well as high quality that will last for many years to come.

What do you do to get people to choose you over other brands?
Habits are incredibly difficult to change in people, and therefore it also takes a long time to get people used to being more critical of where their clothes come from. What we do to sharpen people's critical sense is to enlighten them. We like to have a chat with our customers about where the clothes come from - both our clothes and other people's. We do the same with our dealers. We also spread knowledge through our website and social media. Of course, we don't just point fingers at others without making an effort ourselves. We do everything we can to be transparent with our customers and dealers. We tell both if something is good and if something is bad. We encourage our customers to let us know if they have criticisms, so that we can constantly improve. We show our customers what our products can - and cannot - and we show them where it all comes from. The clothes alone are not what make people choose one brand over another. It's also about the brand. That is why we also spend an extremely large amount of time building up a universe around our brand. Among other things, we hold and participate in events. An example of this is that we sometimes go together with Strandet to clean the beach. The events we hold and participate in are of course in collaboration with companies and events with which we share common values. For example, it doesn't make sense for us to be the main sponsor of a race, but it does, on the other hand, to be the organizer of a surfing competition. We would like to be associated with nature and a greener world. That's why we try to create a brand and products that actually make a difference and don't hide anything. All this, we believe, is the way forward towards getting people to buy our products rather than fast fashion.

Where do your clothes come from?
All our products are designed here in Denmark, but a large part of them are produced in other countries. Before choosing a supplier for the production of our products, we do a lot of thinking. Right now we have suppliers in Turkey, Portugal, Lithuania, Italy and Denmark. It is therefore exclusively European countries from which we get our products - which is also a requirement we set for ourselves. We make this requirement, among other things, to reduce the number of kilometers a carrier has to drive before the products come through our door. Furthermore, we only choose suppliers who share our values ​​of reduced environmental impact and responsible production. The choice has never fallen on a random supplier. We have a number of requirements that we require them to meet. For example, we refuse to be involved in child labour, pesticides must not be used, and the fields with, among other things, cotton must lie within a certain distance from the factory. You can see a list of our suppliers here: https://elsk.com/pages/leverandor.
Here it says a little more about the individual supplier and what we get from each of them.

Who is your target audience?
It is very mixed, whether it is men or women who buy from us. We cover a wide range, but most of our customers are in their mid-twenties to late thirties. If you look locally here in Thy, however, we hit the slightly more adult target group.

Do you recycle your clothes?
We never throw away clothes – not even products with faults or product samples. We instead take many of these to festivals and sell them as second sorting, or hold a sample sale where the goods are sold at a slightly lower price. However, we often use recycled materials for the production of our clothes, and we also have a goal that more of our products will consist of recycled materials going forward. The problem with recycling some materials, however, is that in the conversion to the fibers that will be used for the new clothes, they become incredibly weakened. If you therefore produce a shirt from 100% recycled cotton, you run the risk of producing a piece of clothing that does not last very long. Therefore, it is often necessary to add other material to products. It could be polyester as it is very flexible. If we use polyester, it is always in the form of recycled polyester. Polyester is one of the materials that does not lose its durability or other properties during recycling. Here you might wonder why we don't just choose to make clothes in recycled polyester instead of recycled cotton. But there is actually a good reason for that. Polyester is made of plastic, and this means that some form of microplastic will always be released during washing and production of the product. We therefore try to use it as little as possible. You can read about all our materials at the link here: https://elsk.com/pages/materialer