You created your own vegan fair-trade clothing brand. Why?

Some years ago we came across an Indian myth that can be summarized as follows: Back in the Genesis of the world, all animals were each allowed to give one illness to man for the misdeeds he would inflict on them. This myth sparked an idea — a design that drew inspiration from the movie poster for “Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back”. Our first hook had hatched and Paganae saw the light of day.
When this first idea came up - the 'Salmonella - The Chicken Strikes Back' hook - we had some 20 t-shirts made with the design screen printed on them at the local screen printing shop. We got some very positive feedback wearing this t-shirt, like people commenting on how great a hook/message the ‘Chick Strike’ was. Friends and relatives asked for a t-shirt and the 20 t-shirts we had made were very quickly sold or given away. From this point on we came up with more hooks and ideas, eventually desided to turn our designs into a more serious project and came up with a brand name. I guess we had come across many t-shirts with hooks like ‘Meat is Murder’, and regardless of the taste and temper of the individual vegan or vegetarian, this is a more direct approach which can be a turn off to some people. We wanted to give something to vegetarians and vegans that had more depth to it - that had a more appetizing appeal to some people, often people who are not into the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. The fact that not that many vegan clothing brands are around yet, we also see ourselves as a pioneer with this particular clothing brand.
At a more basic level, having been part of the vegan community for some years we wanted to contribute to the vegan cause besides following a vegan lifestyle in our daily lives.

Do you design your shirts on your own? And where do you get your inspirations?

Our designs we make ourselves. We have a friend who is a graphic designer and who is the main graphic designer in the project. Developing the ideas and going from idea to design is a process we all participate in though, so it is really a collaboration of joined forces. We are around 5 people in the project.
As to the ideas of our designs we draw inspiration from various fields. A lot of us have written lyrics and rapped in the underground environment, where hooks are an important factor in the making of a track. I guess you could say that a sensation, a statement or a meaning is boiled down into few words or a metaphor - like that of art in general. We coin hooks thinking ‘out of the box’ and often combine something well-known with a new entry - like the ‘Chick Strike’ hook - or turn something upside down.
Graphically, we are inspired by clothing brands like Obey, Organika and Planet Earth, artists like Banksy and Iso50 along with a variety of other urban artists.
The styles of our first edition t-shirts are quite classic t-shirt styles from street/urban fashion. For future editions we hope to be able to expand our clothing line to dresses, skirts, jeans etc. for women and shirts, hoodies, polo’s, pullovers etc. for men along with caps, belts and other accessories. At some point maybe also vegan shoes.

Why have you called your brand “Paganae” and what does that mean?

Paganus is Latin and means a villager or someone ‘of the country’ as opposed to the civilized people living in the city. In western culture the word has often been used as heathen or heretical, especially in the term ‘pagan religion’. In a broarder sense it has come to mean someone or something that is not mainstream, that does not follow the main religion or ethos of a given culture - in other words an outsider. The ‘ae’ ending is just to make the word plural.
I guess we thought that the word contained or captured an essential part of the vegan values. For many people meat eating is somewhat of a religion, and for vegans not to contribute to the practice of using animals for all kinds of things is like going against the stream. In line with our name is the name of the American internet radio show - Vegan Freak Radio.

Do you also want non-vegan people to buy your clothes - or are they especially for vegans?

Sure we want non-vegan people to buy our clothes. Anyone who likes or loves our designs and the messages they bring is more than welcome to wear Paganae - the message is delivered just as well by a meat eater, a vegetarian or a vegan. Of course, our primary target is vegans seeing that you won’t ever buy a design from us that favours egg or dairy consumption, or circus animals for that matter. This being said, a fan is a fan and an important keyword in developing our brand has been including rather than excluding. Our hope is that the subtle and humorous approach that our designs are characteristic of contribute to the vegan cause in a different way and stand a better chance of turning non-vegans on than the more direct approach. So whoever you are, please join in!

Will Fair Trade be mainstream soon?

No, I do not think that Fair Trade will be mainstream anytime soon. But really, products from food to clothing should have a warning label if they have been produced via child labour or in poor working conditions, with the help of pesticides, growth hormones etc. and not the other way around. But I guess this is a political discussion that also has to do with the major scale consumption by especially people in the western culture.
On the other hand we have experienced an organic and fair trade boom in the western world in the past couple of decades, that testifies to increased awareness and responsible action. Soon is a quite relative word, but the change in trend is definitely noticeable and portends hope for the future. Slowly, I think organic and fair trade products will replace conventional production. At all events, we are proud to be part of that transition.

Do you think veganism should be seen as a lifestyle?

Yes, I definitely think veganism should be seen as a lifestyle. The number of people following a vegan lifestyle has grown rapidly the past decade or so. Whether people get into veganism because of environmental concerns, for health benefits or due to an ethical elevation they experience, I think most vegans are quite informed about the many problems related to how humans treat non-human animals. Because vegans go ‘all the way’ as opposed to people buying ‘cruelty- or cage-free’ and ‘animal-friendly’ products, we mark a change of kind and not one of degree. This is the important difference between the philosophy of animal rights, which is quite controversial, and decent animal welfare, which most people can agree upon though the majority of these people does not act accordingly when shopping. In this connection we think of vegetarians as aspiring vegans or people who cannot live vegan due to practical reasons. Being vegan in a world of so many animal exploiting products, rituals and entertainment sometimes surely can be a hassle - it is easy to be alienated, and this is why veganism is so much of a lifestyle. “No matter how many products in the supermarket, how many today’s specials are of animal origin and no matter how many of you enjoy a day at the zoo, none of that will have me by the balls”, said the vegan.

When do you think Paganae annual sales will beat H&M’s?

Ha-ha..good one! Veganism is definitely well on its way and knowing a vegan by now is as common as it was knowing a vegetarian maybe 20 or 30 years ago. In spite of that, veganism is still very much a niche movement generally and a brand like ours especially. The day our annual sales beat H&M’s is the day veganism is mainstream in our culture, and the sooner the better!!!

Graeme Cochrane
/paganae

Interview by Carina Pacher - peta2.de