portrait52 - sustainable streetwear with a vision

About a year and a half ago I started portrait52 (portrait52.com) as a drawing project. I planned on drawing one inspiring portrait a week, ultimately leading to a year worth of portraits. I wanted to share with my friends and my family some of the people who have contributed to me becoming the person that I am today.

What started out as a drawing project has turned into a fashion brand with a vision. I co-founded portrait52 with my very good friend and colleague Chris.

The people behind the portraits are the main focus of our brand. On our t-shirts we have individuals like Michelle and Barack Obama, Jane Goodall, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Frida Kahlo. Thinkers, environmentalists, artists, people who fight against any kind of discrimination and injustice, and for all life on earth. Our vision is to put them in the foreground to keep the focus on what they fight for.

As a company we act on these values. We source our fabric from the portugese company Tintex Textiles, which is known in the industry for its sustainability practices. It is made of GOTS certified organic cotton. GOTS stands for Global Organic Textile Standard and right now it’s the best certification for organic cotton, because it also considers the social aspect of production, not just the environmental one. Tintex Textiles has an environment-driven approach to making fashion and constantly works on developing the manufacturing technology it uses. It also ensures transparency on its entire supply chain.

The t-shirts are sewn in Frankfurt by Stitch by Stitch, which is a sewing company that employs women who were forced to flee their home countries because their lives were endangered. Stitch by Stitch gives these women opportunities and a community where they can flourish together and feel safe. If you want to get a better picture of the company’s people and culture, check out their website von Stitch by Stitch .

You can choose between these portraits (see them here) for the portrait t-shirts:
Portrait No. 1 und 52 - Caity Lotz
Portrait No. 2 - Barack Obama
Portrait No. 3 - Katharine Hepburn
Portrait No. 4 - Bruce Lee
Portrait No. 5 - Jeong Kwan
Portrait No. 6 - James Joyce
Portrait No. 7 - Walter Bonatti
Portrait No. 8 - Jane Goodall
Portrait No. 9 - Christian Anderl
Portrait No. 10 - Gillian Anderson
Portrait No. 11 - Roald Dahl
Portrait No. 12 - Amamnda Abbington
Portrait No. 13 - Chris Martin
Portrait No. 14 - Jane Fonda
Portrait No. 15 - Nelson Mandela
Portrait No. 16 - Amal Clooney
Portrait No. 17 - Malala Yousafzai
Portrait No. 18 - Steve Jobs
Portrait No. 19 - P!nk
Portrait No. 20 - Ellen DeGeneres
Portrait No. 21 - Chris Do
Portrait No. 22 - Greta Thunberg
Portrait No. 23 - Leonardo DiCaprio
Portrait No. 24 - Michelle Obama
Portrait No. 25 - Martin Garrix
Portrait No. 26 - Frida Kahlo
Portrait No. 27 - Neven Subotic
Portrait No. 28 - Marie Forleo
Portrait No. 29 - Constantin Brancusi
Portrait No. 30 - Martha Graham
Portrait No. 31 - Connor Franta
Portrait No. 32 - Emma Watson
Portrait No. 33 - Michael Patrick Kelly
Portrait No. 35 - Boyan Slat
Portrait No. 36 - Sarah Connor
Portrait No. 37 - Vlad Magdalin
Portrait No. 38 - Serena Williams
Portrait No. 39 - Tyler Oakley
Portrait No. 40 - Katharine Johnson
Portrait No. 41 - Martin Luther King Jr.
Portrait No. 42 - Alicia Keys
Portrait No. 43 - Muhammad Ali
Portrait No. 44 - Megan Rapinoe
Portrait No. 45 - Tim Cook
Portrait No. 46 - Luisa Neubauer
Portrait No. 47 - Sadio Mané
Portrait No. 48 - Carolin Emcke
Portrait No. 49 - Hans-Peter Dürr
Portrait No. 50 - Jennifer Beals
Portrait No. 51 - Prince Harry

Our crowdfunding campaign is supported by the „Referat für Arbeit und Wirtschaft“ of the city of Munich.

If you want to make an essential difference, you’re in the right place. We seek to reach the people who want to invest in a fashion brand that unites quality made in Germany, sustainability, cool design, environmental care and social commitment. Who are willing to show what and who they stand for and who are willing to lead those uncomfortable, but necessary conversations about fundamental topics like social injustice and discrimination.

This year has shown something astounding: as a society we are able to implement necessary changes fast. We’ve stayed at home, we wear masks, we’ve adapted o the new conditions amazingly fast, to protect ourselves and others.

With our fashion brand we want to help implement other necessary changes as well. Our theme t-shirts with the topics antiracism, pride, environment and art should increase the visibility and representation range of these topics and should help you keep the conversation going.

The more we stand for our values openly, the greater the chances that other people will adopt these and change their own behavior.

If we reach our first funding goal we will manufacture the t-shirts for this crowdfunding campaign and develop the other collections prototypes for our first collection: hoodies, gym bags. The production price per piece depends on the amount of t-shirts we can order. Therefore we can only make further investments in the collection with a higher funding.

With the second funding goal we want to develop sustainable packaging from cast fiber in cooperation with a German packaging company. This packaging will be 100% recyclable and 100% biodegradable.