Johanna Wallther, Project Manager © MADE-BY

'At university I studied International Business and during that time I started questioning many of the somewhat greedy approaches which we were taught were common practice in business.  Feeling somewhat disheartened I decided that this type of approach didn’t feel right and I would strive to develop my career through organisations that were mindful of their responsibilities to society and took a more ethical approach. 

When I graduated I joined People Tree, a pioneering Fair Trade fashion company, and worked there for three years as their logistics and operations coordinator.  The ‘slow fashion’ business model was very interesting to me, and the work People Tree do to help marginalised people work their way out of poverty was very inspiring.  I also saw, however, how difficult it is for one business that pays fair prices to compete in such a fast-paced and competitive industry and I felt that there really needs to be a bigger change in society where being fair to people isn’t rare but the norm.