Ash and Greg (the reluctant models pictured below!), are the passionate duo behind We-Love, proving that shopping sustainably doesn’t mean giving up style or sacrificing the things you love about fashion.
Fed up with accepting the status quo, they decided to start We-Love, an Australian online store which is home to an incredible array of fashion, beauty and lifestyle products, all with ethical and sustainable origins.
In store you’ll find some great Aussie brands such as ALAS The Label, Uncle May and one of my favourites, All The Wild Roses.
Below Ash (who also shares my love of cuddling puppies all day!) shares her favourite ethical fashion designers, how We-Love got started and what’s in store for the future.
The Story
We-Love is run by myself and my partner Greg. I’m the creative who comes up with a bunch of ridiculous ideas and he is my rational tech guy who makes only the good ones come to fruition.
We live in Melbourne, we spend an embarrassing amount of our free time at home cuddling with our 2 fluffy puppies, Walnut and Pencil and we’re are both students, studying in areas that will help us grow We-love.
I used to own a clothing boutique/cafe when I was 21. We stocked Australian, emerging labels.
Honestly, I didn’t really know what I was doing so after 2 years of working every day, I decided to close the shop so that I could get more experience to do it all again but do it right.
Photography: Ashly Craig
"We want people to start giving a shit about our planet and its people, and we believe choosing ethical and sustainable fashion that is beautiful, minimalist and trans-seasonal is an easy way to show your love."
The Journey
During that time I started to learn more about where my food actually comes from and what’s in it. I switched to organic and started making more informed decisions about what I put into my body and it was a bit of natural progression from there. Once you start to question things it’s a little hard to stop. Initially I found it kind of difficult to reprogram my bad habits. You know the old phrase ‘ignorance is bliss’, but you get over all of that pretty quickly.
We started We-Love to prove that shopping both sustainably and ethically doesn’t mean you have to give up your style or love for fashion so, it’s basically a collection of some of the wonderful labels we’ve found on our ethical journey who share our conscience beliefs.
The whole journey has been pretty rewarding but for me, it’s the little things that I’m most grateful for. Feedback from customers, return customers that you form a friendship with through emails, adding new found labels to the store and mostly the support and encouragement we receive from likeminded people and businesses in the industry.
A Typical Day
I study full time so it’s all a bit of a juggling act.
A typical day for me looks like a 6:30am start, first I get ready for class, take my dogs to get coffee, then home, post on IG, catch up on emails, pack orders, go to class, run to the post office in my lunch break, home, organise social posts and pick out the next day’s outfit so I can press snooze on my alarm at least once and BED!
Occasionally I find time to eat haha.
Favourite Designers
Ohh That’s a tough question!
I’ve just added a couple of pieces of Indecisive to my wardrobe which I couldn’t be happier with and we just added a new label to the shop, Avila which I’m totally head over heels for.
Anyone who nails simplicity is a total win for me, Good Studios, Kowtow, Avila and Indecisive
Style
My style changes every day.
My wardrobe ranges from rock chick to minimal, structured chic. I like things that don’t date that are made from quality fabric.
In saying that, I live in Melbourne (which is currently freezing!) so the piece I wear to death at the moment is a vintage wool coat I found on eBay for 35 dollars!
Advice
“Nothing happens overnight, it takes time.”
In typical consumer style I used to want it all immediately, clothes, goals, change, holidays, and money. I now use the ‘five minute journal’ which I totally recommend for absolutely everyone!
It’s helped me to appreciate and focus on the now and enjoy the journey to come.
Sustainability
All the We-Love wrapping paper, boxes and other materials in their packaging are made from 100% recycled goods. They also use 100% recycled paper for all the printing, and they use eco-stationary and fair business practices at our office. Tags and business cards are all made from 100% recycled paper from a sustainable printing company, which use environmentally responsible methods of printing. They also support some amazing organisations. Every month they donate 5% of their sales to charities close to their hearts.
The Future
We are moving to Tasmania at the end of the year! One step closer to our dream of living the country lifestyle, home grown food, lots of space for all things creative and clean air.
Short term for we-love, we have some new labels landing online very soon and they are amazing! As well as some in-house love projects. Long term, just continue to grow one day at a time. I hope to still be doing this in 20 years, it truly is my dream job!
You can check out We-Love’s incredible range of sustainable fashion brands here.
