Mena is an example that is part of a sustainable brand. As mentioned in the report from the 2018 Mode of Ethics on the choice of ethical modes shows designers from the Pacific are at the forefront of consumers and they are already dressed in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Sustainable and ethical modes are encouraged as a way to reach consumers, that prioritizes quality over quantity and invest in slow mode, which is certainly never out of date in every design.
One of AUT University’s senior lecturers, Lisa McEwan, said, while these reports were a good call for New Zealand consumers, she was concerned that consumers could be lulled from the results because they felt some people can misinterpret that all ethical clothing was good clothes.
Mena fulfills the Sustainable Clothing Requirements
McEwan argues that consumers need to take a proactive approach and look for three things if they want to use sustainable products, namely:
- Buy less but buy better. Buy the best you can and only get a few of the main items every year.
- Always look inside the garment. Checking the seam and stitches is a pretty good indicator of the quality of an item. If it looks rough, the clothes may not last more than a few times.
- Talk to people in the shop where you bought clothes about their clothing philosophy. If they are really good companies that care about their material and the conditions in which their clothing is produced, that will become clear in the way they are described.
MENA’s marketing and export director, Agnes Loheni, said the three things mentioned above were something that her label and other Pacific brands had fulfilled and carried out. “We know that customers who buy MENA, those clothes last a long time and if they won’t wear them again, they will generally give it to others. We know it happens quite a lot, so I think our clothes last longer than average.”
The mass clothing produced by the market is clearly a concern, she said, so it was very easy to buy something for just one season and throw it away. But in her business, there is a lot of work to be done to create her products, Loheni explained further.
“With our labels and a number of other Pacific labels, we make clothing with print features, so it uses a lot of labor. But our company is really small that we don’t actually produce the amount other companies can do so that is reflected in the price. It reflects the value and reflects what we think about our Pacific. ”
The Uniqueness of Mena Clothing
Mena was founded in Samoa in 2002 and dramatically changed the fashion landscape there. In 2006, this label was expanded to New Zealand to help their expansion. Today MENA has stepped forward with ever-increasing growth throughout the South Pacific.
The progress is certainly part of the hard work of Loheni in raising its brand so that many customers love the brand. She even said that many MENA customers came and said they had given their clothes to other people who liked them and said that they had worn them for years. Another unique thing that makes Mena’s design unique is that each design tells a story, color, style and celebration of various stories from the Pacific.
