Thirsty: telling stories with clothes

The clothing industry ranks as one of the least sustainable industries in the world. Apart from all the chemicals that are used and the poor working conditions, gigantic amounts of water are used to grow cotton. Those who want to know what impact this has on the environment, should take a look at the history of the Aral Sea on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. One hundred years ago the Aral Sea was one of the largest freshwater basins, but has now largely turned into a salt flat due to desiccation. That is due to intensive cotton farming in the region.

From Poland to Tilburg

It wasn’t that Jakub Janczak and Krzysztof Trzebiński heard anything about this environmental disaster in Poland. ‘Sustainability is not very much alive in Poland, still isn’t,' sighs Krzysztof. As a teenager growing up, he had other things on his mind: he became captivated by fashion and streetwear in particular. He wanted to turn clothing into his profession and he already had a name in mind for his own brand: Thirsty. At the time, that mainly meant being hungry for adventure, he smiles. He certainly had that. After high school, Krzysztof and his friend Jakub moved to the Netherlands to study. 'The education is very good and not too expensive. A friend was enthusiastic about Tilburg and so we enrolled ourselves there.'

Different meaning

As a student of Entrepreneurship & Business Innovation, Krzysztof found that he learned the most by putting knowledge into practice. The idea of his own clothing brand came back to life. Krzysztof also made , who is doing the same study, enthusiastic and with creative brain Jan Banasiak, who lives in Poland, a team was quickly formed. Krzysztof: "Jakub was by now very concerned with sustainability. I was shocked when I discovered how polluting the clothing industry is. We want to change that.' By now, Krzysztof is at least as passionate about sustainability as Jakub. He says, "Suddenly the name Thirsty, which I had had in my head for years, took on another meaning. We only want clothes made from environmentally friendly materials, like organic cotton, hemp and bamboo. We started with organic cotton, which requires ten times less water. Water is the most precious resource on earth, but at the same time is often totally overlooked.’

Inughuits

The first collection, a trio of T-shirts with unusual prints, was launched in the spring 2022 and was centered around the Aral Sea, as a poignant example of what the garment industry (in this case, cotton production) is doing to the earth. Jakub: "We are storytellers. Each collection revolves around a social or sustainable theme. Our second collection was about the Inughuits, an indigenous people group in Greenland. They live completely in harmony with their environment. When they hunt, they use every part of the animal.' The third collection, on sale from May 2023, is about Ghana, which you can think of as the largest garbage dump for discarded clothing in the world. The clothes there are burned but mainly piles up in huge mountains of used textiles. Krzysztof: 'This collection questions fast fashion and the Western habit of buying far too many clothes and quickly throwing them away. That too is totally unsustainable’.

Pre-orders

Jakub and Krzysztof also want to combat overconsumption themselves. That is one of the reasons they have so far sold their collections by pre-order. After three days of pre-orders, they put the orders through to the clothing atelier. That way they don't produce more than they need. 'We also work with pre-orders for another reason,' Jakub confesses. 'In the beginning we couldn't estimate how much demand there would be for our T-shirts. IQONIC, which provides Tilburg students with supports entrepreneurship, recommended working with pre-orders. That way we reduced our financial risk.' For that first collection, the Polish Jan counted on a maximum of 20 customers, Jakub thought about 35 while Krzysztof kept it at 50 maintained. The pessimist, the realist and the optimist, as the boys call themselves, were all three wrong. 'Within 72 hours we had 60 orders from four countries," Jakub laughs. In short, demand far exceeded expectations. Meanwhile, their clothing is worn by 30 nationalities in 10 countries. 'We are happy about that, because Thirsty is about equality and the disappearance of borders.

Crossroads

Of course, the boys benefit greatly from their studies. 'You not only learn how start a business,' says Krzysztof, 'but there is also an entrepreneurial atmosphere. This is a very motivating environment. And in addition, you get tips and help from students and supervisors.' The question is: where to go from here? Jakub: 'We feel we are now at a crossroads. The first steps have been taken, now the task is to expand Thirsty Clothing. But at the same time, we have to graduate. In any case, we have a clear goal in mind what we are doing. We want to become the most sustainable clothing brand in Europe. 5 Percent of our income goes to international water projects. But we also want to be affordable. We do that by keeping our costs low. But also by settling for lower margins than the big players in the industry.’