The Sustainable Hidden Treasures of Berlin Mitte – The Berlin Green Route Series

Between hyped concept stores, fancy coffee shops, and brands with fashion as fast as the trends they are chasing, a true oasis of consumption is extending the busy streets of Berlin Mitte.

It is hard to imagine that fair fashion can even exist next to shop windows that are dominated by greenwashing and price dumping but as the Green Fashion Tours prove, in this central neighborhood there are a variety of mindful treasures to be discovered too. Guided by the expert Alice Fassina, our last public tour in Berlin Mitte visited four innovative brands and concept stores that contribute to a more sustainable way of enjoying fashion.

Follow our author Pauline on our Mitte green route.

Stop 1: Ecoalf

The Flagship Store of Ecoalf is the first stop of our tour. Founded in 2009 in Madrid, Ecoalf is recycling plastic by creating modern outwear, that is as sustainable as it is stylish. Aligning to their vision of stop carelessly using natural resources, the brand started to not only see plastic waste as the problem it is but also as a new resource we could use.

Every minute, of every hour of every day one garbage truck of trash is dumped into the ocean.

Pollution and dying ecosystems are the results of a problem that will lead to an ocean filled with more plastic than fishes by 2050. To separate the plastic from the fish is routine to most fishermen already, but before Ecoalf has started their project ​„Upcycling the Oceans“ they used to throw the selected plastic back into the ocean. Collaborating with different fishermen in Spain and in Thailand, Ecoalf is sourcing directly in the sea the plastic to create sustainable and recycled fashion at its finest.

But even progressive brands like Ecoalf are not done with their sustainability strategy yet. One of the next goals is to go fully vegan in the near future!

Stop 2: Sole Fresh

A professional dry cleaning technique from Russia is keeping our shoes fresh and our future a little bit more sustainable. Sole Fresh can not only resuscitate your favorite pair of sneakers but also is the place to go if your leather shoes are in desperate need of restoration.

This company already counts 16 Stores in Russia but only newly opened its first shop in the heart of Berlin in 2019. After the customer picked one of the five different treatments (price range: 20€-40€) the shoes will be cleaned, disinfected, and, depending on the procedure, even colored. After one week the new old shoes can be picked up! All products used at Sole Fresh are house-made and certified. 

Since it’s not uncommon that people build a special emotional connection to their shoes, who are carrying them through life, the concept of sole fresh is definitely hitting a point. Beside this extending shoes life-span while using water-saving processes show a step into a more circular approach to the way we consume fashion!

Stop 3: Slow Friday

Sometimes it can be hard to find clothes that are not only sustainable and ethically made, but also really fitting your style and personality. Being confronted with this exact problem as customers themself, Hannah and Hendrik decided to start their own little fair fashion Paradise.

Founded in 2019, today Slow Friday is home to 12 different fair fashion brands, who are all handpicked after Hannahs and Hendriks own defined social and ecological criteria.

No matter if you favor certified products ​‚the use of natural fibers, or recycling materials: From ARMEDANGELS, JAN ​’N JUNE and LOVJOI to Recolution and MELAWEAR, the selection of sustainable concepts and brands at Slow Friday is as wide as your possibilities to commit to a more sustainable lifestyle. According to Hendrik´s and Hanna´s direct experience after the outbreak of Covid-19, customers seem to care more about the process behind their garments and how these are affecting our planet.. The Corona Pandemic made them adjust to the extraordinary situation as well: Now you can shop Slow Friday´s collections online too!

Stop 4: Freitag

The last stop of our tour is a true icon when it comes to upcycling. As we entered the store we were warmly welcomed by two young men who started our visit by telling us a little bit more into to the history of Freitag.

Being founded in 1993 Freitag is combining recycled material components with a unique and modern design. As graphic designers, Markus und Daniel Freitag were desperately looking for a cool and waterproof bag, that is functional enough to transport their designs by bike. Being inspired by what they were having right in front of their nose (or rather their apartment), the Freitag brothers invented their first recycled bag, made out of an LKW plane, a bicycle tube, and a safety belt.

After the little trip into the past, they introduced us to the future. By 2020, Freitag has not only launched several different variations of their famous it-bag, they also started a new fashion line made a 100% compostable out of Linen, Hanf, and Modal.

While checking out the shop and it products, we learned that although every Freitag Bag is one of a kind there still are a few rarities that are in special demand. For instance, products made out of a black or pink plane.Through the online S.W.A.P Shop of Freitag customers who are no longer using their bags can connect and switch their items among each other, which demonstrates further effort to create a longer life for the products who are already hanging in our closets.

As our visit at Freitag and our Tour was coming to an end, their employees rounded up this experience perfectly by sharing their personal story with the brand. One of them told us he has never been so happy and felt more valued with any other employer before. He loves the mission, the people and the products and could not imagine to work anywhere else anymore.

What a fantastic end to our tour! As we left the store we were all convinced that these sustainable fashion companies are not only an enrichment to the planet, but also to their employees & customers!

Do you want to discover more sustainable stores in Berlin? You can use the shopping guide to explore all the stores.