HENK

PRO­DUC­TI­ON LOCATIONS 

• The Net­her­lan­ds

WOR­KING CON­DI­TI­ONS & LIVING WAGES 

Jasmijn Muskens is the foun­der, desig­ner, and maker behind HENK.

HENK ori­gi­na­ted from Jasmij­n’s disil­lu­si­on­ment with the fast fashi­on indus­try and her love of vin­ta­ge tre­asu­res. Amid her fashi­on stu­di­es, Jasmijn stum­bled across a lot of beauti­ful ​‘for­got­ten’ fabrics. Tho­ugh they had no imme­di­ate pur­po­se at the time, she coul­d­n’t bear to leave them behind. She took them home, beca­use who knows, maybe she could find a way for other vin­ta­ge lovers to enjoy them. And she did; in 2014 she foun­ded HENK, named in honor of her loving gran­d­fat­her. She sews everyt­hing her­self in her stu­dio in The Netherlands. 

MATE­RI­ALS 

• Cot­ton 

For Jasmij­n’s cre­ati­ons, only second-hand fabrics are used. Jasmijn mainly uses vin­ta­ge men’s shirts. Whe­ne­ver it is possi­ble, she tran­s­pa­ren­tly sha­res the texti­le com­po­si­ti­on, but due to the intrac­ta­bi­lity, it is not always cle­ar. The shirts are mainly made from cot­ton.

PAC­KA­GING 

HENK does­n’t spe­cify what ship­ping met­hods or pac­ka­ging mate­ri­als are used, so no envi­ron­men­tal impact cla­ims can be made. Jasmijn does howe­ver ask to care­ful­ly repack the item when sen­ding a return, pre­fe­ra­bly in the same pac­ka­ge it was rece­ived in. This is possi­bly to reuse the packaging. 

WATER USA­GE & CHEMICALS

Jasmijn fin­ds all her mate­ri­als at vin­ta­ge mar­kets and second-hand shops. Using dead­stock mate­ri­als and giving dis­car­ded clot­hing a second life redu­ces the envi­ron­men­tal foot­print and asso­ci­ated water and che­mi­cals usage. 

CIR­CU­LAR PRO­DUCT DESIGN

HENK gar­ments are made from second-hand items, giving them a second life. They are mainly recy­cla­ble mono-mate­ri­al, like 100% cot­ton. This eco-con­s­ci­ous appro­ach sig­ni­fi­can­tly redu­ces texti­le was­te and mini­mi­zes the bran­d’s car­bon footprint.

CIR­CU­LAR BUSI­NESS MODELS 

HENK does not cur­ren­tly sha­re any cir­cu­lar busi­ness models on the­ir website. 

DIS­TAN­CE & COM­PLEXITY OF THE SUP­PLY CHAIN 

Pro­duc­ti­on locations: 

• The Net­her­lan­ds

HENK is a small, inde­pen­dent, local brand that offers unique upcy­cled fashi­on items. Everyt­hing is han­d­ma­de in the Net­her­lan­ds. This sus­ta­ina­ble appro­ach not only sup­ports local craf­t­sman­ship but also redu­ces the envi­ron­men­tal impact asso­ci­ated with long sup­ply chains.

TRAN­S­POR­TA­TI­ON

As every piece is made local­ly in the Net­her­lan­ds, from second-hand mate­ri­als, tran­s­por­ta­ti­on rela­ted emi­ssi­ons are reduced. 

Alt­ho­ugh HENK does not spe­cify that they are a vegan brand, the pro­duc­ts cur­ren­tly ava­ila­ble on the­ir web­si­te do not con­ta­in any ani­mal-rela­ted fabrics. 

PRO­DUCT DESIGN 

Due to the­ir han­d­ma­de natu­re, the one-offs are of gre­at quality. The time­less desig­ns are colo­ur­ful and fun and don’t fol­low any season. 

SLOW FASHI­ON PROCESSES 

HENK offers limi­ted edi­ti­on col­lec­ti­ons, as every piece is made only once from vin­ta­ge and second-hand fabrics. Every piece is the­re­fo­re truly unique! 

TRAN­S­PA­REN­CY ON PRODUCT 

As every item is craf­ted in the Net­her­lan­ds, you’ll always know exac­tly whe­re your spe­ci­fic pur­c­ha­se was produced. 

TRAN­S­PA­REN­CY ON PROCESSES 

Whi­le HEN­K’s pro­duc­ti­on pro­cess lac­ks deta­iled infor­ma­ti­on, being a small, inde­pen­dent brand sug­ges­ts good inten­ti­ons in craf­ting unique and more eco-con­s­ci­ous fashi­on pieces.