Artist of the Month
Meet Sanna Rasmussen, Founder of SANNA Conscious Concept - a conscious curation of Sustainable Fashion, Organic Self-Care, & Lifestyle Brands from around the world.
Tell us a bit about yourself?
I hail from Des Moines, IA, USA. I like to tell my French acquaintances that it is the American equivalent of Normandy, but with pigs instead of cows and bud light instead of cider. I attended American University in Washington DC and Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska before I finally look a leap of faith and transferred halfway through my bachelor’s degree to The American University of Paris.
I arrived in Paris at the ripe age of 20 and am thankful every day that I came into adulthood in this incredibly vibrant and international city. I completed BA and Masters at AUP, and then in 2020, launched SANNA Conscious Concept.
“I truly believe that by educating ourselves as consumers we may understand how our investments support the systems of production we believe in.”
Why did you start SANNA Conscious Concept?
I was very inspired by a trip to India I took with my university during my master program. Prior to that time, I was taking marketing and brand development courses, and was trying to determine which product I was going to put to market once I finished my studies. I am so grateful for the time I spent in India and the context of my trip; I was creating short marketing videos for an organic cotton exporting company, which allowed me to follow an entire supply chain in the global fashion industry. Adjacent to my journey visiting well-run fields and factories, I also saw factories producing with less regulations and regard to their labor forces.
I was able to see first-hand the impacts of our western fashion and consumption behaviors and decided that I did not want to be part of the problem. I did not want to make another product to put into another saturated market. Instead, I decided the best way to give value to others, would be to take the technical information I learned in my masters courses and use it to vet brands for authentic sustainability, ultimately creating a shoppable marketplace for consumers to shop in confidence. Confidence that their money is supporting positive business models and brands that prioritize people and planet.
What inspires you the most about what you do?
The most inspiring part of my job is the conversations I get to have. I find that my passion for sustainability only grows overtime, and sharing what I have learned with others and seeing them find empowerment through how they spend their money is so rewarding. These simple changes truly lead to big differences, and when people realize that for the first time they get power back that they never realize they had lost in the first place.
How important is 'curation' when it comes to choosing the brands featured on your site?
I love the word curation because it refers to something completely unique. I use this word in my communication so much because the products I sell on the platform are a true curation of me. It is also how I justified calling my company by my first name, SANNA. Aesthetically speaking, I do not try to curate a specific look or overall style for SANNA.
As time passes, my style and interests evolve, and that is surely represented in the curation. The baseline for choosing new brands to join the platform is that the production of the item, from fashion to food, must be transparent. Further to that, the brand needs to abide by at least one of our four sustainability principles; social impact, waste reduction, clean manufacturing, & vegan.
*Brands featured on SANNA Conscious Concept:
What is one thing people should pay attention to when it comes to Sustainable & Conscious living?
To live a conscious and sustainable life, we must remain accountable for our purchasing power. Asking the question, “where does this (insert item) come from? Do I have that information available to me? If not, why?” Unfortunately, in 2022, being an ethical and conscious consumer means doing the research. Research on ingredients, company ownership, sustainability certifications, etc. If I’ve learned anything from my slow fashion journey it is that global companies are not our friends. They do not have our best interests at heart, and they are ruthless. It is up to us to remain educated and ask these brands the tough questions. If we do, legislation will be created, and real change will follow.
Why is Sustainable Fashion Communication important?
It is important to communicate about sustainability in fashion because fashion is the 2nd largest polluting industry in the world. Fashion touches every single person on the planet in some shape or form. We all communicate via fashion, uniting us even when language fails. With all the power that comes with fashion, bringing sustainability to its core will have momentous impacts in other domains of our lives. What we wear is related to what we eat, which is related to how we live.
'An Ode to Nature' - what's yours?
Everything that comes from nature eventually returns to nature. This is the way clothing has been created for centuries. When I hold in my hands a piece of clothing made from natural fibers and hand dyed using plants (shoutout Indigo Luna) I am reminded of why I am doing what I do. Nature is intertwined in the conception of SANNA CC and remains a fundamental motivation in my work.
