In a shipping container pitched on Netil Market, East London, Egle Rutkausk and Tigana Sari are running an unisex ethical lifestyle shop. By way of a mission statement, Suwun was born, they say, “out of a passion and need to… cross borders between genders, fashion, arts and ethics” and offers a welcoming environment for anyone who “believes that style is beyond gender”. The pair curate a rotating selection of products, not just from London, but around the world. While formulating the concept for Suwun, Egle and Tigana headed off to South East Asia – a region so often linked with sweatshops and other dodgy cost-cutting operating practices – to meet designers and makers both committed to ethical ways of working and doing interesting things with the unisex aesthetic.
Tigana is a fashion graduate, and was keen to open her own shop after experiencing a growing frustration trying to find clothes that didn’t quite exist in either the men’s or women’s sections of traditional stores. Sociology graduate Egle came to the operation with a wealth of experience in retail, arts and charity work, and was keen to do something that supported indie artists and makers – including indie press from the likes of our chums at Riposte magazine.
Photo, Andrej Chudy
Photo, Andrej Chudy
Photo, Andrej Chudy
Photo, Andrej Chudy
Photo, Patrick Fry
Photo, Andrej Chudy
Photo, Andrej Chudy
