A brand that stands for equality and inclusiveness and one that always looks for new ways to help others is a brand than we love here at House of Coco. NotPERFECTLINEN is a brand that puts their people first, founded by Simon Rimkiene, she is a real life hero.
NotPERFECTLINEN are constantly make donations for kids and their families from developing countries by helping them pay rent and school bus fees, by ensuring the school meal and educational courses and they actively participate in local donation projects related to kids’ healthcare and patient wellbeing. So, they are more than just a linen brand.
We spent some time with Simona to find out more…
Tell us about the journey that lead you to launching your brand, Not Perfect Linen
My mother has been working with textiles since I was a baby. She is an engineer by profession but had lost herself in sewing, creating, designing. I have grown up amongst fabrics and patches, always feeling that wonderful smell of a brand new fabric. It is the smell that bringa back memories of my childhood!
Somehow I decided that I would have a serious profession, so I finished my law studies and have been working as a consultant for nearly 5 years now. But I don’t feel like this is the profession that makes me feel like my best self. For so long now, I have been returning home time and time again, each time I always help my mother with her work. And one day I didn’t return.
So then it happened, the whole family started working together! Now we are a small family of creative people who created our brand, not PERFECT LINEN. Our small family owned activity business focuses purely on creating simple linen (flax) pieces.
We love creating these goods in the way that we do and we have a great community who support what we do, we feel like together we are protesting against mass produced goods.
We do not make things just to make money. The items we make are not just for profit. We make goods that involve years of learned skills, passion, commitment and sincerity.
Creating a sustainable brand is at the forefront of what you do, why was this important to you?
I always felt like I came to this world to help others, give value and create victories. Part of the reason why I launched this business is that I was always demanding change. I know that we are too small to slow down the fast fashion industry, but you can’t just sit and do nothing knowing that the fast fashion sector is one of the most polluting globally, ranking among the top three pressures on water and land usage. As well as that, fast fashion is one of the top five in terms of raw material use and greenhouse gas emissions. Slow fashion brands must emerge as an effective way to improve sustainability in the fashion industry, representing an alternative to the dominant fast fashion model. So here we are!
Where did your love for linen come from?
If you love linen, linen loves you back. Linen is a travel saver while being breathable and highly absorbent. In addition, it is recyclable and biodegradable. Though it might seem expensive at first sight, it saves you money as you need fewer clothes due to its strength and durability.
As a family run business, how do you separate your home and work life?
There is actually no balance between professional and personal life within our family. We talk about work during the holiday, family gatherings, or even on evening phone calls. Again, though, I see it as a strength, not a burden. How else would you get up at night to help a customer to track the order? It really helps our business grow as we can develop new ideas. As family members, we are not afraid to point out one’s weaknesses or directly ask for help if needed.
How do you want people to feel when they were your clothes?
We are mostly inspired by linen simplicity and it’s imperfection. The beauty of linen is that it is not perfect. If you keep trying to iron it, you will definitely miss the beauty of it. Linen needs to be used and it gets better with age. Linen pieces can be compared to old English leather shoes or old mechanical Swiss watches – all of these things are not new or perfect but are definitely more valuable than any new.
It is sad to see how we, people, lost the connection with nature by ignoring that nature is the source of truth. For example, organic carrots don’t look picture-perfect because they didn’t receive artificial aid, and linen garments do wrinkle because it is the natural givenness of nature. Nature presents everything in a way everything actually is.
Wrinkle-free linen doesn’t exist as this was part of mother natures plan. The qualities that make linen appealing in warm weather are exactly the same qualities that make it wrinkled. So what about stopping going against nature’s law?
Linen garments have a completely unique appearance and possess a beauty of their own. The beauty of linen was and always will be because it is not perfect.
While designing our garments, we proudly prioritize the linen fabric itself and we want people to embrace their wrinkled clothes.
The designs with the least elements constantly call attention to psychical properties. It doesn’t matter which item we sketch; only necessary features for functionality are included in the design. We always try to reduce clutter and allow our customers to focus only on several points at a time – comfort and the imperfection of linen.
As probably being the most colorful linen brand, we also encourage people to choose colors!! f there will be the day when you will not be sure what to wear – wear color! I have noticed for a long time that color was severely lacking in many wardrobes even though it can do amazing things with the overall appearance.
Colors are a lot more powerful than we think they are. They all represent different things and send different messages to our subconscious and our environment. Whether we like it or not, the color of our cloth communicates volumes about us as a person. ⠀
Even if you do not have tendency to do things to get as much attention as possible, your bold color will make a statement on its own. Your yellow dress will make you stand out in any crowd and you will definitely be an attention – grabber even if you are not up to dress to impress. ⠀
That is said, this yellow dress will make you memorable and it will not be easy for you to find an alley to hide from the crowd. ⠀
What advice would you offer anyone who wants to start their own fashion brand?
The mostly heard advice is – just start. I definitely agree with it, but would like to add that you should not start any business just for profit, you should find the activity which inspires you and which does not let you sleep at night. Only the favorite activity can bring you happiness and even money. If your friend makes big profit just from selling – buying socks and you are a creator inside, do not think to start the same just to make money. Your place is somewhere else and the world is waiting for your creations!
Looking back since you started, is there anything that you would do differently?
Nothing!
Talk us through an average day in your life…
I start my day by reading the reviews that being left over night in our website. This is my priority, and it helps me briefly summarize our accomplishments. It helps me to reflect on our strengths and weaknesses and shows the way we should focus on. I always keep my mind open as there is always more to discover and to learn.
The rest of the day is like others. I take the kids to school, make food, take the dogs outside, enter the online masterclass, go to sauna in the evening etc.
Outside of the business, what is your go-to quote when lacking motivation?
“Choose the fantasy world you live in”. If everything goes grey and I find myself agonizing, I loudly tell stories about the future. I make them inspirational and envision everything as a. happy and successful place.
Our readers love to travel, what destination is on your must visit list?
Fuerteventura. This is our go to Island where we shoot our collections. I haven’t seen anywhere such amazing combination of light, landscape and wind.
What does self care mean to you?
Scheduling regular meetings with myself. No matter how busy I am, I try to take a quiet hour to by just with myself, to reflect critical events, opportunities, emotions, behavior or feedback from others.
What’s your 5 year vision for the brand?
The day Yvon Chouinard gave Patagonia back to Earth I made a post on Instagram that we want to be like Patagonia when we grow up. Why not to dream?
We understand that we lose customers because of the long production term. Still, we also understand that sustainability requires us to consider a long-term impact against short-term profit-making. We plan to continue working in line with demand while ensuring that none of the garments is sent to landfills. These brand values and deep-rooted principles will continue to guide all our brand’s future actions.
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