Get to know our Pride Month initiative
At noo.ma we stand for freedom, respect, equality, and lack of prejudice. We value the diversity of our team, knowing that brilliant ideas and the atmosphere of mutual support can emerge only from sincere expression of the aforesaid values.
This year, to avoid saying words in vain, we’re bringing to life a special bottom-up initiative of our team members: our contribution to the Pride movement, the Proud Tee that supports tolerance with no exceptions.
The Tee was created as an internal merch, but we have decided to share it with our close community. By joining forces with the rest of our team and the neighbouring sewing room Shvalnia, we created a limited run of T-shirts available in our store from today.
The whole profit from sales will be donated to The Stonewall Group, the Polish non-profit organization that fights against inequality & discrimination of LGBTQ+ people in our country. According to the ILGA-Europe report, which measures the LGBTQ+ equality rates in Europe, in 2022 Poland took the last place among EU countries, for the third time in row. Therefore, Stonewall has its hands full — and they are doing an amazing job. Not only do they organize the second biggest Pride Event in Poland, but they also conduct educational workshops, run informational campaigns on social media and provide legal, psychological and even housing help for LGBTQ+ people and their families.
As an environmentally conscious textile agency, Shvalnia appeared to be the best place to co-work on this project. To make it happen, we visited Shvalnia to agree on details and we used this occasion to learn about the ins and outs of making a single T-shirt.
At first, we chose two universal sizes to be cut in the scrap of fabric. The corresponding shapes were later stewn together and finessed in the detail, which included attaching a neckline and precise trimming of the ends. The automation is purposely excluded at this point: in this kind of work the skill of human hand is absolutely necessary.
Right after the Tee takes the desired form, it’s ironed and prepared for embroidering the logo. The job is pretty complex — each letter has to be sewn on separately with six different threads. Despite the fact that it’s an automated process done by a sewing machine, it must be constantly controlled in case any delicate thread rips off. For the same reason, each T-shirt must be checked thoroughly and all the loose threads have to be cut off. Once it’s all done, the T-shirts, packed in boxes, leave Shvalnia and go straight to noo.ma’s warehouse.
This is just one of our plans for this year’s Pride Month. Keep following us to see our team members taking part in the inclusivity workshop conducted by Stonewall Group and walking in the Pride Parade in Poznań on the 2nd of July!
#LoveAlwaysWins
