Hello, I'm Tena...
...And I decided to use my love for the written word as a tool for change. I started Thinking Threads in the summer of 2020.
Since then, I’ve worked with Fashion Revolution Belgium, Gent Fair Trade, ethical brands like Savannah Morrow, GNGR Bees, Les Izmoor, and others to challenge mainstream ideas about clothes, style, ethics and sustainability.
Leaning on my academic background in sociology and anthropology, I critically engage in conversations about the past, present, and future of the fashion industry and business.
After graduating, I worked in the market and later in digital communication research for close to 5 years. Most of the time, I truly loved my work. The rest of the time, I tried to ignore that my clients were big corporations that often went against my sense of justice or sustainability.
That is, until one day, as a part of an NGO project, I had a chance to talk with Nasreen Sheikh. Nasreen is a survivor of modern slavery, a social entrepreneur, and an activist. This was the most transformative 60 minutes of my life. Because of her, I became interested in fashion and soon started advocating for slowing it down.
Fast forward to spring 2020 and the pandemic. I lost all my market research clients and suddenly had no income or savings to rely on. After a couple of months of panic and desperate attempts to find new projects, I decided that this was the moment to try something completely new. As we all know, 2020 was everything but a normal year, so what's the point in trying the normal stuff?
That is what led me to Thinking Threads. I learned that I could combine my love for events, writing, and belief that fashion can be better.