TUBU is a non-profit apparel project currently focusing on making limited edition knitwear with an emphasis on inclusive design — for all seasons of life.

We’re a (very) small and humble team of designers and researchers based in Norway and England, all hoping to address the massive systemic issues related to the apparel industry. We — like other parts of nature — are born, bloom, transform and decompose. We are a part of an ecosystem — and TUBU will also change shape in the coming months.

We are true believers in the transparent small business strategy of building in public and want to show you what goes into starting a new non-profit feminist apparel brand — from the indigo dark days when funding falls through, to the fluorescent green days when samples come back from the factory looking magical.

————

Last year, TUBU were one of eight companies out of 77 applicants that were granted funding for inclusive design by DOGA, Design and Architecture Norway.

Why?

👗 Because we think the apparel industry is inherently discriminating, e.g. with its anachronistic binary view on clothes, and not to mention its incredibly narrow range of sizes, with highly derogatory terms (i.e. x-small and x-large).

We think there are ways to do this better.

👩‍🦽 Hence, employing tools for inclusive design is key. Inclusive design means that you basically try to design products for as many users as possible, with a myriad of human diversity aspects in mind, such as ability, language, culture, gender, and age.

🤱🏽 It’s definitely more time-consuming than just pushing product into the world, but we think this is what makes it fun — as we believe the heart of design is user-oriented. And we are truly curious about the people we’re designing for.

🖥 We are doing parts of this work (at least the digital bits) with the incredible help of Elise Jakobsen — our master front-end developer and designer. She is showing us how important it is to think about contrast, good typography choices (for maximum readability), shapes, icons, touch areas and image Alt text (for people using screen readers).

Other collaborators: Camilla Bruerberg, PhD Fellow — Digital knitwear, Oslo National Academy of the Arts; Hanna ter Meulen, Co-Founder and Head of Product, Early Majority, Digital Prototyping Agency The Hapticians.

Website: www.tubu.systems

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tubu.systems/