Mandai Wildlife Group Unveils Limited Edition Performance Wear With Brand Practice Anak

In this day and age, sustainability has become a widely-accepted moral imperative. We all have good intentions: to consume less single-use plastic, to recycle more, and to just be better co-inhabitants of this earth. So why don’t we? Because let’s be frank, one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable living is the urban jungle itself. 

The pitfalls of forgetting a supermarket tote. The frustrations of recycling on-the-go. The temptations of single-use plastic. Daily situations in city life that can have bigger implications for the planet. The challenge isn’t a one-time fix, but how to do better, everyday. Enter: Good Threads – a collection of performance wear, designed for the challenges of city living. From forget-proof designs to lazy-resistant functionality, each piece is made to empower wearers to choose better with every wear, by keeping them primed for whatever the urban jungle throws their way and withstanding the perils of city life.

The design process began with questioning the function of clothing and fashion – does a shirt have to be just a shirt? Can it do more than just look good? While performance wear exists for mountains, deserts, rivers and forests, we don’t have performance wear designed for the urban jungle – the one environment more than half of the world’s population inhabit. 

“In designing for action, we wanted to go above and beyond creating eco-sourced clothes, to kickstart behavioural change. Each piece in the Good Threads collection is designed to tackle a specific challenge in everyday life: eating sustainably, shopping sustainably, recycling consistently, and minimising consumption. With this, we hope to create new possibilities for what clothes can do: not just change the way you look, but change the way you act,” said Lee Hanyi, creative partner, Anak.

The Good Threads collection consists of four pieces: The Tote-Shorts, The Takeaway Shirt, The Bucket-Bag Hat, and The Trashy Pants [details of each piece below]. Each unique style is intentionally designed to optimise wardrobes for new behaviours and positive change. Each piece of the limited production run was handcrafted together by Singapore designer Hakim Samat (unusualfelines). To prolong the lifespan of material resources, each garment is made from 100% salvaged fabrics sourced from local thrift stores and second-hand stores, as well as from community textile collection drives. To further minimise waste, even the smallest details from buttons to clasps are made from post-consumer plastic, produced in collaboration with community-based recycling studio Plastify. 

 

Good Threads is an extension of Mandai Wildlife Group’s Choose Good with Mandai campaign to raise awareness about how people can collectively protect nature and wildlife by making conscious choices daily. The modern fashion industry has one of the biggest impacts on the environment - Mandai Wildlife Group and Anak saw the opportunity here to use fashion as a tool to help shape a more sustainable lifestyle and inspire more eco-conscious choices.

 

“In the hustle and bustle of daily life, mindful actions like recycling and using fewer single-use plastics may inadvertently take a backseat sometimes, despite our best intentions. Good Threads sows the idea that daily consumption habits which are thoughtful of the planet can be effortless, and in this instance, even fashionable. Through personal choices, each of us can reap a more sustainable lifestyle. Manifest and multiply a personal mantra such as this, and we can fashion change together,” said Suzanne Ho, senior vice president, brand and communications, Mandai Wildlife Group.

 

She added, “Fashion is much loved by many. More than a style preference, it’s a personal statement and an identity. It can therefore wield power to influence how we think about clothing and perhaps reconsider the need to consume wave after wave of clothes and fashion accessories.”

Good Threads will be available exclusively for sale from 15 February 2024 on goodthreadsbymandai.sg. All proceeds from the sale will go towards supporting wildlife conservation efforts in Singapore and Southeast Asia. For more information on Good Threads and the Choose Good with Mandai campaign, please visit mandai.com/goodthreads.