The Motivation
How it all began.
The idea for CARPASUS was born in 2013 when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in April in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and buried more than 1’100 textile workers. Notably this event made the CARPASUS founders reflect on how and under what environmental and social conditions our clothing and raw materials are made.
Sensitized to these problems, they looked for clothes that met their standards of quality and style, eco-friendly and fair production. A particular garment combining style, quality, and sustainability was particularly difficult to find: the men's shirt.
The men's shirt is the most dominant piece of clothing for men. It accompanies men day in and day out. The shirt must fit well. It has to be comfortable, easy to iron, durable and it must make us look great.
Convinced that it is also possible to create a high-quality shirt made from organic cotton under fair, transparent and humane working conditions, the team talked to suppliers and potential customers, visited fairs and even traveled to the origins of raw materials and production sites, to learn more about the places and people behind the shirt.
2015
First Collection.
The idea for CARPASUS was born in 2013 when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in April in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and buried more than 1’100 textile workers. Notably this event made the CARPASUS founders reflect on how and under what environmental and social conditions our clothing and raw materials are made.
Convinced that it is also possible to create a high-quality shirt made from organic cotton under fair, transparent and humane working conditions, the team talked to suppliers and potential customers, visited fairs and even traveled to the origins of raw materials and production sites, to learn more about the places and people behind the shirt.
Finally in 2015 the first CARPASUS shirt collection was launched.
2015 - 2022
Making ourselves a name.
In our early years we focused on dress shirts. We started making ourselves a name as THE shirt brand that combines style, quality and sustainability. Slowly the collection expanded to a broader range of shirts styles such as flannel and linen shirts - staying true to our values and offering high-quality shirts made from eco-friendly materials such as organic cotton or linen.
When the brand was first founded, we operated from an office near Hubertus in Zurich where we spent several years growing and developing our vision. In October 2022, we moved our headquarters and office to St. Gallen. However, Zurich remains an important location for us, continuing to play a key role in our brand's story and development.
2022 - today
And the journey continues.
Years after the launch of the first shirt collection, the brand has developed strongly. The shirt is still our dominant product. However, CARPASUS also offers a range of other essential garments for the modern man's wardrobe such as overshirts, T-Shirts, trousers and sweaters. Always designed from high-quality eco-friendly materials to bring our customers comfort and joy.
CARPASUS is led by René Grünenfelder and his team. The CARPASUS collections are now available in stores in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Austria and are enjoying growing popularity.
Today we are proud to have a loyal and community, fans and customers who love and appreciate our qualitiy and the way we do business. 10 years after our start, the fashion industry still faces numerous social and environmental challenges. Our generation of brands needs to rethink the status quo of how fashion is produced and consumed. As for us, we will continue to work for a more resource-efficient fashion industry in the future. We strive to make a difference - one shirt at a time.
The origin of the brand name and the mallard duck.
The name CARPASUS derives from three words: Carbasina (Latin: fine cloth), karpasi (Sanskrit: cotton) and sustinere (Latin: preserved). As a symbol we chose the mallard duck, the "duck with the green collar". It represents our values and can be found today on every right sleeve vent of the CARPASUS shirts. The mallard duck lives in harmony with nature on land, in the water and in the air and symbolizes the elegance, spirit, flexibility it needs for working together and living with different cultures.
