Yes and yes 🙂 We appreciate your support and ship all orders to Germany and within the EU free of charge. For deliveries to the rest of the world, we always try to keep the costs as low as possible. You can find more information under "Shipping & Delivery".

All deliveries to Germany and the EU are free of charge as standard. We do not charge you any additional costs and the sales price shown in the shop corresponds to the total price you will have to pay later at checkout. The exact costs for shipping to the rest of the world are calculated at the checkout after you enter your address.

Our shop is based exclusively on the principle of prosumption. This means that all of our items are only made individually for you after you have placed your order. This way, we do not waste resources and do not produce anything that nobody really needs or wants. The respective delivery time is the sum of the production and shipping time and depends on the destination of the delivery. The average maximum production time is usually 7 to 10 days after receipt of payment. This means that this is how long it takes for your order to be produced and ready for shipping. After that, the average shipping time for orders from Germany, the EU, the United Kingdom and Switzerland is usually 4 to 7 days. For deliveries to the rest of the world, it usually takes around 7 to 14 days from the shipping date for orders to be delivered.

Because we only produce on a pre-order basis for sustainability reasons, we are unfortunately unable to exchange products that are too small or too large. However, we try to make it as easy as possible for you to choose the right size for you with our product gallery, the size charts included on each individual product page at the end of the respective image gallery, and our product information and size charts section. Please take enough time to choose your size before placing your order. Your right of withdrawal is of course not affected by this regulation, and for faulty goods that have not yet been worn, we will refund the price immediately after they have been returned and inspected by us.

WEC stands for Worker Empowerment Contribution and refers to the fixed percentage point that is priced into every textile we produce to support garment workers in South Asia in their union struggles for better working and living conditions.

Trade union work on the ground, be it here in Europe or in South Asia, is so important because it enables the workers themselves to improve their working and living conditions. In Bangalore in South India, for example, half a million people work in the export-oriented garment industry. Most of them are women from rural areas with low levels of education.

The grassroots Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU), which currently has about 7,000 members, is trying to organise these women and negotiate and enforce collective agreements in the factories. At the moment, the GATWU has just four full-time local activists to educate the workers about their rights! Organising is difficult, as trade union involvement is not welcomed by the management and active women workers are often discriminated against and dismissed under false pretences. In addition, the factories are scattered across the city and are increasingly moving to the surrounding areas. GATWU’s strategy is therefore to organise those factories that produce for big western companies like H&M, Zara and GAP.

This is where the work of the ExChains network comes into play again. Through contact with their active colleagues from the European fashion retail sector, pressure can be exerted on the companies from both ends of the value chain.

The Garment and Textile Workers' Union (GATWU), which currently has around 7,000 members, is trying to organize these women and negotiate and enforce collective agreements in the factories. At the moment, the GATWU only has four full-time activists on site to educate workers about their rights. Organizing is difficult because union membership is not desired by management and active workers are often discriminated against and fired under false pretenses. In addition, the factories are scattered across the city and are increasingly moving to the surrounding areas. The GATWU's strategy is therefore to organize those factories that produce for large Western companies such as H&M, Zara and GAP.

This is where the work of the ExChains network comes into play again. By connecting with their active colleagues in the European clothing retail sector, pressure can be put on companies from both ends of the value chain.

Well, we think dna merch is a cool and catchy name and we have three associations with it. Firstly, there is our slogan “made with dignity, worn with attitude”, where the “d” stands for dignity, the “n” for and and the “a” for attitude! Then the “dna” also stands for our approach of trying to make our production chain as transparent as possible. We want to reveal the core information or the DNA of our textiles, so to speak. And then there is the allusion to our names Doreen and Anton.

People’s shopping behaviour is changing. Slowly, but steadily. We can say that some people are now more sensitive to the question of where their clothes are produced and under what conditions. That is definitely a good development! However, we contest that it is the individual, in its role as a consumer, who can change things at a larger scale. More collective action is needed! What is often overlooked in the whole fair trade debate is the political dimension of how our workplaces are actually organised. Isn’t it a kind of a collective schizophrenia to say we are living in a democracy while the majority of us has no say whatsoever when it comes to their work lives? In capitalism, in order to gain that say and improve our working conditions, be it as a worker here in Europe or in South Asia, we need strong and independent unions that enable us to act collectively and break our isolation; and ideally many more genuinely democratic workplaces, such as our self-managed partner cooperative, will be established along the way. With dna merch, we want to contribute to raising and expanding the awareness needed for that.