Clothes - as far as the eye can see. Tattered, dirty rags that were once bought as fashion in the north-west of the world and then thrown away, often after only a short time of wear. Many textiles that are disposed of in Europe, for example, end up in these huge landfills in Ghana and Kenya - where they cause ecological problems. Two students at The Hochschule Niederrhein, Charlotte Weber and Ramona Möllers, have made it their goal to change this by founding their own company "WM Studio" ("We Make Waste Matter").
The two students, who are now studying for a Master's degree in Textile Products - Design, travelled to Nairobi for their Bachelor's thesis at HSNR. "We were able to see the huge used clothing problem for ourselves on site," say Charlotte Weber and Ramona Möllers. "Old clothes lie on rubbish dumps that stretch for kilometres and were declared full decades ago. Despite this, tonnes upon tonnes of old clothes arrive in Kenya every day. They end up in rivers and destroy nature." Especially as it is often fast fashion. "This often consists of synthetic fibres that have no natural origin. They are not biodegradable and therefore do not decompose. What's more, wearing and washing these textiles creates microplastics that end up in the environment."
Through internships and jobs during their studies, the two students have repeatedly encountered the waste problem and the throwaway mentality in the fashion industry. "In a studio, for example, waste or prototypes are produced during cutting and are disposed of," says Ramona Möllers (27). Not to mention industrial production and the many returns from mail order companies. "And some of this overproduction and returns ends up in countries like Kenya."
This year, the two students were honoured with the Wilhelm Lorch Prize for their work on the topics of used clothing exports and the circular textile economy. They also made it to the final round and exhibition of the Federal Ecodesign Award - the highest state distinction for ecological design in Germany. They were also represented at major industry events such as the "Unikate" trade fair. The two founders also had the first collection of their newly founded label "WM Studio" in their luggage. The aim of the label is to save used textiles from landfill - in collaboration with Africa Collect Textiles on the Kenyan side, bags were created from old corduroy trousers. "In addition to the collection, another specialisation of our company is the transfer of textile knowledge: We are committed to workshops and educational formats - both in Germany and Europe as well as in Kenya," says Charlotte Weber (26). For example, the two students have already held a school workshop in Nairobi, where children wove school pencil cases from used textiles; in Turkey, they organised a crochet upcycling workshop. "We want to strengthen knowledge about textiles and bring back the trade. We need to move away from seeing textiles as disposable products and constantly buying new ones."
The two were supported in their start-up project not only by their professor Marina-Elena Wachs, but also by HNX, The Hochschule Niederrhein's start-up counselling service. They were not only able to attend workshops on topics such as marketing, sales and taxes, but also received personal coaching and the opportunity to network with other founders. "The HNX programmes are free of charge for all members of the university and will be implemented even more strongly in teaching education from this semester onwards," says Carola Lobemeier from HNX. Vivian Sommer, also from the HNX team, adds: "We have many students who want to make a difference. By anchoring the start-up idea in our teaching education, we want to drive innovation here locally, in our region."
Charlotte Weber and Ramona Möllers have also been able to benefit from the federal government's "EXIST Women" funding programme in recent months. The programme specifically supports female founders and their ideas - there are six female scholarship students at The Hochschule Niederrhein in 2025. The next round in 2026 with up to 10 female scholarship students will start shortly. Information is available at www.hsnr.de/hnx
More about WM Studio at https://wmstudio.design
