Sustainability Through Our Eyes – Part 1

I am Bernadett Hornicz Schweitzer, one of the founders of KARMA. We are starting a series in which we share our experiences and thoughts on glove making and sustainability.

I usually speak publicly about the Pécs glove-making profession, its significance, and its challenges. We are not great speakers, and sometimes we are terrible business people, but since 1994, we have been striving to preserve the handcrafted tradition of glove making.

Why we are writing about this

This series is starting because there is a topic that has occupied us for years, but it is difficult, sometimes even frightening, to talk about. This is sustainability – although it might be more accurate to say: adapting to the issues of a changing world. There will also be less serious topics: fashion, art, or whatever comes to mind.

I am not an expert on the subject; there are much more qualified people dealing with it both domestically and internationally. My goal is to present the operation of the leather and, specifically, the glove-making industry, to openly discuss sensitive issues, and to share what I have learned over the past years.

The first delicate point

I see that everyone has an opinion, but we don't always listen to each other, and we don't try to understand why someone sees things the way they do. Instead, we just criticize. When we start listening to each other, that's where the real work begins: from then on, there are arguments, counterarguments, things to ponder further, and questions to ask. This is what drives us forward.

Where our sustainability work began

I'll jump to 2018. Our international partners increasingly insisted on sustainability certification. I asked them exactly what they meant. "It doesn't matter, just have something we can put on the website" – that was the answer. Those who know us know that we don't do something just for the sake of doing it.

At that time, we introduced some basic measures. I thought that as a small business, we didn't have enough resources and capacity for a larger-scale program. The profession had always met social requirements anyway: women work in both middle and upper management, and those working in the same area receive equal pay. I felt that we were doing everything expected of us, and our customers were also satisfied with this.

Then came the pandemic

We were confronted with a number of issues that made us start thinking that our previous steps were more like half-hearted measures.

Since then, I see that everything around us is changing so fast that it's hard to keep up, and the techniques I learned from my father about business management over the past twenty years no longer work. This brought a feeling of helplessness, which prompted me to do something. I started a course at METU, specializing in sustainable fashion management.

The thesis forced me to follow through with my line of thought and clearly define my stance. This helped me turn towards finding a solution.

This is just the beginning

If anyone thinks this is the end, they are mistaken. I have started to develop a program that will enable us to take action. This series will follow this process and present it element by element. The focus is on education and collaborative thinking – I hope this will be the further engine of progress.