Our Purpose

At Erstwhile, all we do is with these five cornerstones in mind.

Share the love of sports

We love sports, and we love the heritage it brought to clothing. We're not that umpteenth label that buys ready-made t-shirts, takes them to the local print shop, puts a label on them and pushes them into the market. Everything we do is authentic and is done by us, from A to Z.

We thrive on those heroic moments, back-in-the-day smiles and post-game laughter. That's what makes us good at what we do: crafting quality goods for those moments - before, during and after.

Quality for years

The quality of our clothes is crucial. The importance of qualitative and long-lasting yarns has an immense impact on how we see fashion. When we design clothes, choose yarns, we aim to wear them for years. The yarns are key in creating items built to last as a base.

We love using cotton as it is a natural and living fabric, which makes each piece unique and ready to stand the test of time. That's why we develop each garment with months of work and trial and error. To be sure, it'll be a garment you'll love wearing for a long, long time.

Sustainability

For us, sustainability isn't something we crossed out on a long list; it is common sense put into practice. It is our way of looking at today to improve our tomorrow. We still have a long road ahead, but we strive to do better each day and strengthen our consciousness and awareness.

That's why we primarily use fair-trade and organic cotton, making almost 100% of our goods more eco-friendly and 100% biodegradable. We have a plastic-free shipping policy for our online orders - all our goods are prepacked in bio-degradable bags, and we use recycled yarns for all our embroideries. We work with the best dyes and dyeing techniques to reduce our footprint, and we produce in Europe. These are some of the elements we incorporate in everything we do. We try to improve this as we go.

Long-lasting Partnerships

Besides creating lifetime quality garments, we intensely believe in building and investing in partnerships. Many aspects come to mind when choosing the right partners, but the most important thing is having synergy in culture. That's why we work with companies with a shared culture of putting happy people at the centre of their business.

We produce all of our items in family-owned ateliers in Portugal, which have been there for many generations. Our shared values, expertise and vision make it possible to create true sport-loving and consciously made goods.

Charity – Cancer Research

Outside being a responsible brand, funding cancer research is now our focus. Unfortunately, everybody knows someone who suffers - or suffered - from this devastating disease. As hard as it is, we do too. Please look at our co-founder Evert's testimony below and understand why we focus on this.

That's why we participate in the '1000KM tegen kanker', a 4-day event that will see participants cycle 250 kilometres per day in a spirit of togetherness. In order to take part, we need to raise money. All this money is used to fund cancer research and psychological support for people fighting and beating the disease. For this purpose, we made a 1000KM collection. Please take a look at it here. All profits from these items go directly to cancer research.

You can find all the information on the foundation at komoptegenkanker.be

We can't thank you enough; we appreciate all your help. You can be sure that every donation will make a difference now and in the future.