Gender Free World is a clothes outlet with the aim to create genderless clothes that anyone can wear no matter their body type. After speaking to a range of non-binaries, I found that one of the key issues for them is finding clothes that fit properly. I decided to catch up with the founders of GFW to find out more.
Nel & Lisa founded Gender Free World in 2015 and came up with the idea through their own personal shopping experience. The shop originally launched online but since then have opened their very first shop in Brighton last year. When asking about production, they advised me that they design all the products themselves and then the clothes are made in a factory in London. The shop produces all their shirts in four different shapes, so that the clothing fits a person’s body and not their gender. When asking Nel & Lisa “Why gender free and not gender neutral?” they replied: “Gender free is allowing everybody the choice to wear what they want regardless of what society perceives the gender should be wearing.”
The 5 Gender Free World values:
1. Freedom: to be free of gender expectations. Not all women like frills or pink things.
2. Equality: love who you like regardless of their biology or gender.
3. Gender diversity: celebrating gender and body diversity in the spirit of free expression.
4. Quality: made to last and with attention to detail.
5. Fair: made in the UK, no sweatshop conditions or child labour.
“There’s a big lack in catering for style choices. Just because you’re a particular biological sex or gender, why are you forced to kind of shop in a limited narrow range of choice.”
Listen to a extra snippet of Nel & Lisa's interview that didn't make the final cut below.
https://soundcloud.com/daisy-ainsworth/lisa-and-nel-extra-clipwav