Colourful fashion against human trafficking

With Joadre, human rights activist Joana Adesuwa Reiterer turned herself into a social entrepreneur and founded a fashion label that not only looks beautiful, but that also enlightens.

Exactly ten years ago, Joana Adeswua Reiterer founded the EXIT association to support the victims of human trafficking in Austria. Craft therapy in the form of sewing and jewellery design workshops formed part of her counselling activities. The plan to found her own fashion label finally materialised in 2012. The motive behind it was to find a new way to shine a light on the topic of human trafficking. The idea to create a solid network between everyone involved in the production process was thus born: Seamstresses, designers, labels and consumers creating with the goal of integrating disadvantaged women into the global market and in addition preventing or, at least, curbing human trafficking by enlightening people. When asked about her inspiration, Reiterer answers modestly, “It sounds clichéd, but my inspiration is my two children and the belief that we can reach our goal together with our company.”

The designer benefited from the services of the Vienna Business Agency during the complex submission processes. For her, this was a way of gaining productive feedback from an outside source, which she gladly accepted and knew how to implement in the next stages. In addition to free advice and financial coaching, there was also funding from the Vienna Business Agency. This allowed her to get investors on board over the last one and a half years, expand the team and promote the further expansion of the company. Joana Adesuwa Reiterer is therefore particularly pleased with her first bulk order from an Upper Austrian street-style label, with which she has brought the new bag collection ‘Joyjoadre’ onto the market.

The online platform , offering a web shop aswell as possibilities to network and to reach people has been launched recently. As of October 2016, via the "Joadre-App" customers can directly contact female producers in Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. 

Services provided by the Vienna Business Agency

•    Funded through the creative_focus Social Entrepreneurship programme

Company:

Rolemodelx Impact Group GmbH
Koloniestraße 67/2/1
1210 Wien
joadre.com

As of December 2016