No judgment, no standards and, certainly, no Photoshop. For the love of bread, beauty and anything that makes you, you. We get together with Aismoula Georgiadi to talk about her fashion platform/community, Goodbye Bread, and how they are inspiring the masses through messages of individuality, inclusivity and straight up not giving a fuck. We are all equal creatures born into this world and we all have the right to feel beautiful being the person we choose to be. Ready to dethrone big fashion conglomerates and shatter their outdated and unfair fashion standards, Goodbye Bread is here to do exactly that.
Hi Asimoula, for those who aren’t so familiar with Goodbye Bread, please could you tell us a little more about the brand. What do you stand for?
Goodbye Bread is more than an online fashion destination. It’s a community of the coolest girls in the room aka #GBSQUAD. Goodbye Bread is the place that you can get inspired, share your ideas and, of course, find some gems for your closet. We offer a curated selection of unique brands and also design our own clothes, shoes and accessories. We wanna re-define the contemporary cool of our generation and the generations to come.
We do whatever the fuck we want and wear what we want! The thing is not to care about what people will think about you when you are getting dressed. What do they know about you and your personal style after all? If you like it and feel hot in it, then just wear it. We want to give you the option to wear what’s hot right when you want it and not to wait until it becomes mainstream – you’ll bury it in your closet forever. That’s why we have a very strong first-to-market trend approach that is backed by our intuitive taste of what is gonna be hot next. It’s like a core part of our brand DNA. We usually bring stuff online twelve months before everyone else.
We do whatever the fuck we want and wear what we want! The thing is not to care about what people will think about you when you are getting dressed. What do they know about you and your personal style after all? If you like it and feel hot in it, then just wear it. We want to give you the option to wear what’s hot right when you want it and not to wait until it becomes mainstream – you’ll bury it in your closet forever. That’s why we have a very strong first-to-market trend approach that is backed by our intuitive taste of what is gonna be hot next. It’s like a core part of our brand DNA. We usually bring stuff online twelve months before everyone else.
What is your manifesto?
My manifesto is: the youth will always win. And I am sure that it will. I want us to dethrone all these big fashion conglomerates that are headed by old irrelevant men and shatter the outdated and unfair fashion standards they project to consumers daily. In essence, we want to hand over the keys of the industry to young women that, at the end of the day, are the ones that are going to wear these items.
Thinking back to when you started the company in 2015, how much has Goodbye Bread stayed consistent to its original intentions and how much have these ideas evolved and grown with the brand?
Goodbye Bread was officially launched during the winter of 2016. Our store is still a baby, it’s almost two years old. As we are growing, I see my ideas and the way I wanted to approach youth fashion materialising, and that’s very exciting!
I always wanted to have something before it’s cool for everyone else. It was a major turn off for me to see other people wearing what I was wearing. Basically, when it started reaching the masses, I was done with it. So a large part of why I started Goodbye Bread is because I wanted to give the opportunity to our babes to wear stuff before anybody else.
Usually, when I want something in my life, it’s the time we put it into production immediately. Of course, we have more complex processes when it comes to buying and manufacturing but they are still directed by our vision of what should be next for the season.
I always wanted to have something before it’s cool for everyone else. It was a major turn off for me to see other people wearing what I was wearing. Basically, when it started reaching the masses, I was done with it. So a large part of why I started Goodbye Bread is because I wanted to give the opportunity to our babes to wear stuff before anybody else.
Usually, when I want something in my life, it’s the time we put it into production immediately. Of course, we have more complex processes when it comes to buying and manufacturing but they are still directed by our vision of what should be next for the season.
In your recent campaign, #GBSQUAD, your photos feature a model, untouched with evident scars – a bold, brave and beautiful statement. I can only assume this decision wasn’t taken lightly. What were the pros and cons when discussing whether or not to retouch the model? And what convinced everyone involved in the decision that publishing the model untouched, with her scars, was the best option?
#GBSQUAD is not a traditional campaign; it basically embodies the lives of our squad on social media. It showcases the community of our customers, our employees, our babes around the world slaying our clothes, sharing their outfits, inspiring and supporting each other. So being bold, brave, feeling good and looking good is an integral part of #GBSQUAD. What might seem like a hard or controversial decision for another brand, in reality, it was not like that for Goodbye Bread because being inclusive and supporting individuality is a main part of our culture. We do a lot of things without overanalysing them or necessarily filtering them through a media angle.
When I met our model, I was so struck by her beauty and how cool she looked that I didn’t even notice her scars. The first time I noticed them was when she arrived at our studio to shoot the campaign but we never thought of retouching them. Why should we, anyway? We have a no-retouch policy since day one. We are not retouching stretch marks, bruises, freckles etc. So we didn’t really have a conversation about this within the company. For us, our model is beautiful the way she is, so it never crossed our mind to retouch her scars. Retouching someone’s body feels so 2000s to me.
When I met our model, I was so struck by her beauty and how cool she looked that I didn’t even notice her scars. The first time I noticed them was when she arrived at our studio to shoot the campaign but we never thought of retouching them. Why should we, anyway? We have a no-retouch policy since day one. We are not retouching stretch marks, bruises, freckles etc. So we didn’t really have a conversation about this within the company. For us, our model is beautiful the way she is, so it never crossed our mind to retouch her scars. Retouching someone’s body feels so 2000s to me.
The message you send with this is about self-love, self-acceptance, and demolishes the traditional beauty standards conveyed by many other brands. What other methods of campaigning do you use or plan to use to continue to spread this message?
We’ll keep doing what we do. We work with babes whose vibe we like; their style, their aesthetics, their Instagram. They can be models, influencers, customers, people we bump into on the street. I don’t understand why people should have to meet certain unrealistic standards in order to work with brands. If you like the clothes, if you are comfortable with yourself, then you can be a model for Goodbye Bread. You might have to do a few cute faces too… (joking) But that’s a piece of cake these days since we grew up taking selfies 24/7.
The truth is that self-love is the only thing that makes you beautiful and confident and that’s what we are all about. Our generation doesn’t care about outdated beauty standards, doesn’t give a fuck about how someone should look like. We live in the age of the aesthetic blender and have no preconceived notions of what is considered ‘normal’. We belong to a generation that doesn’t care about what they’ve been told. Better sooner than later for everyone to get this into their heads. Until then, we will be here, spreading that message all-over.
The truth is that self-love is the only thing that makes you beautiful and confident and that’s what we are all about. Our generation doesn’t care about outdated beauty standards, doesn’t give a fuck about how someone should look like. We live in the age of the aesthetic blender and have no preconceived notions of what is considered ‘normal’. We belong to a generation that doesn’t care about what they’ve been told. Better sooner than later for everyone to get this into their heads. Until then, we will be here, spreading that message all-over.
As with any slightly controversial marketing campaign, the public is going to have an opinion. How have you found the response this? Mostly positive (I’d hope), or negative?
As I said before, we didn’t really talk about this. It was not really planned, it was us, as a brand, basically staying true to our values about inclusivity and sticking to our no-retouch policy. We realised the positive outcome of this when we posted the first photo of the campaign on Instagram. Not retouching her scars showed to girls out there that had been under a similar situation that they are beautiful no matter what. Even today we get loads of messages and emails about this from girls telling us how it helped them feel confident and beautiful. I am still amazed by the messages we get. I never thought it would be so empowering. We did what we felt was the right thing and it resulted in sending a very important message about self-love to people.
On the other hand, I know that people can get triggered easily and this might be a sensitive issue for them. They might not see this as a self-love message, they might be sceptical about this or just feel that it’s outright negative. However, we can’t let this overshadow the overall positive message of this campaign and the hope it gave to people affected by this. This is about letting people with self-harm scars know they can show themselves just the way they are. They don’t have to be ashamed and they don’t have to be hidden. They are beautiful no matter what. Also, body scars are a part of a person’s life journey. What gives us the right as a brand to photoshop them? Just because someone is working with us, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to censor their body or erase their past.
On the other hand, I know that people can get triggered easily and this might be a sensitive issue for them. They might not see this as a self-love message, they might be sceptical about this or just feel that it’s outright negative. However, we can’t let this overshadow the overall positive message of this campaign and the hope it gave to people affected by this. This is about letting people with self-harm scars know they can show themselves just the way they are. They don’t have to be ashamed and they don’t have to be hidden. They are beautiful no matter what. Also, body scars are a part of a person’s life journey. What gives us the right as a brand to photoshop them? Just because someone is working with us, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to censor their body or erase their past.
What about the haters?
Some people on the Internet just love to spread hate. Negativity will always be there. In general, they seem to have an opinion about various things such as how much you weigh, how hairy your vagina is or if they agree with your latest body modification. They can’t understand that, as a brand, we are reposting your photo because we like you and the picture you took with our clothes. It’s your body and you can do whatever you want with it, we are not gonna judge you for this. Nor do we care if it fits standards or makes people uncomfortable just because we challenge their notions of beauty. The haters are always gonna be there but we are building a strong and supportive community, so their spiteful comments are kind of powerless.
I think we can all appreciate that self-confidence is a little easier said than done. We all have our personal nemesis we try our best to ignore. This is why I think it is so important that brands like Goodbye Bread are acting as a role model to girls and promoting this self-love and acceptance. But who acts as a role model and inspiration for Goodbye Bread?
I agree. We all have our insecurities and have things we don’t like about ourselves. But loving yourself is a totally different thing. You should accept yourself the way you are. You owe it to yourself. We want to show people that we are all beautiful. And I believe that we can reach a point in our life where we get to love these little things that make us imperfect because we live every day with them. Our flaws kind of complete us. Also, if something bothers you so much, you can always change it. Thank god it’s 2018.
Our customers are our role models. We can’t wait to see our tagged posts and DMs every morning when we start working. It’s amazing how every girl sees an item totally differently than another one and how creatively they style it. We love how stoked they are with getting photos with our stuff. Each photo tells a story. They are giving us ideas. They are our daily inspo. They make Goodbye Bread what it is. They are the brand. Their love for what we do is why we exist right now.
Our customers are our role models. We can’t wait to see our tagged posts and DMs every morning when we start working. It’s amazing how every girl sees an item totally differently than another one and how creatively they style it. We love how stoked they are with getting photos with our stuff. Each photo tells a story. They are giving us ideas. They are our daily inspo. They make Goodbye Bread what it is. They are the brand. Their love for what we do is why we exist right now.
“My manifesto is: the youth will always win. I want us to dethrone all these big fashion conglomerates that are headed by old irrelevant men and shatter the outdated and unfair fashion standards they project to consumers daily.”
Diversity in the world of fashion and beauty, be it about ethnicity, gender, size, etc. is an ever trending topic. Brands have created unrealistic expectations for society, and now society is kind of realizing it’s bad. So some brands are adapting their image to fit within contemporary thought/philosophy of inclusivity. As someone who is evidently involved in the progression of knocking down these boundaries, how do you feel diversity in the industry has improved over the years? And what message would you send to the brands that are still negatively influencing and encouraging these young girls?
I believe that the majority of brands, companies and certain magazines are still stuck with unrealistic beauty standards. It’s hard to get rid of them because they are an inherent part of their organisation and, instead of dealing with the problem, they are trying to hide it with a ‘cool’ campaign. But people know it.
I feel that if you are working with young people, like us, if you want to serve our generation but you are not inclusive, then there is no place for you in this industry. Even Goodbye Bread, as a brand, we are still not as inclusive as we want to be. Being a super fast-growing fashion start-up comes with certain constraints. For example, we started stocking bigger sizes and we will have more soon. We want to see badass girls slay our clothes regardless of their waist size. So we still have work to do.
I feel that if you are working with young people, like us, if you want to serve our generation but you are not inclusive, then there is no place for you in this industry. Even Goodbye Bread, as a brand, we are still not as inclusive as we want to be. Being a super fast-growing fashion start-up comes with certain constraints. For example, we started stocking bigger sizes and we will have more soon. We want to see badass girls slay our clothes regardless of their waist size. So we still have work to do.
We all have heard the outdated and contradictory expression, ‘Beauty is pain’. Although said by many as more of a joke, when taken literally, the consequences are only adding to the weight of insecurities. From a young age, girls are left confused, being told they are beautiful the way they are and then feeling pressured to conform to the ‘painful’ acts of beautifying oneself – be it wearing six-inch heels, threading your eyebrows or accidentally poking yourself in the eye with a mascara wand. What are your thoughts on this expression and whether it should still be used?
Beauty and fashion should not be linked with pain. For me, it’s all about feeling good and looking good at the same time. We are living in the era in which wearing sneakers with hot shorts and a sports bra is the sexiest thing out there. Slides worn with socks and a mini dress was the epitome of 2017 for us. I am referring to our generation and fashion-forward people, kids in their twenties. We grew up wearing skating clothes that we styled with Jeffrey Campbell shoes. Used to go to dates with a body-con dress and vans slip-ons and felt hot as hell. Thanks to the Olsen twins, who kind of defined that no makeup is the coolest makeup and out of bed hair is all you need.
So like every other thing on this planet, that changes as the time passes. I believe the meaning of beauty has evolved. It’s just a matter of time until we start to own the industry and redefine things for our generation. I think the world needs more young female leaders so we can start to change things. When it comes to high heels, thank god that creepers and sneakers are must-haves – you can just keep those heels for the days you feel like wearing them.
So like every other thing on this planet, that changes as the time passes. I believe the meaning of beauty has evolved. It’s just a matter of time until we start to own the industry and redefine things for our generation. I think the world needs more young female leaders so we can start to change things. When it comes to high heels, thank god that creepers and sneakers are must-haves – you can just keep those heels for the days you feel like wearing them.
In years gone by, there have been some outrageous attempts to make oneself feel more beautiful. For example, in the 19th century, when women wore corsets enforced with metal to have smaller waists, causing serious health issues and broken ribs. Or even way back in the 11th century, when women started binding their feet, causing life-long deformities, in attempt to have lotus feet because this proved you were wealthy enough to stay at home. Are there any beauty trends of the 21st century that you think, looking back on in the future, we will all be as confused with as the above?
I am totally supporting everything that someone would like to do. If anything can make you feel more comfortable then just do it. Given that you are not putting your life in danger. But even if you are, it’s not my place to judge you. Your body, your choice.
Your brand is clearly focused on females, girl power! There’s no denying, however, that men also share these insecurities and pressures and really there is not as much open discussion as with females. Do you know any platforms or communities where men can express themselves freely in the way women can with Goodbye Bread?
We are all about girl power but we are also getting love from everyone. Thankfully, nowadays people can choose between dresses or pants. We are gender agnostic when it comes to our community and this is exactly how we want the world to be. As we grow, we are trying to add sizes that could fit everyone out there. Now, when it comes to men-focused brands/platforms like Goodbye Bread, I don’t really know any. Sorry guys.
Are there any like-minded companies working in the same direction as Goodbye Bread? Would you like to collaborate with any of them?
I think there are a lot of independent brands out there that are doing great things. But then you have all these big retailers and brands that are like dinosaurs and they try to disguise themselves as something cool, fun and nimble. They are all about girl power, but some are even run by fifty-year-old dudes. Sorry, that won’t work.
The company that I find hella relevant these days and I’d love to do a collab with is Unif. They follow trends the coolest way possible. That is the goal for every brand or retailer out there, the ability to serve what’s current now and every year. And that’s what, I believe, will make us stronger. We are these girls. We are our customers. No other retailer out there, until now, has managed to serve the youth as the time passes because they get irrelevant. But I have the feeling that we are here to make that happen, finally, because we’ve got a secret sauce and a way of working which is organic and defensible. Let’s fan the flames.
The company that I find hella relevant these days and I’d love to do a collab with is Unif. They follow trends the coolest way possible. That is the goal for every brand or retailer out there, the ability to serve what’s current now and every year. And that’s what, I believe, will make us stronger. We are these girls. We are our customers. No other retailer out there, until now, has managed to serve the youth as the time passes because they get irrelevant. But I have the feeling that we are here to make that happen, finally, because we’ve got a secret sauce and a way of working which is organic and defensible. Let’s fan the flames.
