Why we Wear: tom àdam and its Daily Life Garments

Tell us all the details

www.tomadam.fr
Founded: 2015 
Location: Paris & Berlin 
Number of collections: One collection which continuously grows 
Best Seller: As Well (briefs)
Where to buy: 1-Amsterdam (Amsterdam), Freiraum (Berlin), Riviera (Basel), Wolf & Badger (New York), Imagehouse (Riga) and online. 
Ethos: “Responsibility, consciousness, minimalism, honesty, friendship and family.”

Let’s get more into it…

Tom Adam Vitolins, founder of tom àdam, answers all of our questions.

How did you decide to start a brand together with your family?

At the time, I was on a trip to Japan with my family and I was absolutely flabbergasted by the Japanese aesthetics and attention to detail. I walked into an eight-story men’s fashion department store and felt like a little kid in Disneyland, but there was nothing that would align with my taste when it comes to underwear. You could see only big brands flaunted with massive logos on the underwear’s elastics and produced in either Cambodia or Vietnam. As I have a background in graphic design, in that moment I decided that was what I’d do: launch my own brand.

Very naturally while developing tom àdam, my family would take more part in the brand. As my dad has the perfect look to be simultaneously a fisherman and a model, it was the perfect fit. My mom is not a huge fan of being in the photos, so she is helping with behind-the-scenes things. 

Can you tell us about the different products you offer and your production processes?

The collection consists of things that I find necessary in my daily life, therefore: briefs, boxer shorts, swimwear, pyjamas and sweaters. Briefs are crafted from the finest Italian modal and they are as soft as underwear gets. Our unisex boxer shorts are sewn from premium Albini Italian fabrics, which are often used by Saville Row tailors. Swim shorts are made from SEAQUAL® yarn, which is 100% recycled from ocean plastic with full traceability. Mom’s inspired unisex sweaters are hand knitted from Alpaca sourced in Peru.

All of our garments are produced in Latvia in a small factory near my home town. This lets me work closely with the manufacturers and oversee every detail of the production in person. Our newest addition is unisex pyjamas, a blend of cotton together with viscose made from rose bushes. It’s the perfect piece for a lazy Sunday morning, where sophistication meets comfort. 

For us, responsibility starts with using organic and recycled fibres, which we manufacture within a fair trade and ethical supply chain. We strongly believe we are responsible for what we produce and that it doesn’t end up as waste.

It’s a lot more sustainable to buy one good piece of underwear that lasts a couple of years than buying a bunch that you’ll have to throw out in 6 months.

What inspires your brand?

The ordinary and mundane. The everyday things that we tend to overlook. Just seen through a magnifying glass full of perpetual curiosity. 

What does sustainability mean to you?

I try to avoid using the word sustainability, as it’s getting more and more lost in translation and tends to get green-washed quite frequently.

For me, it’s about environmental responsibility. Being more considerate about what we buy and where we buy it from. If you are looking for a very nice vinyl, it usual takes time to find it, you have to research and be sure how it fits with the rest of your collection. With garments and other products it’s the same.

While we keep moving forward towards sustainability we have to be agile and flexible, and willing to adapt. I am genuinely happy that there is more and more people who are willing to devote their precious time, looking into all these aspects of social and environmental sustainability. It’s a necessity for all us to take part, as it’s the only way to change things. 

Time to shop!