This is baj.

What?

baj. advocates for mental sustainability. For the protection and regeneration of feeling, thinking and acting. We are all affected in one way or another by mental illnesses. Directly or indirectly through the suffering of loved ones. We currently live in a society of awakening, questioning and searching for meaning. And it is that radical change in our thinking and behavior, that should reflect on fashion and our understanding of it. A world that is changing so rapidly, with so much s*** happening around us can only function if we open up, being honest to ourselves and the people around us. We need to stand together and help those who cannot help themselves. It is our time to create a sustainable world both inside and out.

baj. helps you to close the still existing gap between a sustainable outside and inside. With baj. you will become both, an active part of a long-lasting, ecologically correct fashion world and a supporter of a pragmatic commitment against the stigmatization of mental health issues. baj. is your wearable statement directed against a society that idealizes unconditional pressure to perform and restless self-optimization at any price. baj. empowers you to literally contribute compassion by automatically donating (at the beginning) € 5 to the German Depression Aid Foundation (Stiftung Deutsche Depressionshilfe) with every piece of clothing you wear. This means you are directly involved in helping to shape the support and expansion of offers to help people in need.

baj. has the mission and vision through the offered fashion pieces and the creation of a community, to initiate a space for a special openness in connection with mental illnesses, for education and for change and help. It's about applying today's understanding of sustainability on the outside to our inside. Today, more than ever, it is about bringing the mental health and well-being of everyone back into the spotlight and protecting it in the long term.

 

Why?

I, the founder of baj., am affected by mental issues, struggling and fighting for being heard, seen and for getting help. Now I handle being sick, going to therapy and not always functioning, very openly. For some people maybe too open. But for me, this openness was and is part of the healing process. Especially sharing the not-so-great experiences along the way to help others.

I know the pain of being sick, and the greatness of creating something with passion out of the pain, following my inner voices with the aim to create change.

But I also know how difficult it was in the beginning to deal with it openly, against one's own sense of shame, and how difficult it is to reach out for help or then actually get help, because there aren't enough offers or they are overcrowded. It is crucial to put the topic of mental illnesses back into the spotlight and especially shine a light on the grievances of our current support system. In the long term I want to create the care I would have wished for and give those who would like to help the opportunity to do exactly that.

My goal is, besides dropping nice and special comfy wear, to create an understanding and openness in our society about mental illnesses and to collect more and more donations to expand existing offers or create new ones for the ones affected. We lost the focus on ourselves and our own well being due to these pressures from the outside. It has brought about these feelings of shame and unworthiness when we break down. It is these stigmas we need to change together for the us.

Mental Illnesses are real, they are painful and they need to be seen and cured. 

 

Why and how does the donation process work?

Those who are affected need to be heard and seen and they need actual access to offers of help besides therapy or rehab options. Offers in a sense of free access to consultations, different tools and self-help groups to ease the pain and get help fast.

First, we want to start with an initiative that’s particularly important for baj. focuses mainly on depressions. The German Depression Aid Foundation. The aim of this foundation is to make a significant contribution to better care for people suffering from depression and to reducing the number of suicides in Germany. In addition to research activities, the foundation offers to those affected and their relatives a wide range of information and assistance, such as email and phone consultation, the Depression discussion forum as well as numerous local measures.

The Foundation raises awareness und destigmatizes depressions and offers help. It´s so important.