Brava Fabrics, from Barcelona to the world

Brava Fabrics is a proximity company that started its entrepreneurial journey in 2015 in Barcelona. Since then, the start-up of Ivan Monells and Ramon Barbero has not stopped growing to become a true benchmark of sustainable fashion reaching as far as Germany or the United Kingdom

Have you ever seen T-shirts with bicycle, watermelon, rubber duckies or shrimp prints on the street? If the answer is “yes”, it is very likely that you have been in front of one of Brava Fabrics’ garments. Its founders, Ivan Monells and Ramón Barbero decided to combine their knowledge of economics, computer and industrial engineering to create this Barcelona-based brand. With an investment of 25,000 euros and the help of two loans, they were able to create their own company. A successful case of proximity textile economy, because since its inception, it achieved more than 150,000 euros in sales.

• Distinction as an identifying feature

From the beginning, they wanted to distinguish themselves from other clothing brands. They achieved this by means of varied and unconventional prints, oriented towards a more transgressive public. They began by printing on T-shirts drawings such as coffee pots, deer and even dog faces. The objective was clear: that the public would distinguish one Brava shirt from another, and so it was. The impact was such that they soon went from creating only T-shirts to extending the offer by innovating with pieces such as ties, shirts, sweaters and pants. Pieces of clothing that came to cross borders with online shopping reaching other European countries where they also had a very good reception. Specifically, and since its inception, have achieved nearly 60,000 customers and more than 4.5 million euros in sales. But this does not end here, Monells and Barbero told Portas 1,2,3, Emprendre that they aim to reach 23 million in 2023…

• Sustainable fashion is possible

One aspect they were clear about from the beginning is that they wanted Brava Fabrics to be an ethical and ecological brand. To this end, they determined that the raw materials used to make their products would be local, such as cotton, which is 100% organic and certified, i.e., it is grown without the use of chemicals. Precisely in order to exclude from the equation components such as fertilizers, herbicides or artificial fungicides, the processes are slower compared to the conventional method and also more expensive. With all this, they ensure that they are not harming the environment and that the conditions of the people who work picking it are ethical.

• Talent + hard work = success in the workplace

Despite starting from scratch, the effort and innovative ideas have led them to create more than a thousand products in nineteen different clothing categories. All of this while doing their bit for the sustainability of the planet. In fact, their trajectory has attracted the attention of investors such as ABAC Nest and Siesta Ventures (NYC), who are currently backing the Barcelona-based brand. From having only two people, they have grown to 20 workers who help them to create, design and manufacture pieces of clothing implementing technology and marking their own style. At the moment they have two physical stores, one in Madrid and the other in Barcelona, although 97% of their sales come from the Brava Fabrics website.

Brava Fabrics has shown that the creation of its own brand and proximity does not imply losing sight of sustainability and the ethics of its work processes. With effort and hard work, entrepreneurship and success is possible.