In this section we should write about corporate things like “sustainability”, “equity, diversity, inclusivity”, et al. However, EBiT™ is not corporate. We’re not going to write some superficial report or hollow objectives. The reality also is, in a lot of bigger corporate companies these topics are often tokenized. They are promoted when it could benefit them and then they are cut from their costs when the tide turns or the trend fades. EBiT™ is the antithesis of this. Please don’t misunderstand us. We deeply consider and respect these topics and values. Just that they are intrinsically within us. They are not fabricated for extreme capitalist profit.

Image credit: Glen Luchford - EBiT™ project [E002] Glen's Nostalgic Momento

EBiT™ is an emerging independent collective, with certain ethos and values baked into the fabric of our very existence. Our umbilical DNA materializes into intentional ethics in our collective spirit, our collaborative approach, and our creative execution.

Here is a personal message from EBiT™ Founder, Simon Whitehouse, to give a context to our approach and actions in these areas:

Mental health is at the heart of the EBiT™ ethos and eco-system.

However it goes deeper than only well-being, of consciousness and compassion of the spectrum of mental health conditions. 

At its most philosophical level and deepest level EBiT™ is an exploration of how extreme capitalism has affected our individual and collective mental health. 

Why? Where does this come from?

I was born in Stoke-on-Trent, a working class city in the north-west of England, and grew up during the 70s/80s in a period of hostility and unrest on a socio-political level - ‘The Troubles’, the war with the IRA, Thatcher’s politics changing the UK from blue collar to white collar, the miners strikes, etc. There was hatred. There was a generation of immigration coming into the country. There was football hooliganism. Confusion and polarization in society. Often, it was a dark and violent time.

Ethnicities

My father was second generation Irish. 25% Irish white / 75% English white. When the family moved from Ireland to England they changed their name from O’Toole to Toole, removing the ‘O’ to make it less Irish. You see, in those times, because of ‘The Troubles’ there was violent tension, racism and discrimination between the Irish and the English. He grew up in Moss Side, Manchester, together with communities from the West Indies, Caribbean countries like Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago - immigrants were generally bundled together. He grew up in a fish’n’chip shop, the family living above the kitchen. He used to tell me about how it was back then. About being discriminated and bullied by English boys for having Irish roots, even though he was born in England, he had white skin and they had white skin. He would talk about the feelings of the time.

Growing up we would visit Manchester every week, and see his old friends, people with all different shades of skin color. But back home in Stoke-on-Trent, everyone had white pinky skin, and I don’t think I saw one brown person in Stoke-on-Trent until I was like 9 years old. My Dad would tell me about the signs they had outside bars and pubs back then in Manchester. It was standard to see signs saying: “No Irish. No Blacks. No Dogs”.

Image credit: unknown

Because of this, The Troubles, my Dad was anti-religion. He loved history, and he enlightened me about the soul of the Irish, and the soul (and the imperialism!) of the English, which was a weird concept for me as a kid to absorb because of his generational mix, and for me being born in England. But he used to speak to me about the soul of a human being - this is life. Borders are made up things. Human beings are real. He would tell me to always see beyond the skin color. Instead:

Look into the eyes of the human being for this is the window to the soul.

He would tell me there are white people with good intentions, and white people with bad intentions. Likewise, there are black people with good intentions, and black people with bad intentions. This wisdom and advice from my father gave to me a consciousness of my being from an early age. I am a white person. I recognize and understand the privilege that the color of my skin, being a white male, has provided and continues to provide to me. 

Image credit: unknown

He would tell me that there is potential for good and bad in everyone. Do no harm to people, but always protect yourself. He would tell me to use what I have to build and protect others. These values shaped me, and shape my value system still to this day when it comes to my family, and to the people who come in and out, our collaborators, dreamers and doers in EBiT™. My father was a superhero to me - like Spiderman, Batman, Superman all rolled into one. 

Why is this important to EBiT™ and to mental health? Keep reading and you will understand.

My mother was a calm figure. A water to sometimes the fire that my father’s temper could be. Ultimately, they split up in a violent way. It was shocking and traumatic for all of our family. It was a catalyst that led to my only/elder brother, Stephen who was 20 years old fit and intelligent young man at the time, to begin a process of a very severe mental breakdown. I was 17 years old. We were uneducated, clueless about mental health, as was the majority of society. We thought he was just being weird. He became homeless as our family separated. Long short story, after a deep decline over a period of about 6 months he was sectioned in a mental hospital.

My Dad wrestled 2 hours to get him into a police car to take him to the doctors. I saw my big brother in psychosis in that hospital. His eyes were totally jet black, and his gaze… just, gone. Void. He stayed in mental care homes for 2-3 years there after, being diagnosed with schizophrenia. He never recovered. 32 years later, and he has never worked, never had a real relationship, or any real quality of life. He is OK though, in his own world, I guess. It's hard to tell.

Schizophrenia is very complex.

I miss the real him terribly, my big brother before his breakdown. He's my big bro.

At the time my brother broke down, I also went off the rails in a different way. Pure escapism. Alcohol was prevalent in our culture since early teenage years, but my escapism also came into the illegal ecstasy scene - warehouses, fields, then became The Haçienda, Renaissance, etc. While society was in chaos, while violence, confusion and polarization were reaping havoc in regular society, a tribe of people came off the normal rhythm and found each other in a different beat - dance, house, etc. Loved each other. Fueled by ecstasy yes, but bound by shared values:

“are you safe, are you enjoying, are you OK, I love you”. 

It didn’t matter if you were straight, trans, black, white, gay, or anything or everything or nothing in between - it was not even a consideration for a second. The only thing that mattered was a mutual care and love for each others safety, well being, and enjoyment. And the music. Always the music. The people who lived through that scene have those values baked into their very core, and will have forever.

Ethos

This is the ethos of EBiT™.

Togetherness and solidarity.

Tribal renegade spirit forging a path away from the big machines.

The spirit of Factory Records, Manchester.

Artistic freedom.

Independent creativity.

I swear, I have the soul of an old Irish gypsy!

Today, some 30-35 years later, I don’t condone drugs - this is not my message nor the message of EBiT™. The ‘E’ of EBiT™ is a postmodern reference to the SPIRIT and the SOUL of that time, not a literal one. Ecstasy. Enjoy. The ‘E’ today symbolizing 'Enjoy Being' - well-being. And Transition - this flux state of breakdown / breakthrough, the burden of anxiety which our generation is feeling and living. Our individual and collective mental health, so unstable. In a way that there was a need to create a different tribal spirit to escape the violence and polarization in society back then, there feels an urgent need today for a similar kind of escapism.

To move away from extreme capitalism, away from the algorithm of toxicity on social media, to be more gentle with ourselves.

What the world needs is a giant ecstasy pill!

That's a symbolic joke, sorry.

There is an overwhelming feeling, a need, to heal, to rise our compassion and sensitivity against and away from the tide of polarization, hatred, division, and obsession/greed for profit margin at all costs. Maybe this makes sense to you, talks to you, maybe it doesn't. It's all good. In the words of Tony Wilson, said with the utmost respect and placidity: "everyone is more than welcome to come and go and fuck off as they feel".

Image credit: The Haçienda, Manchester - Ian Tilton

I first got the injection of inspiration for EBiT™ immediately after getting my mother's last words tattoo'd onto me at the end of 2019 (she passed in October 2018). I went to the Brooklyn Social Bar, Smith Street, NY, ordered a pint of Guinness, and was suddenly touched by this phrase in my mind:

 "the most profitable brands will all be directed by their moral compass".

Just like that. I have a form of OCD and couldn't get it out of my mind. I asked for a pen and paper from the barman and sit and wrote the sentence over and over, and began to formulate what would then become EBiT™ - Enjoy Being in Transition™ - later in 2020. My mother worked on a factory floor for over 40 years. Fundamentally, that's why I care about the treatment of people - I imagine my Mum.

Mental health is the largest cultural topic of today, as it touches 8 billion people on earth. Yet, nothing meaningful from an artistic and creative level explores this subject in the fashion/cultural space. It can also be a unifying place of solidarity.

Image credit: Angelo Cordeschi

When our father suddenly passed away in 2006 it provoked a deep depression in me. I was dead on the floor motionless for four days. The two years after that were a cocktail of medication and therapy, but it did not stop me from surviving a suicide attempt in 2009. Since then I have been an open advocate of mental health issues, even through my executive roles as CEO at JW Anderson (LVMH), OTB Group, Art Partner, Eco-Age, et al. Life since 2009 has been a bonus to me, still is today. That is my resilience. I have been (un)fortunate to have had the vantage point to be in many board rooms of the highest global level and seen first hand how the ambition for power and greed for profit, through extreme capitalism, can compromise and degrade people and planet.

All of these moments continue to shape my personal value system and therefore the underlying core culture of how we are building EBiT™. EBiT™ is a subversion on the financial acronym: Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT, or EBITDA). Our EBiT™ - Enjoy Being in Transition™ is an interception of vocabulary on a generational level to provoke a curiosity into how extreme capitalism has affected our mental health.

We are not perfect. We are striving to be good, to do good, to be good trouble. We're a work-in-progress. But, fundamentally, we ask ourselves - do you want to be part of the problems you see in the world, or part of the solutions?

Ethics

Every project, each collection, has a reference point, inspiration or departure point around mental health. Not to ‘own’ a subject or topic, moreover to provoke curiosity to research the subject, or the person, and to take steps to normalize discussion and compassion around the topic. It could be the casting of the true characters in campaigns, could be the inspiration for a collection, or a mood of a music mix. To see the catalogue of EBiT™ projects to date see 'Projects' in menu section at top of website.

We produce all physical clothing in Italy - 100% Made in Italy.

After 25 years in ‘corporate’ fashion, I became jaded of the hollow merchandising system inside luxury/fashion, the obsession with carving away quality while increasing prices and masking with marketing, all in order to make more profit margin for the people upstairs. Whereas inside EBiT™ the clothing is a medium, one of the mediums, for EBiT™ to provoke dialogue around mental health. It's a different purpose. We also obsess to make the product beautiful, considered, unique, and reflective of the soul of EBiT™. Just our purpose is different.

Design details as raw edges symbolize the rawness of our emotions. Cocoon-like silhouettes provide comfort, coziness, for our emotional fragilities. An exclusive Italian made organic cotton gabardine provides strength, flexibility and durability - a new uniform, a protective armor in a way for today’s society.

Geometric details stem from the modular visual identity created by M/M (Paris), morphing and manifesting into octagon and hexagon references, the octagon being the symbol of rebirth, transition, new beginnings.

I was CEO of Eco-Age agency, pioneers of sustainability in fashion, founded by Livia Firth and run by incredible human beings. I was fortunate to learn very deeply about ethical trading, regenerative agriculture, future fit frameworks for people and planet in the world’s most responsible companies. Eco-Age was fundamental in lobbying to bring in EU regulations on topics as greenwashing and deforestation. I bring this professional experience into the ethical value system we are building at EBiT™. 

For example, we try to avoid mixed materials, meaning we focus on 100% cotton, or 100% wool. Why? Because eventually these garments, in 10 years, 20 years, will need to be disposed. And it's virtually impossible to recycle garments with mixed % fabric content. For example, a garment that is 60% cotton and 40% polyester is basically impossible to recycle. It's too complicated a task to separate the materials. It could be upcycled, sure, and in EBiT™ we upcycle some materials into our products. Moreover though, it will just sit in a landfill somewhere for decades or else you will eventually need to burn it to destroy it.

Whereas, for garments made with 100% with one specific material there are solutions for recycling, upcycling, repurposing, etc. That's also why in our designs you may see different panels, with one panel one (100%) fabric, and another panel (100% different fabric) - because we can explore novelty in the design and hand feel textures, while also remaining feasible for the separation of the materials for future recycling and upcycling. We prefer to mix the panels as opposed to mixing the fabric % composition. Often these panels, and materials we use are in fact upcycled materials, meaning fabrics already in existence (dead-stock in some cases), but maybe designed in conjunction with an exclusive artisanal Italian made gabardine yarn for example. Fusing in design both upcycling and delicately produced minimal quantity exclusive and unique fabrics to give fresh and unusual appearances.

We avoid synthetic/plastic in EBiT™ clothing and as much as possible in any peripheral packaging or transportation.

We all know plastic is a disaster on many levels for the environment. You may say - plastic in clothes? Yes. synthetic materials such as polyester and nylon are fundamentally plastic. They are synthetic polymers made from long chains of repeating molecules, primarily from petroleum-based (basically, the fossil fuel oil industry) chemicals like ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. This chemical structure, called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is the same material used for many plastic bottles. The molten plastic is then stretched and spun into fibers to create this synthetic fabrics. Garments made with poly/nylon synthetic materials are literally like wearing acid, petrol, chemicals and plastic. With how connected the mind is to the body, and how skin absorbs from its surroundings, that can't be good for the planet or your mental health now can it?  So, yes, we avoid all that in EBiT™. There is nothing natural about it all.

Our EBiT™ denim is all from Candiani, the most ethical and responsible denim producer in the world - winners of the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award (2023), and the Grounderbreaker Award at the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards (2023) for their development of COREVA™ (the worlds first completely biodegradable denim). Candiani are committed to ethical practices through certifications like SA8000 and ISO 45001. We have a deep and meaningful personal relationship with all the people at Candiani: Alberto, Mattia, Simon, et al. 

In fact, we visit, vet, and develop deep human personal relationships with each one of the small focused group of factories we collaborate with in Italy. We know personally the people who actually make our clothes: Alberto, Ugo and Caterin for our jersey, sweat, print. Marco and Alessandra for our denim, woven, gabardine. Silvia and Francesca for our knitwear. We are human.

Sustainability means nothing, literally. It's become a tokenized word weaponized by fast fashion to greenwash. Morals, ethics, and deep practical experience and education of how the fashion and textile industry is damaging people and planet - that's real.

We visit not only the factory who produces the finished garment, but also the providers of the trims, the labels, the buttons, the zips - it’s an eco-system to produce one garment - all of whom are also located in the local regions generally of mid to north east Italy. There is a beautiful African proverb: 'it takes a village to raise a child'. Similarly, it takes an eco-system to produce a garment.

All of these elements of 'sustainable' practices are visceral, intrinsic in our design approach, product consideration and creative execution.

Image credit: Stockholm Resilience Centre, depicting the 2025 state of the nine planetary boundaries

On a macro level, we are already beyond at least seven of the nine planetary boundaries, with ocean acidification being the latest one to be officially crossed in 2025. This means that humanity has officially pushed the Earth beyond the safe operating space for a stable climate and environment, and the transgression level for all crossed boundaries has increased. If we sustain the status quo we are already beyond fucked. The dialogue needs to now be on regenerative impact, on macro societal issues with regards to planet and people. Hence:

The mission of EBiT™ is to progress compassion and provoke a consciousness of how extreme capitalism has impacted our collective and individual mental health.

I don’t yet have metrics or statistics to ‘prove’ all the ethical actions we're taking in EBiT™. We live it, breathe it, visiting and meeting in person real life the people who produce with us. Eating pasta, drinking Italian coffee, while passionately obsessing over creating clothing we can be proud of and that will make you FEEL GOOD. 

I know instinctively that every fabric we have used so far has been the very best 100% organic cotton you can find in the world that we use for denim, gabardine, jersey, sweat fabric, and 100% wool for knitwear - because, well, that's what we do. We receive certificates from the factories for all organic materials, and we are happy to provide this to you if you contact us to request it.

The factories we produce our clothing with also produce for the very best ‘luxury’ fashion houses. However, at EBiT™ we calculate the retail price of our products with a fraction of the margin of a luxury/fashion brand in comparison.

We want EBiT™ to be an example of good capitalism - fair and transparent - an antidote to extreme capitalism in a way. 

For a hypothetical example, the same quality jumper at a luxury house would be €2,500 retail price, while at EBiT™ it would be €795 retail price. Just the label is different. We do this because we are not creating EBiT™ to become billionaires - our mission is different. 

Being a British person living in Italy, I find it a beautiful and great challenge to go deep into the Italian supply chain culture and be transparent at every level.

Step by step we will articulate more deeply and precisely all of these areas. We are an independent, emerging collective, so time is always against us as we juggle many things as well as trying to remain sane, healthy and balanced in the life! However, I am open personally to discuss all or any of this with anyone publicly or privately - feel free to write to me at:

simon@enjoybeingintransition.com

I just felt it important that for anyone who may purchase EBiT™ that you know the ethics, ethos and ethnicities that underpin everything we are creating.

With love,

Simon

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