Every festival has its signature. You know, that one thing attendees take home as a badge of honor, a memory, stitched in fabric. At the 2025 edition of the Sarajevo Photography Festival, the signature piece wasn’t merely a logo stitched on cotton but a true art worthy collaboration with one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s crown jewels in textile and fashion: the remarkable team of Alma Ras company. When you want your festival merch to tell a story, you don’t settle for generic. You partner with a brand that’s woven into the very fabric of creativity and craftsmanship.
It is really no wonder they have been symbolically founded on International Women’s Day in 1998 in Olovo. This family-owned company has blossomed from a modest workshop into a leading force in the textile industry, employing over 1100 individuals across five production plants. They believe in lifting up the community, creating jobs and opportunities, especially for women across Bosnia and Herzegovina; women who bring skill and pride to every stitch and seam.
The SPF t-shirts and hoodies, made locally by Alma Ras, were wearable proof of community, craftsmanship, and a deep-rooted commitment to empowering others. Imagine spotting someone wearing that same hoodie at a bustling airport halfway across the world as a silent ambassador of Sarajevo’s vibrant art scene and Alma Ras’s commitment to community. Our partnership was no coincidence. It was a deliberate, inspired choice to align with a brand that embodies the spirit of SPF: bold, authentic, and forward-thinking. Together, they proved that merch is not just merch. It’s storytelling you can wear, share, and proudly carry into the future.
But the story doesn’t end at the surface. Behind every thread lies a deeper weave; one of bold projects, sustainable vision, and a commitment that reaches far beyond fashion.
They are pioneers of meaningful innovation. Take their Digital Passport project: a visionary step blending technology with sustainability, creating products that track origin and impact, pushing transparency to the next level. In collaboration with GS1 BiH, they launched a pilot project featuring a digital product passport for their White T-shirt that tells a story. This innovative initiative offers consumers transparency into the product’s lifecycle, from raw material sourcing to end-of-life recycling, promoting a circular economy and responsible consumption. And they’re just getting started: the Digital Passport pilot is set to be rolled out across every product in the near future.
Beyond digital transparency, Alma Ras actively supports eco-innovation. Through “Priroda koju volim” (Nature I Love) project, they award grants to individuals and organizations presenting socially beneficial eco-projects. This initiative is designed to fund innovative ideas, providing a practical way for artists and entrepreneurs in BiH to engage with Alma Ras’s commitment to environmental responsibility. Their commitment to “healthy” clothing: garments crafted with respect not only for the environment but also for the people behind each stitch, sets them apart in today’s eco-conscious world. This dedication earned them the prestigious Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification, one of the textile industry’s highest honors. It’s a rigorous global standard that oversees every step of the textile journey; from spinning and knitting to dyeing and final production, ensuring both ecological integrity and social responsibility. Alma Ras’s embrace of this certification reflects a deep-rooted promise: to produce sustainable, high-quality products while upholding workers’ rights and minimizing environmental impact, proving that true craftsmanship respects both people and the planet.
So if you’re an artist, a creator, a storyteller or simply someone who believes that what we wear should matter, keep your eye on Alma Ras. Explore their work, celebrate their values, and if you’re building something bold, don’t just admire from afar: reach out to them.
Because when craft meets creativity, and values are stitched into vision, it’s not the sky that sets the limit: it’s the fabric of possibility itself. Check out their brand and projects here: https://alma-ras.com/zeleno-poslovanje