Martin Höfeler and Anton Jurina established "armedangels" six months ago -- they now have five employees. "So far, the business has been doing very well," the 25-year-old Martin Höfeler said.

To sort through the applications and make personnel decisions is new to Martin Höfeler, who is more used to applying himself. As a management student, Höfeler had to apply for internships for example. He soon realised he wanted to work for himself.

Recalling his university days, Höfeler explained how he and Jurina had come together: "We were doing the same course and we kept noticing that we were drifting off. We kept saying we wanted to start something ourselves."

But what? They came up with about two dozen ideas but none seemed right. And when they showed the idea to their friends, Höfeler said, there was always one who didn't find the idea so great but when they came up with this plan, everybody thought it was excellent.

Social responsibility

Somewhat unusually for management students, Höfeler and Jurina established a model label with strict ecological, ethical and social standards. The clothes were not supposed to be boring "green" garb but fashionable T-shirts and tops created by international designers and made out of fair trade cotton that would be attractive to young people.

Kolping International was the first partner to benefit from the "armedangels. The Cologne firm now supports three of the Catholic social organisation's projects in Bolivia. They provide medical help for the rural populations, have helped build a school in a poor area and run a sex-education campaign for young women in a country where sexuality is still a big taboo.

"3.33 euros per sold product -- regardless of how it costs -- goes to these projects. That's 50 percent of our profits, so it’s quite a lot," explained Martin Höfeler.

The labourers working on the cotton plantations also benefit because the Fairtrade seal of approval guarantees that they are treated and paid fairly.

Style advice

Armedangels works with a team, which gives advice on style. Höfeler said that they were working with "a stylist from New York, who has also worked for Angelina Jolie and Lindsay Lohan, and who has established a project in Afghanistan where some women have agreed to embroider certain products by hand, which will later mainly be sold in the US. All the revenues then go back to these Afghan embroiders."

The new T-shirts will also be marketed in Germany too -- first via the Internet and then hopefully next year, a shop will be opened.

"We are going to expand considerably and have just taken on a fashion designer, who will do nothing but create new designs. These will be posted on our web site over the next few months, so that later we can sell more than just T-shirts and become a proper fashion label, offering everything on the Internet and then in our own branches."

Breaking even

As they make sure that their clothes are produced fairly and aid projects are supported in developing countries, Höfeler and Jurina are also adamant that the business should remain profitable. They hope to break even by the end of 2008.

"It’s not enough to just have a good idea, and to realise, after a year, that all the money that you've borrowed is gone, and the business has to be shut down," Höfeler explained. "What’s important is that the business grows and that it remains socially responsible."