A Girl Scout does not have to run around the forest with dirty fingernails

an interview with Teresa Wąsowska

It is a beautiful, hot afternoon. Teresa and I meet at Roślina Cafe, a coffee shop in the Stare Bielany district of Warsaw. She arrives wearing one of the dresses from her new brand, Panna Rosa, with a scarf tied around her neck. She radiates warmth, brightness, and joy. The girl who sits down next to me is the exact same person I had previously seen only on the internet. Genuine, calm, kind. Enjoy this conversation with the founder of the Panna Rosa brand, a woman who inspires others to seek out and buy only Polish products.

Does Teresa Wąsowska only wear dresses? Do the readers of your blog know about this?

Mostly yes, I own just one pair of trousers. My readers know about this. Many girls started reading my blog through the Facebook group titled Project 365 Days in a Skirt. I can definitely say that this group had a major influence on my style.

How did it happen that you, a Girl Scout running around the woods in uniform, suddenly started wearing dresses? Where did this interest in fashion come from? Don’t these two things clash with each other?

They do clash. However, it is not a negative kind of conflict. I do not see myself as a girl with two different faces. You have one type of Girl Scout, and then you have another. The first type wears no makeup and neglects her appearance, walking around with dirty nails and heavy trekking boots. Then there are Scouts who believe that a uniform is a uniform, but they will still pair it with Chelsea boots. In our scouting methodology that is acceptable, it is simply a matter of what each girl chooses. Right now, as a troop leader, I run a troop of about twenty girls and teenagers. I remember being their age and how much my own troop leader impressed me. I am deeply grateful to her for not being merely a dry, textbook Scout, but also speaking about God and womanhood. Because of that, when I write my blog today, I have to remember that my Scouts will be reading it too. That is part of camp life and relaxation. My Scouts see that when I am at camp, I completely disappear from the internet. I make very sure that they do not have mobile phones with them either.

But where did the idea for Polish products come from? I understand that it might be love for your country, but in times when you see mostly Western brands all around you, you have to admit that this is quite unusual?

Yes, but surprisingly it is becoming more and more popular. I think we are all fed up with this excess, and more importantly, Western brands often mean not just poor quality, but also defining one’s identity through owning branded items. Supporting Polish brands is not merely a patriotic stance or a bet on quality. It is simply the awareness that I am paying for fair wages for workers and a good quality product, rather than astronomical marketing campaigns and a corporate logo.

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting their adventure with Polish products? Where should they look for them? Above all, how can they know that something is truly a Polish product, rather than one that simply has labels in our native language and nothing more?

Sometimes you have to do some thorough digging to find out where something comes from. I search for Polish companies registered in Poland that employ Polish workers. Obviously, I do not take every single criterion into account, such as Polish raw materials, because coconut oils or shea butter are simply out of the question. You have to be realistic and choose the optimal option. When it comes to the origin of fabrics, I do not narrow it down too strictly either. I have not yet come across a brand that manufactures outside Poland, for instance in China. That certainly gives us food for thought. However, there are sewing factories in Poland that hire people under the table. So it is quite a slippery topic when it comes to where shady production takes place. The most important thing is to try to live consciously, which means the more knowledge you have about the world, the more conscious your choices become, because you know what lies behind each decision.

I will move on to a slightly different topic now. I cannot help thinking that despite well developed social media, there is still this perception that if a woman works in fashion, she must be uneducated or a complete failure in life. Have you ever encountered that kind of attitude?

Yes, I have come across that as well. At one point, a few comments even verged on pure hate. But that was and still is sporadic. Whenever they took a shot, it happened to be at things that do not really matter all that much to me. I know my own truth, though I understand that others might hold a different opinion. What surprises and baffles me the most is that someone took the time to write me a lengthy essay on the subject. As for blogging as a profession, numerous myths have built up around it. Anyone who is not on the inside has absolutely no idea what it really involves. People imagine that parcels just arrive on your doorstep and money rains down from the sky. It is not nearly as effortless or glamorous as that. At a certain stage, you reach a point where you want to offer high quality content. That means you have to pay for sponsored advertising and hire a photographer. The costs of running a blog alone are genuinely substantial. You find yourself at a crossroads where, if you want to grow, you simply have to push forward.

I heard that faith is important to you?

Yes. I do not hide my faith, but when it comes to writing the blog, I now realize that I cannot just focus on clothes and other Polish products, but need to share something about myself from time to time as well. I do not flaunt my faith. I am in the Scouts, which speaks for itself. That in itself is already intertwined with faith. But on the blog itself, I feel no need to emphasize in every single post that I am a person of faith.

Is it easy to live in the Catholic world, which people often describe as closed off? You know, the idea that women should walk around wearing potato sacks, preferably drab gray, just to avoid drawing any attention to themselves. Heaven forbid they accidentally provoke a man with their appearance…

You would have to ask the community. As far as I know, it is received very positively. I have not heard any criticism within my circles. The fact that I write a blog and play around with clothes is nothing to be ashamed of. It would be shameful if I wore a neckline plunging down to my belly button and a skirt barely covering what lies beneath. All of this only motivates me to maintain an authentic coherence in life. Because, as I already mentioned, a Girl Scout by no means has to run around the forest with dirty fingernails her whole life. Naturally, I do not have many friends in these circles who do similar work, but all the girls are completely normal people. They read my posts, and they support me. I do not experience any hate from them.

I will move on to your brand now, Panna Rosa. That name is simply brilliant! If you wanted to captivate people with it, you certainly hooked me. It is impossible to walk past it indifferently. Where did the idea come from?

The name has its roots. The dress group on Facebook, Project 365 Days in a Skirt, my boyfriend, my faith, all of this allows me to discover the woman within myself. Simple, ordinary, just the way I am. I was looking for a name that would reflect that, capturing tenderness and girlhood. My dad helped me tremendously in brainstorming the name. At first it was supposed to be Rosa, representing something fleeting, something I associate with the morning and with delicacy.

How long did the process of launching your brand take?

I was in the comfortable position of not working a full-time job, so I had plenty of time to dedicate to this. I am convinced that ideas like this need to be tested slowly and cautiously, which is why my first collection was very modest. Thanks to that, I managed to get everything done in four months.
So it truly is possible to navigate your way through the Polish bureaucratic system. I am in shock!
Well, in all of this, it is not actually that terrible. At least for now.

If you had to explain right here and now to a complete beginner how to tackle this and where to start, what advice would you give them?

Every company, industry, and business model looks a little different, so there is no silver bullet. Still, coming up with a solid concept, securing funds, and having at least some foundational knowledge make up the essential starter pack.

Is your company’s target audience, at least for now, women aged twenty to thirty?

I was thinking about women in general. I would not want to narrow down the audience for my clothes any further. It is already limited enough by the price point and the brand’s philosophy. Some designs will be more youthful and girlish, while others will be more universal. I do not plan on creating collections specifically tailored for women over fifty. This brand also operates on the principle that whatever is in my heart and soul ends up in the collection. Looking at this summer collection, I can also see touches of vintage coming through. That surprises me, because I never really resonated with that aesthetic before. A lot of girls have asked me about maternity dresses, but there certainly will not be any for now since I am not familiar with that world yet. When I am pregnant myself one day, that is when I will take on a maternity collection.

When you first started blogging, what kind of Teresa were you back then, and who are you now?

Good question. A completely different one, that is for sure. I started blogging just for fun. But appetite comes with eating. Back then, I also started reading more blogs because I wanted to deliver better quality, better content. That was a long time ago. I was working a full-time job at the time because right after high school finals I took a gap year, was supposed to go to college, and in the end, I never went. You know, I surprise even myself by running a blog, because I never liked writing. Creative work brings me so much more joy than writing, like curating photos and connecting with the girls on the blog. That is also why I am pushing to start a YouTube channel. To sum it up, I used to be shyer and less confident in myself.