Our sustainability practices

Why and how we're sustainable

What's sustainability, anyway?

If you’re anything like us, you’re probably wondering what exactly makes a brand more sustainable than others. Or even just sustainable. The fashion industry has historically been quite opaque, not different in this respect from other industries, to be fair. In recent years, as awareness increased along with the demand for change and sustainability, more and more brands started using the infamous buzz words: clean, green, sustainable, offset, recycled, conscious, etc. This can make it even more difficult and wooly for customers to understand what practices are actually sustainable.

Sustainability is tough to define and every brand seems to have its own definition, usually based on what is more convenient to it. As customers, it’s important to understand that everything, any given item has an impact and a cost on the environment, and sustainability for us as a brand is about minimizing that impact as much as possible.

When we talk about how sustainable an item is, we generally talk about three things:

1. the impact that that item’s production has on the environment (from how its raw materials are obtained to where and how it is assembled), 

2. the impact the item has on the environment during its lifetime and its use,

3. the impact the item has on the environment once it has reached end-of-life (so, once it has been disposed of).

All in all, what we always strive for as a brand is to make choices that minimize the impact our products have on the environment.

That is why, for instance, we choose fabrics of natural origin that are organic because organic farming has less of an impact on the environment in general. It’s also why we avoid polyester which the Higgs Index rates as better than natural fabrics (due to the fact that its production has a smaller environmental impact), because unlike Higgs, we take into account the impact polyester has past its production processes, like its microplastic shedding, its non-recyclability and its long life-span in the landfill. Calculating impact means looking at the overall life cycle of an item, not just at its production impact, fabric impact or farming.

But items are made out of multiple parts and each part will have its own impact, its own life cycle and each fabric, zipper or button can have a different effect. You have to look at each component, figure out which type or material has less impact and make the choice to use what’s most sustainable. This is why impact assessment is difficult and sustainability claims are usually vague.

So, we’ve compiled a small overview of the practices and choices that we believe make us more sustainable than other brands. They might seem like small steps, but they are a major departure from the way the industry usually operates.