This page exists because most sustainability pages are written to make the reader feel better rather than to tell them anything. We have tried to write the other kind. Where we are doing badly, it says so.
Making less
The single biggest thing a clothing business can do is make fewer things and sell more of what it makes. We produce to a forecast and reorder rather than cutting deep on a first run. In the last four volumes, 94 per cent of units produced were sold at full price. The remaining 6 per cent went to a sample sale. Nothing has been destroyed.
Where things are made
Four units, all in India, all visited at least twice a year by someone from our team rather than an auditor we hired.
- Ahmedabad: woven shirting and outerwear. 140 workers. SA8000 certified.
- Tiruppur: jersey and lighter wovens. 60 workers. Family owned, no certification, which we have chosen to accept after four years of visits.
- Ludhiana: knitwear. 35 workers. Family owned.
- Kanpur: footwear. 80 workers. LWG-certified tannery upstream.
We pay on 30-day terms. The industry norm in India is 90 and it is the main reason small units run into trouble.
Materials
Roughly 70 per cent of our cotton by weight is BCI or organic. The rest is conventional, because the specific fabrics we want are not made any other way at our volumes. We would rather say that than round it up.
No virgin polyester in any woven garment. Recycled polyester appears in the quilted vest’s fill and in two linings, where we have not found an alternative that performs.
Packaging
- Cartons are recycled board, unbleached, no plastic tape.
- Garment bags are compostable starch-based film. They are not perfect; they need industrial composting, which most Indian cities do not have.
- No tissue, no stickers, no card inserts. They are decoration and they go straight in the bin.
What we have not solved
- We do not measure our carbon footprint. Doing it credibly at our size costs more than we can justify, and doing it badly is worse than not doing it.
- Freight is by road and air within India. Air is faster and considerably worse; we use it for express orders because customers ask for it.
- We have no take-back or resale scheme. We would like one. We do not have the logistics for it yet.
If you think we are wrong about any of this, or you know how to fix one of the unsolved items, we would genuinely like to hear it. Write to us.