Sustainability combined with ethical production is at the heart of our business. Right at the start, the goal was to keep everything as local as possible, But along the way, we've given this concept some thought. Here's why:
- 1 in 6 people work in the fashion industry worldwide
- Only 2% receives a living wage
- Most of them are working under inhuman conditions in Asia (12 hours working days, child labor, no breaks, unrealistic targets to receive wage etc.)
This industry is huge and the number of people relying on it is enormous. This is the reality for so many people, we can't even imagine. Day in, day out.
While developing our pajama's, we felt like taking the complete production to Europe is not the solution, because the problem remains the same in Asia. We got the opportunity to work with a supplier that is acknowledged as 'leader' by the Fair Wear Foundation, meaning they arranged working conditions well and this is monitored in many ways, among others by daily factory visits. These are criteria they meet:
- Employment is freely chosen and no child labor
- No discrimination in employment
- Legal binding employment documents are in place
- Paying minimal the living wage and reasonable working hours
- Safe and healthy working conditions, like protection garment in place when needed, normal working temperature etc.
- Freedom of association and complaints
- Childcare for workers' kids
The biggest challenge of working overseas is that we cannot check everything by ourselves all the time. That's why we decided to only work with a supplier that's certified for working conditions (Fair Wear Foundation) and sustainability (GOTS) which are the most trustworthy certifications in the industry, because they have their checking systems in place (and help to improve them further).
This factory is located in Bangladesh and provides a fair alternative to the fast fashion workers. We believe this is the way forward, to change the industry in the country from inside out. That's why we support them by producing our pajama's there. In this way, we're able to have a bigger social impact.
Luckily, this factory is also very environment aware. Only organic and recycled materials are used. The cotton is coming from India and certified with GOTS. The cotton is turned into fabric in Bangladesh, also with the GOTS certificate. In this proces, water is filtered before it's returns to the canals, to make sure it contains no chemicals.
The distance traveled by the items before it reaches you is longer of course. That's why we work together with an organisation to ship many products all together to Europe, to make transport as efficient as possible. They calculated the CO2 impact of one garment: 0,28 kg CO2 (based on transportation method, distance and weight). To put this into perspective, we plant one tree for each item sold to compensate for all transport along the way, leading to a reduction of 20kg CO2 on average per year. Moreover, all transport is slow shipping and road transport, so no air freight.
If you would like to have more details, please send us a message and we're happy to provide more information!