Sustainability

"The fashion industry is considered the second largest polluter of our world." Right after the oil industry. We can expand on this but we would be wasting time, something we honestly don't have in 2022. We also know that if you ended up here there is a reason: you are looking for a better way to "do fashion". So let us explain why you are in the right place. 

A BIT OF BACKGROUND 

Many factors contribute to the industry's increasing wasteful behaviour. Firstly, the endless research for cheap manufacturing which resulted in extremely complex supply chains, where transparency is blurred and dynamics are absolutely incomprehensible for consumers. Unless you can actually get through 100 pages of Inditex Sustainability Report? 

Secondly, the rise of fast-fashion, which was born with the purpose of democratising fashion, but evolved into irreversibly polluting lands and exploiting female work forces in countries less fortunate than ours.

Finally, to top it all up, a progressive retail decline and way too much competition (explore your city centre and count how many crop white t-shirt are out there) led to bursting inventories and substantial falls in sales. 

Storing unsold pieces (or excess fabrics) is expensive, and with the lowering of consumer spending, it's something fashion brands cannot afford. So what do they do? Landfill or incineration. It is simple and much cheaper, FOR THEM. But not for our environment and our future. Never heard about it? They hide it, of course, for as long as they can! And it's not only fast-fashion brands. 

 

So because we know this issue inside out (read why in the About Us) we believe waste is a problem that must be tackled in fashion, and we must do it now. That's why we do what we do by recycling, re-inventing, re-using this deadstock. Read down here to know how.

FABRICS AND MATERIALS

We design and produce collections depending on what "waste" we find. We don't source anything new and we do it locally. We prefer to use fabrics and garments that are at least 80% from natural fibres, so we don't contribute to micro-plastic pollution in our oceans. 

The materials/garments we use MUST be from one of the following categories:

Offcuts or Production Waste: textile scraps generated during garment manufacturing. It is considered waste and is discarded due to its uneven and small formats; For example, we made an hair accessories collection with Lois Hazel's production offcuts.
End of Rolls or Remnants: are factory surplus textiles that have been left over from garment manufacturing, usually small meterage of a fabric that is not enough to produce more garments; For example we often buy them from Silk World for a reduced price. 
Damaged Textiles: are textiles that are damaged for example with colour or print defects, stains or holes; Fore example we often buy them from Silk World for a reduced price.
Deadstock Fabrics: are textiles that factories or designers deem as no longer needed after producing a collection and might be destined to landfill; For example the latest collection has been done with deadstock from Jason Grech.
Unsold Clothing or accessories: refer to the inventory that doesn’t sell and doesn’t have a high likelihood of selling in the future and might be destined to landfill. For example there are a lot of closing down stores (that we intercept from The Second Edit - FB Group) where we buy products that we resell either as they are or modified, like claw clips or sweatshirts. 

MANUFACTURING (REMAKE)

We produce small, capsule collections, using local seamstresses or simply the founder herself, Stella. We also do a lot of dyes, always locally and in small batches to guarantee maximum quality and exclusivity. We try to make as much styles to order. We can do it with minimum delay for the customer and ship Express with short waiting period. If a style doesn't sell well we don't produce it so we can re-use the fabric or garment for other products/collections. This is another way to minimise waste for our own production.

PACKAGING AND LABELS

We use home compostable packaging from Hero Packaging. We also re-use off-cuts or calico for labels and other packaging elements. Everything else we need to buy new, only if we need, we prefer to buy recycled. For example our business cards are made by recycled cotton from t-shirt offcuts. Wood props and small fixtures we use for the market are either second-hand or built using recycled wood from pallets. 

COLLABORATIONS

In addition of being a B2C business, we also collaborate with local brands so they can recycle their own waste and re-sell it. Our most fruitful collaboration is with Nique Clothing and tie-dyes we do for them. We of course wish to collaborate with as much likeminded brands as possible!