„Meeting the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs“

Describing sustainability is as easy as that. But adjusting that definition in terms of fashion is much more difficult. For some, it could mean using only sustainable fabrics like organic cotton or plant-based fibers like linen.

For others, it means buying second hand or recycling.

But for us, sustainability means being 100% transparent about the production process.

As well as making timeless garments without damaging the planet or the people making them.

After defining our vision for the brand and our impact on the future, we decided to include a QR patch in all of our designs.

The idea behind this is that, by scanning the QR code, you could see real insight behind the production of your garment.

You would get information about the whole supply chain, the people who made the clothes, where the materials came from, how many pieces were made.

And anything else you would want to know about your clothes that the fashion world might be hiding from you.

I always thought that we already achieved our goal of being sustainable. But I’ve realized that, despite our efforts, we are not quite there yet.

To achieve our goal fully, we would need to track every part of the production process back to its source.

Let me tell you another story. The story of a red t-shirt.

The t-shirt will end up with one of our customers. Many people believe that this process is simple. But this road is way, way longer than we can imagine.

It is also full of questions we have to answer.

It begins at a cotton farm where the material production starts

Here we have to make sure that there was no exploitation of the workers involved.

Even organic cotton can be ethically incorrect if it was produced using forced labor.

Only if the well-being of the workers can be confirmed can this story continue.

Then the next part of the story would take part in the spinning mill that processed the cotton into the cotton fiber that makes up the materials.

Some of the same questions arise here. Are the workers treated as they should be? Could there be any other problems?

Only at the next stop of the journey does the t-shirt become somewhat recognizable.

The fabric manufacturer here turns the previous materials into the red fabric that will make up the piece of clothing. How are the workers being treated here?

The last part of the t-shirts story in the production process starts when the red fabric arrives at the production facility.

If the story is supposed to be a feel-good, happy ending story, then the workers that sew the fabric into the t-shirt have to be treated and paid fairly.

The truth is, most brands only look at this last part of the story when calling themselves sustainable.

But, as you can see, ensuring that a piece of clothing is truly sustainable involves a whole lot of work and looking all the way into the sources of the whole process.

Ignoring just one small part in the chain could make the whole sustainability claim invalid.

The life of a single piece of clothing ends at the hands of the customer, but it begins way, way earlier, not even at the production facility but with the first piece of cotton on that farm.

True sustainability involves 100% transparency and control of the entire supply chain.

And honestly, we are just not there yet when it comes to the control part.

As an emerging and self-funded brand, without some major ties in the industry, it is very difficult and honestly almost impossible to track every single process in the supply chain.

Currently, we only control the highest level of the supply chain by owning the production facility where we have full overview and can make sure that the people who make the clothes are paid and treated fairly.

We reuse unused fabrics from previous collections.

We buy fabrics that are no longer needed, which usually would be burned or go to waste

We buy organic fibers, which we then process into fabrics at a knitting mill we trust.

We make high quality essentials that can be mixed, matched and re-worn for many years after.

Our goal is to own the entire supply chain, from growing our own crops to spinning our cotton to the fibers used to make the fabric to the production facility that turns the fabric into a garment.

We want to be able to tell our own story behind the journey of our clothing.

We are not 100% sustainable as I once thought we were. But we are on our way there. And we will keep you updated.