April marks the beginning of our development process, when we begin to lay out the framework for next year's collections. The first step in our design process is to re-evaluate our current sustainability practises, target areas of improvement and set realistic goals for the following year. Consistent re-evaluation enables us to work with our suppliers to develop and source better alternatives to fibre blends and experiment with various manufacturing techniques that reduce our waste. Once we are aware of where we are coming up short, how we can improve, and what options are available to us, we intentionally design and develop our collections to reflect our goals. As we celebrate Earth Day and the start of Fashion Revolution Week, we are sharing where we are today and where we are headed next year.
Highlighted below are our sustainability goals for 2023 pertaining to the use of materials and waste management. We have targeted three main area's of improvement.
- The use of polyamide in our products.
- The use of dyes in our collections.
- Waste management during production and at our workshop.
| Goal | 2022 | 2023 |
| Reduce the use of polyamide in our collections. |
74% of our total annual styles are created using 100% natural fibres. The remaining 26% contain a percentage of polyamide that does not exceed 30%. |
85% of total annual styles are made with 100% natural fibres. The remaining 15% contain a polyamide percentage of 20% or less.
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| Increase the use of un-dyed fibres in our collection. |
21% of our total annual styles are made with 100% un-dyed, natural alpaca and wool fibres. The remaining 79% are dyed with low-impact, OEKO-TEX certified dyes. What is OEKO-TEX certified? |
Increase percentage of un-dyed styles in the collection to 50%. Experiment with botanical and plant dyed fabrics and yarns. |
| Minimize waste generated during the production process. |
85% of our total annual styles are fully fashioned, produced utilizing a manual knitting machine, hand knit or industrially knit. The production waste generated on these styles is 0.6% of total yarn consumption. The remaining 15% of styles are produced via cut & sew method generating a 20% production waste. |
Reduce the number of cut & sew styles in the collection to 10% or less. Strive to reduce waste percentage of cut & sew styles to 15% industry standard by increasing development and production time on these styles at workshop. |
| Develop solutions for un-used yarn at workshop. | Currently, we are able to utilize the majority of our yarn each season to be made into garments. Often, after production closes on a collection, there can be excess, un-used yarn. Generally, this yarn is allocated to sampling future collections or put towards re-orders in season. However, there can still be a small amount of excess yarn that goes un-used. |
Broaden our core fibre library of select, specialty yarns. This will enable us to use and allocate the same yarn to multiple styles and future collections. Align with partner who will facilitate donations of excess yarn annually to female artisan groups living in remote regions of Peru. |
Our annual evaluation allows us to continue to build upon the advances we make each year, and identify area's of improvement. It is our responsibility as a growing sustainable business to lead with transparency and make the best possible decisions for people and planet.