Our Production

One of the most important questions I had to answer myself at the beginning is, of course, where your clothes should be produced.

In the end there were 2 options. Either in Europe, eg Portugal, or in the “classic” countries, such as India or Bangladesh.

In itself, when it comes to sustainability, a very simple decision. India, Bangladesh, etc. all have a very bad reputation and your first thoughts are probably child labour, exploitation and totally unsustainable.

On the other hand, Portugal is increasingly establishing itself as the number 1 production location in Europe for sustainable clothing.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple after all.

WE ARE (CO-) RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SITUATION

Unfortunately, the industrial nations are not innocent of the bad reputation and inhumane conditions in what we call “low-wage countries”.

For years, the large corporations have used these conditions to produce more and more cheaply, which means that working conditions on site have become worse and worse.

And of course we indirectly supported this development through our consumption.

However, after the demand for sustainable products has continued to increase in recent years, you may have noticed that more and more clothing is now being manufactured in the EU, and especially in Portugal. And that's super cool too!

Shorter transport routes and fair working conditions ensure that you can wear your clothes with a clear conscience and that a certain awareness is created on the part of the buyer.

LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK...

In my opinion, however, you have to take a closer look here too. The majority of the organic cotton that is processed here in Europe still comes from India, for example.

So if I look at the total transport routes of the entire production chain, from an ecological point of view it doesn't make much difference whether the organic cotton is grown in India, processed there and then sent to Europe, or whether it is grown in India, sent to Europe and processed here.

For this reason, it must also be ensured during production in Europe that the (imported) raw materials used are provided sustainably at all levels.

In my opinion, therefore, relocating production to Europe will not solve the problems caused by the textile industry in the long term and, above all, it is not fair to the people who have been exploited to the utmost for years to produce our clothes.

Can you imagine someone volunteering to work 16 hours straight in absolutely horrible conditions for a wage that might, if at all, be just enough to survive?

I don't.

However, the people there have no other choice and depend on this work to simply exist.

If production is now increasingly being shifted to other countries, this means even fewer alternatives for finding (better) employment.

Another problem is that in countries like Bangladesh or Myanmar, for example, legal wage increases are introduced, but this also means that many brands simply relocate their production site to Ethiopia, for example, where workers are paid just 26 US dollars / month must - means lower costs and more profits for the corporations. Cool.

This is of course absolute rubbish and means that the fast fashion problem is simply shifting to another country. On top of that, countries that introduce higher wages to ensure better conditions are “punished” and in turn have economic problems as companies leave.

So in the future, changing something will be thought about five times.

In my opinion, we simply have to take responsibility for our actions and work to ensure that there are more regulations, that we create reasonable framework conditions for these people and that we enable them to have a good future and a real life.

That means making a commitment to stay where you are in order to have a positive long-term impact.

In this way, production in developing countries is also good production.

Of course, since it is super difficult to control, there are various organizations and seals that do just that.

For this reason I decided to work with STANLEY / STELLA for the first step of the production.

They have been campaigning for a fundamental change in the textile industry since 2012 and have all the important certifications along the entire production chain.

Only 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton , recycled polyester and other sustainable materials are processed. Fair pay, reasonable working and break times, and healthy working conditions are the minimum for ST/ST.

All ST/ST partner factories also offer bonus payments and benefits that go far beyond the legal minimum. This includes, for example, the assumption of travel expenses, bonuses and higher wage rates.

HERE YOU CAN FIND DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT ST / ST.

In the second step, we only print your clothes after the order has been received in Germany and then send them to you.

In this way we can only produce what is actually ordered and avoid the problem of overproduction.

THINK WELL WHETHER YOU REALLY WANT TO BUY THE ARTICLE.

If you don't want to keep it after you've bought it, that's a pity, of course, but you can of course send it back (check our returns policy here ). We then store the item and use it for the next, identical order.

From this production step, I can check myself again and see that everything is going the way I want it to and that all the rules are being followed.

Therefore, I can tell you with a clear conscience that our partner is also interested in a future that is as sustainable and fair as possible.

The GOTS certification is in progress ( read here what it's all about) and only Oeko Tex certified water-based inks are used for printing.