SUSTAINABILITY AND HOW WE ARE MADE
OUR JOURNEY AND WHERE WE ARE MADE
Who makes our clothing and where do we manufacture?
Our ethos is to make beautiful high end garments by happy and highly skilled employees, sourced with the environment in mind. We start this process from first idea to finished product.
Our journey;
After designing the collection and deciding on materials (read more below
) it was time to reach out for samples. Luckily, with 20 years of experience comes lots of contacts and connections and I was able to short list a number of candidates
to manufacture our debut collection. I reached out to 10 factories all over the world from England to China to begin the sampling process.
If you have ever endeavoured to develop a production process before, you will understand the difficulty of finding a partnership that honours your personal and professional values,
provides high quality product and is able to meet you financial budget amongst many other things.
Some factories said no to us because of low quantities, some accepted my designs but failed to provide a good service or understanding of sustainable practices,
some provided samples that were of lackluster quality, and some provided samples that were of such astronomical prices that even Jeff Bezos would hesitate to commit to.
Disappointingly, the factories we reached out to in the UK failed to respond to us and some were unwilling to take a chance on a new company placing a small first order.
Also working in the UK has its problems, low skills and machinery, imported trims and fabrics and finding a UK manufacturer with a high level of skills in making clothing is very difficult.
Then we had a break through. A factory I had previously worked with provided a sample that brought my designs to life in a way I had always hoped for -Beautiful in every way. Okay granted some changes were needed, but such is the process.
They have strong work ethics, they completely got what we were about as a brand, practice sustainable and ecological methods, source fabrics and trims local to the factory and the workmanship is absolutely, remarkable.
The garments are made beautifully and with passion as much as we have for our designs. They have a wonderful, happy and dedicated team of employees. They believe happy staff makes happy clothing. Our sentiments exactly.
Together, we were able to refine the garments, working together to ensure the conscious detailing and quality were created to our high standard in a fair and safe working environment.
Why we manufacture in China.
Before the birth of Keko Studio, I worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years. Throughout those years I visited many factories around the world while I worked with several brands that manufactured in a variety of countries.
When it came to developing the Keko Studio manufacturing process I needed to review all of my previous experiences, in order to make a decision that best suited our brand and aligned with our environmental, societal and political philosophy.
Our Our Chinese manufacturers :
Our Our Chinese manufacturers produce high end quality intricate detailed products.
We work with high quality fabric mills local to our factory which have Oeko Tex certification
-(a bit about what this means: STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certified products have been tested for harmful substances to protect your health.
This label certifies that every component of the product, from the fabric to the thread and accessories, has been rigorously tested against a list of up to 350 toxic chemicals.)
Our woven factory is women owned and highly skilled.
The factories are audited and measure their environmental impact and have they also have a wonderful, happy and dedicated team of employees. They feel like family.
It is highly likely you already own one of these products or perhaps aspire to. Companies known for their high quality.
Our Chinese factories have access to local trims, fabric mills and print houses. From zips and buttons to labels and trims, everything is within driving distance.
This concentration of components allows companies like us to choose from a huge network of factories and suppliers depending on quality and philosophy.
Chinese factories have better access to everything during the production cycle than most other factories around the world do.
Our manufacturing is always under constant review. We must continue to examine the environmental, political, societal, and financial impact of this decision regularly and with upmost attention to detail.
Our journey to deciding on a partnership with a manufacturer in China has been a long one, and one that we are committed to improving and developing as we grow. We are working with what we feel is the best and the best factories.
Our pledge:
We started our manufacturing journey with the commitment that we try to keep our impact on the planet as low as possible.
We promise this will always be our philosophy, we know we can’t be perfect -especially when we are just starting out on our journey but we are totally commitment to making a difference.
We believe small steps make big changes.
We have gone to great lengths to make sure our supply chain uses the best environmentally conscious materials and methods we can. This starts at the very beginning of the design process to the final finished product.
We don’t use plastic garment bags! We don’t use plastic tags, hangers, bags or tape!
Many companies use recycled or compositable plastic bags to ship the products in we don’t want to do this. Did you know those plastic bags that are recycled plastic can’t be re-recycled?
And compositable means it still goes in landfill.
A lot of companies use bags from their factories and remove them (more landfil) and wrap your products in tissue when they get to you?! Sorry no naming…just shaming!
Our garments come in beautiful natural or viscose fabric bags, which can be reused and repurposed.
Our packaging is recycled or recyclable paper, tape is wasai tape and our tissue is paper. We will always continue to try to find new and less impactful ways to work.
Fabric sourcing:
We source and use fabrics that have a better impact on the planet then that of mass production. We use natural fabrics such as cottons, silks, natural yarns, and wools and we also use eco fabrics that have less impact such as viscose and rayon.
We try to not use plastic and that means polyester!!
We dislike polyester with a passion but it’s one of the most commonly used materials in fashion. Again, recycled polyester it also can’t be recycled…so it ends when you have worn and finished with it.
However, have used recycled polyester only on our leggings as this fabric is most suitable for this type of garment. We have used a high quality eco sourced
base but we have made the legging reversible, so you get more wear out of it, it is digitally printed having a much better impact on the environment on how it was printed and the use of water made to create the print.
We will also offer a upcycle or repurpose option in the future. Where we can change the garments into something else or page on our site or vinted where you can sell on your garment
if you are finished with it so someone else can enjoy it. We also plan to do this with any stock we may have that gets damaged or faulty. For example, we could make the leggings into cycling shorts or a dress into a skirt. Reducing any waste and finding another use.
We design our products to be worn many ways but also adaptable, you will find collars that are detachable and adjustable necklines so they can be worn differently.
Giving the garment more life and wearability in your wardrobe.
We also sell our good quality samples or give to our wonderful staff so they can be enjoyed and not wasted.
All our packaging is sourced from natural materials or recycled/recyclable. We use recycled tissue paper, non coated papers and labels. No plastic mailing bags! We use brown kraft bags and boxes.
Our washcare labels are made of cotton not plastic…you may cut it off if you wish but no plastic used here. Polyester or plastic based labels is something most companies use here and we usually cut this out of our garments..where does it go? We feel this might be a small step but it’s a great one.
We use eco and sustainable delivery methods offering a greener delivery in electric vehicles or use renewable biofuel.
We strive to do a part and hope to improve on everything we do as we grow.
We would love to hear any new methods or ideas you may have on how we can improve our environmental impact.
Please do get in touch.
Lots of Love
Keko Studio x