Popsugar gets green in this sexy Earth Day gift guide featuring our new Come Out and Play babydoll, made of sustainable micro-modal with Made in USA lace trim and manufactured right here in NYC it’ll cut your top drawer’s ecological footprint down to “earth hugger”.
Between the Sheets: our vision of sustainability
Here we go with Past 4 in my ongoing series on sustainable fashion and the connections between fashion and the environment. For those of you just joining the conversation catch up on Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. When I’m not working on BTS with Layla I have a day job working as an environmental lawyer. This ongoing series of posts focuses on sustainability in fashion and why supporting fair wages and made in the USA fashion is so important. These topics are near and dear to Layla and I and bring together my BTS and environmental lawyer worlds. Join in the conversation in the comments or make suggestions for future posts on sustainable manufacturing and fashion. Hope you enjoy!
Part 4: Between the Sheets: our vision of sustainability
It was announced recently that a group of major apparel companies, not for profits, and academic institutions have come together to form the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. The goal of the coalition is to develop “a comprehensive database of the environmental impact of every manufacturer, component and process in apparel production, with the aim of using that information to eventually give every garment a sustainability score.” This sustainability score would give consumers a new way to evaluate the sustainability of their purchases and support companies who develop more sustainable garments.
Seeing the apparel industry as a whole grapple with the sustainability challenges posed by a large multi-faceted global supply chain and the trade-offs and sacrifices that have been made in the name of profit highlights the decisions that all companies must make to develop apparel for market. These are the issues that I discussed in Part 1 of this series on the environmental cost of fast fashion and in Part 3 on the economic and labor issues that plague the apparel industry.
As a small nimble apparel business Between the Sheets has set out to make decisions that support the three pillars of sustainability: society, environment, and the economy. While we don’t have a “sustainability score” for our loungewear and lingerie lines we have given a tremendous amount of thought to the decisions that we’ve made to launch the line and our business. We also have made a commitment to be transparent with our customers and give the reasoning and tradeoffs (if any) of the decisions we make every day.
Starting any business involves making hundreds, maybe thousands of decisions that all come together to shape a company’s vision, path, and direction. To launch an apparel line involves even more decisions as there are countless pieces of the puzzle that all must come together from the fabrics and trims that are used to the way that pieces are manufactured, to how product is sold, stored, and shipped. Each one of these decisions must be carefully considered as the future success and sustainability of the business depends on a cohesive and well thought out plan as well as making the right decisions along the way.
In making the thousands of decisions that all came together to launch Between the Sheets Layla and I didn’t set out explicitly with the goal of creating an “eco-friendly” brand or to market ourselves as green. But from the outset we both had a passion for creating a business that would make beautiful and high quality loungewear and lingerie the right way, in the US where workers are protected by minimum wage laws and harsh sweatshop working conditions are illegal, and to make choices that do our part to protect the environment. Along the way Layla chose many fabrics with inherently eco-friendly properties and decided to work with suppliers who are based in the US as much as possible. This was done as part of a conscious effort to support our local economy, but had the added benefit of reducing lead times and saving shipping fees.
Layla and I both come from entrepreneurial families who have worked hard to build small businesses in the US. We bring this passion to our model of local sustainably focused business. Manufacturing was once the largest economic engine in this country. With so many industries moved overseas and the skills that once drove these industries disappearing it is more important than ever to support and rebuild local manufacturing businesses in a sustainable way.
In many ways we have passed through a technological revolution and find ourselves moving into an ecological one, in which the ethical and ecological ways in which we have grown are now being questioned. So the answers for a sustainable tomorrow will not be found overseas, but right here, in our backyard, through sustainable manufacturing that supports the economy, our society, and the environment.
For all the details of what makes Between the Sheet sustainable including all the details on the fabrics that we use, how we manufacture our line, how we store and ship orders, and our efforts to support the local economy check out the sustainability statement posted on our website.
Labor and economics-the true cost of a T-shirt
Hey everyone. Here is the third in my ongoing series on sustainable fashion and the connections between fashion and the environment. For those of you just joining the conversation catch up on Part 1 and Part 2. When I’m not working on BTS with Layla I have a day job working as an environmental lawyer. This ongoing series of posts focuses on sustainability in fashion and why supporting fair wages and made in the USA fashion is so important. These topics are near and dear to Layla and I and bring together my BTS and environmental lawyer worlds. Join in the conversation in the comments or make suggestions for future posts on sustainable manufacturing and fashion. Hope you enjoy!
What is the true cost of a T-shirt, the cost of the bargain of fast fashion? Part 1 of this series explored the environmental impact of the apparel industry and cheaply produced throw-away garments. In this third installment the focus will shift to another hidden cost of fast fashion, the human cost. When companies move garment production overseas in search of cheap labor, the cost is often born out in wages that are not enough to live on, deplorable working conditions, and harsh worker treatment.
At its most basic level the cost of any product breaks down to the cost of raw materials and the cost of labor to transform the raw materials into the final product (this sets aside the cost of marketing, research and development, etc.).
In many cases companies may not have very much control over the cost of raw materials, but do have a choice over how much they pay their workers and the conditions at the factory where the product is made. The drive to keep labor costs down has forced many mass-market apparel companies (and even some smaller companies) to shift their labor overseas or in some cases move their production around the globe from country to country in order to keep prices low and profits high.
In many overseas countries the laws do not provide the same type of protection for garment industry workers that we have here in the US and sweatshop conditions, and child labor are common. A recent report from the UK organization Labour Behind the Label found that many factories in India supplying leading UK retail chains had deplorable working conditions. They described workers as living “in a ‘climate of fear’ characterized by poverty wages, violence and denial of basic rights…”
The TV series “Blood Sweat & T-Shirts” is an eye opening look into the garment factories (and cotton fields, and mills) of India. In the show privileged fast-fashion lovers from the UK are taken to work in the factories and fields and see the conditions for themselves. Workers in India leave their families for months at a time to toil for meager pay in the fields, the cotton mills, and in factories in the slums. The worst factories are dingy, dark, and hot. Workers are almost like slaves-working for long hours constantly fearing for their health and safety and earning nothing close to a living-wage.
Even though the use of sweatshops primarily happens overseas there have been a few high profile cases of US sweatshops being used for well known fast fashion brands. What these instances have in common with foreign abuses is a desire to produce cheap mass-market apparel and maximize profits. In a recent article in business week about the rapid rise of Forever 21-this fast fashion juggernaut’s labor history was brought to light.Although much of Forever 21’s clothing is now made overseas at one point a substantial amount of their manufacturing took place in LA. In 2001 a lawsuit was filed on behalf of workers at a Forever 21 sewing contractor, alleging sweatshop conditions. The case was settled for 4 million, with Forever 21 claiming ignorance of the conditions at the factory. The ridiculous nature of this claim was summed up perfectly by the lawyer who represented the workers.
“It’s impossible to claim ignorance when the problem is so rampant,” said Attorney Julie Su. “Forever 21 is not a victim of the industry. They create and demand these conditions. They squeeze their suppliers and make it necessary for them to get things done as quickly and cheaply as possible, no matter what the cost to the workers.” The documentary “Made in LA” chronicles the fight that these workers went through to expose Forever 21 and win fare wages and humane working conditions for themselves and their fellow workers.
While Forever 21 is undoubtedly not the only apparel company to be accused of using sweatshop labor in the US, because of our labor laws and government crack downs there are far fewer sweatshops in this country. In New York, one of the major center’s for garment manufacturing in the US, there is a sweatshop task force that all manufactures must register for. For a company like Between the Sheets this means that if we had employees we would need to have workers compensation and disability insurance and provide proof of proper insurance to the labor task force. We are also required to only work with contractors who are registered.
Despite the movement of garment industry jobs overseas there are still companies who keep their manufacturing in the US and do their production in an ethical way. In the lingerie world Hanky Panky is a notable one. Fair wages, humane working conditions, and supporting/rebuilding the local economy are all reasons to support these companies who are keeping the US garment industry alive.
The take away is that it is important to care where your clothing comes from. As consumers we vote with our wallets and this vote can change the world. Start by supporting local businesses-ones who are nimble and can make a quality product here in the US at a fair price, while creating local jobs and supporting fair wages. If you do buy clothing from a fast fashion chain–consider only buying from stores with a stated corporate policy against sweatshops and a history of actually following that policy. The truth is that consumer voice and buying power changes corporate behavior. When consumers started demanding green products Walmart recognized a business opportunity and became a leader in sustainability. By the same token if enough consumers demand “fair trade” clothing that is made by workers paid a living wage (or made in the US) this could change the way that big apparel companies do business.