SUSTAINABILITY ROADMAP
a hope that fashion need not come at a negative price…
At HMade Collective, we are building our commitments in every dimension of our DNA, reimagining the ways in which we help solve the fashion industry’s some of the most challenging problems.
With each of our initiatives, we are trying to bridge the gap between Sustainable Development Goals and factual consumer behavior, across the most consuming demographics - populating on a range of issues that our changed consumption practices could effect, such as Ethical manufacturing, Fair Pay, Climate Change, Circular Economy & Communities First.
Sustainability in fashion, starts with design - which is key in creating value for all stakeholders from the textile weavers, to the tailors and eventually to the end consumers - You.
At HMade Collective, we believe that the ethics of fair pay and fair trade, aren’t a fad, but a way of life, which we all must aim to incorporate for our future generations. We are committed to creating an eco-system, where all our stakeholders can grow sustainably, but most importantly, our growth doesn’t create a negative price on the fashion we create OR on our environment !
For optimal impact, we are focussing on three key connected areas -
Sustainable Design
To encourage circularity in fashion
Ethical Manufacturing Practices
Ensure workers rights are respected and supply chains function ethically.
Responsible Consumption
Encourage slow fashion & create solutions for end of life garments and textiles.
Sustainable Design
We believe sustainable designs come from mindful creators, whose bigger picture consists of ethical consumption as opposed to profits that need to grow exponentially. Gro Harlem Brundtland, in her report for the UN, rightly said that “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising on the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
Per the McKinsey Global Fashion Index (MGFI), the global fashion industry contributed almost 5% of the global GDP in 2019, responsible for 10% (62 million tons) of annual global carbon emissions - more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined! Certainly these are unsustainable numbers which are only bound multiply, unless we, as end consumers begin to make more conscious decisions about our purchase behavior.
Another key issue, to demand transparent sustainability in this industry is workers right and their safety, because the true cost of fast fashion, isn’t paid by us - the consumers, but the workers, further deteriorating their living conditions and future economical growth. So to achieve this trifecta, we must strive to purchase clothing made from environmentally friendly textiles, demand that the artisans who make these textiles are paid fair wages and the workers who make our clothes work in human conditions and with fair pay.
And this is where we as consumers can take back the power, by demanding brands and designers to start applying sustainability at the start of the design - using long-lasting, ethically made and fair pay priced textiles, diluting the one time use policies of fast fashion. We all know that almost 95% of post-consumer textiles are recyclable, but choosing to avoid blended textiles are a small step towards incorporating more recyclability into our post-consumer textile waste.
Sustainable Design at HMade Collective
We create our clothes with a holistic perspective of sustainability, which goes much more further beyond the key pillars of sustainable practices, onto the realm of extending a garment’s life and usability with mindful designing. We choose to create timeless styles, as opposed to following current trends, in our design philosophy, so that long after a fad is gone, you can continue to enjoy your HMade Collective design. Our textiles are all 100% organic and are easily biodegradable and recyclable.
All our individual designs are such that you can pair them with existing designs in your closet - after all, that is the entire idea behind HMade Collective. We aim at designing our future collections, to fit with our pieces from our current collection, such that there can be options for a cohesive capsule wardrobe, enhancing the adaptability of our individual designs.
Ethically Sourced
The textiles we use are sourced from artisan weavers, still operating their craft from handlooms or compliance coherent manufacturing units who have employed these artisans & trained them to work on power looms, at fair pays.
Furthermore, we use textiles, with minimum ecological impact, and those that are much easily biodegradable, should you feel like doing so, at the end of the garment lifecycle. But beyond ensuring a low environmental impact of the textiles we choose, we are much focussed on creating value within our suppliers, which is why we spent over six months in research to build such supply chain, bit by bit.
Fair Pay
Workers rights are key to our DNA and we are commuted to building this social value into our business model. Our garments are made by our tailors, who have been employing their skills professionally for over two decades now & operate from their independent small units, whilst also employing and training additional artisans to enable the efficient production of our inventory.
These artisans have been working with our Founder - Aditi Rangray for over a decade, over small creative projects and trunk shows, and they have all developed a seamless way of interacting and working on projects, much like an equal footing team than a business. So our prices would reflect our efforts to provide a fair compensation to all our stakeholders, including our customers.
Redesign & Up-Cycled
We believe sustainable design is good design, which effectively starts at conceptualization - key of which is avoiding blended textiles, which pose challenges in the recycling processes. The most basic ideology, we believe, is in using ecologically efficient textiles such as Linen & Hemp, as well as textiles made from fruit and vegetable waste such as pineapples, bananas, oranges etc., which are easily biodegradable and are gaining momentum in this evolving landscape.
To that effect, all our garments can either be returned to us, when you feel you no longer wish to use them, and we would either put them into our “Pre-loved” collection or We will up-cycle them into something exciting (depending on the condition of the textile) AND OR you can choose to easily biodegrade our 100% organic textiles, in easy compost processes.
Our Environmental Partnerships
One Tree Planted is a 501C3 non-profit environmental charity with a focus on global reforestation. We work with amazing partners in North America, South America, Asia, and Africa to get trees in the ground and restore forests after fires and floods, create jobs, build communities, and protect habitat for biodiversity.
Planting trees remains one of the best ways to reduce global carbon emissions. The average mature tree is capable of sequestering 48 lbs of carbon each year. As global deforestation continues, reforestation projects are planting trees that will clean the air we breathe for years to come.
We care deeply about the planet and creating a business that gives back to nature. That’s why we’re thrilled to share that we’re partnering with One Tree Planted to plant a tree for every product sold on our website. Trees clean our air and water, create habitats for biodiversity, contribute to our health and wellbeing, and create jobs for social impact. We’re honored to have reforestation through One Tree Planted as an integral part of our business model.
A Note from our Founder
As we live & grow in these unique times, we have the luxury to exercise our vote and choose sustainable fashion, not because it seems to be trending, but because it’s a holistic view of fashion - right from the designing to the manufacturing & retailing processes. Fashion can truly become sustainable, when we - the end consumers, understand that our choices benefit the people & communities involved in making it and this happens at a low ecological cost.
I urge you to choose & shop consciously, demanding the brands you shop from, to create transparent values in their processes, that their workers are protected with health, safety and human rights. Our choices today, can build a healthy culture of sustainable consumption, creating a value chain of fair trade and fair pay, across communities that heavily depend on this industry for their livelihoods and some for even the survival of their art forms.
Welcome to our community of conscious shoppers !