What is Sustainable Clothing?Â
There are many definitions of sustainability when it comes to fashion. One that resonates with us the most is – “A movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity and social justice. Sustainable fashion concerns more than just addressing textiles or products.” – by Kate Fletcher in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys
So how does SmartGlamour commit to sustainability? In a variety of ways! First up – the biggest one – SmartGlamour items are all handmade to order. This means – you don’t order it – it doesn’t get made. Mainstream fashion mass manufactures their garments in huge quantities and then has to sell that stock out. They have giant warehouses full of garments wrapped in plastic bags – awaiting destinations all around the world. When garments go unsold – even at discount prices – they can be thrown out or even burned. All of this is avoided completely by only making what folks ask for. All of our models‘ samples are given to them when they leave a shoot or show – so they are not wasted either.Â
The next focus of our commitment is our fabrics. Not a single SmartGlamour fabric does not already exist before we get it. We do not order any fabric to be made for us – there is already enough fabric to go around! The majority of our fabrics are sourced from discount retailers and deadstock – this means it would be thrown away (without reason) if we didn’t grab it. Additionally – we shop mainly from NYC based small businesses – family owned shops that contribute to their immediate communities. We also do not order dyed to match trims – all our trim is available in the market as is. This may mean that some trim is not an *exact* match to our fabric – but it will always match and look great!
When it comes to our fabric waste – we try to reduce that even further as well. All scrap pieces that are large enough to be used are saved, color organized in our studio, and used for SmartGlamour Surprise items. Pieces that we can not save or use are gathered up and donated to FabScrap – a NYC based non profit that aims to eliminate fashion waste.
Next up – shipping! Your SmartGlamour items will never arrive to you wrapped in unnecessary plastic. When we do wrap items for protection – we use recycled tissue paper – and we do not secure it with a sticker so that you can also re-use it. Additionally – our shipping mailers are made from recycled fibers as well. They have a second adhesive strip so you can reuse them once – and when they have lived their life, they can be recycled with other soft plastics. (We currently have some of our larger size poly mailers left from before we switched to recycled – once they are used up, they will swap to recycled as well.)
For more information on our ethical production and pricing check this page!
