Impact of fashion

Fashion is the second largest, most polluting industry in the world. The many steps in the garment production cycle incited by the unsustainable fast fashion model, from the harvesting of raw materials, to the treatment, dyeing and finishing of textiles, their eventual dumping into landfills that are now overflowing with decades of discarded trends and the near slavery conditions imposed on the millions of garment workers worldwide, are, collectively, a silent killer that continues to leave deep scars on the planet.

We believe spreading the knowledge of what happens behind the closed doors of the fashion industry should be an important part of what we do, so here are some introductory tidbits that have helped shape the new wave of conscious consumerism:

In a world where over a billion people don't have access to safe water and counting, the fashion industry uses approximately 1000 gallons of water to produce a single pair of jeans and 700 gallons for a single t-shirt.

A lack of waste management means hazardous chemicals used to dye and treat fabrics are released into ouroceans, slakes, rivers and potable water resources. The World Bank estimates that 20% of urban drinking water is contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals.

Just to put that in perspective, the estimated number of synthetic chemicals that are used worldwide to turn raw materials into textiles run in the 8000, including chlorine, PFC's, lead and mercury.

Million tons of textile waste are dumped in landfills each year in the US alone, an amount which has doubled in the past 40 years. Coincidentally, we consume 400% more clothes than we did only 20 years ago with the rise of fast fashion.

Human rights violations run rampant. Garment factories have been found to impose harsh, unsafe and inhumane conditions on their workers for a measly pay that s well below minimum wage, on top of child labor, use of illegal workers and mistreatment of women.

ETHICS OF LUXURY

Globalization and the infiltration of the fast fashion model and its values into the fashion industry have usurped the ethics and practices in the luxury sphere that have existed for centuries. Feeling the pressure of their fast fashion competitors, luxury brands have collectively dropped their standards and with them, the very thing that defines luxury. Luxury brands have been found to invest a lot in heritage branding, whilst simultaneously producing cheaply and unethically on the sly by shifting production facilities to underdeveloped countries with no transparency, using complex networks of multiple tiered supply chains where unethical practices easily go unnoticed, importing cheap and illegal migrant workers, swapping time old artisanal methods with faster, mass production processes, and exploiting legal loopholes - all whilst furiously upping prices.

If there's one thing we've learnt, it's that speed means cutting corners. We understand that times are hard for brands that do the right thing as we've all become used to seeing cheap, discardable products in stores and online - but that doesn't condone dishonesty and hiding behind false perceptions of heritage and luxury, to the ultimate detriment of the consumer.

This is why we support emerging designers that do things right - that source where they say they source and produce where they say they produce. We're not perfect and we still have a long way to go, but that's why they say it's all about the journey. We believe that if we're open and honest about how products are made, then people have a real choice in what they consume and what they ultimately want to support.

SO WHY LINGERIE?

Lingerie is the first item we put on before anything else - the closest tangible thing to come into contact with our skin, and the most significant item in the modern world that truly and exclusively embodies femininity. That being said, we thought there was nowhere more relevant to focus our energies on reigniting modern concepts of true luxury, in a place where women could feel up close and more importantly, first hand, the values and hard work that so many young designers around the world are bringing back to the fashion industry.