As we told you in the previous article, at the time of writing this article, it is the Fashion Revolution Week 2020, whose goal is to raise awareness of the social and environmental impact of their textile purchases, and encourage brands to be more committed and transparent.
We would now like to tell you about us, our brand, our values, our clothes, our suppliers. To summarize, why and how we make Animoz grow.
Since the creation of the brand, we have decided to focus our development around 4 values:
Respect Animals program
Created to help the animal cause, our "Respect Animals" program is dedicated to supporting various projects working for animal protection.
Several initiatives have been put in place for this purpose:
- 3% for animals: 3% of the profits we make are collected to ensure a sustainable resource for the program.
- The creation of capsule collections: limited edition collections of clothing, half of the profits of which are allocated to the program.
- The sale of exclusive goodies of which the totality of the profits are donated to the program.
Since 2018, already 1750 euros have been donated thanks to the program's funds.
Hemp, our new ecological material
At Animoz, we decided a few months ago to turn to an undeniably ecological material: hemp.
Indeed, hemp is mainly satisfied with natural rainfall and does not require any artificial watering, nor does it require any chemical product or fertilizer.
As an example, it takes more than 2500 liters of water to make a cotton t-shirt, our solution: use hemp to considerably reduce our water consumption.
In addition to its benefits for the planet, hemp also has technical and sanitary properties that surpass those of cotton: durable and resistant, this material absorbs humidity and has insulating and thermoregulating properties. Moreover, thanks to its anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties, hemp fights against bad odors.
Combining hemp with organic cotton or recycled polyester results in a softer and more comfortable fabric. We will introduce you to these materials in a future article.
No plastic challenge
All plastics are harmful to the planet. Non-viable plastic alternatives have been created, but these require complex and rare recycling methods. In addition, industrial composting is usually required to mass process biobased alternatives.
Biodegradable plastics, on the other hand, only partially disappear and contaminate the soil and the oceans.
Faced with this fact, reducing our consumption of plastic has become a necessity. We now use kraft envelopes for the packaging and shipping of small orders, and cardboard boxes for the shipping of larger orders. This is a sustainable and recyclable solution.
The packaging we use is FSC certified. This environmental label ensures the sustainable management of forest resources.
The SA8000 standard
We have selected our manufacturing partner located in Dongguan, China, because it meets the requirements of the SA8000 social standard, supervised by the NGO "SAI" (Social Accountability International).
The 9 commitments :
- No child labor: No children are employed and young workers (15 to 18 years old) are protected.
- No forced labor: The employer does not abuse his power. Workers are free to resign when they wish.
- Disciplinary procedures: Workers are treated with dignity, no physical or moral punishment is tolerated.
- Controlled working hours: The working hours must not exceed the laws in force. As well as overtime.
- Freedom of association: Employees are free to form or join a union to defend their rights.
- No discrimination: Discriminatory practices and behaviors in any form are banned.
- Health and safety policy: Workers operate in a safe and healthy environment to avoid accidents.
- A decent salary: The remuneration allows the employee to live decently. It is higher than the minimum amount required by law.
- Compliance with the standard: An internal team communicates and ensures that the company's policies comply with the requirements of the SA8000 standard.
Working with a certified factory allows us to ensure compliance with regulations and good working conditions.
These various initiatives allow us to offer you products that respect the planet and the people who work for us. But there is still a long way to go and we are now at the beginning of our process. This desire to broaden our commitments began only a year ago during the development of our Winter 2019 collection and we are working hard to further improve our practices and affect all our products. It is a process of continuous improvement that we have started to be, in time, as ethical as possible.
We end this article with a big thank you! Thank you for following us in this adventure, it is because you adhere to our values and buy our products that we can continue to evolve in this direction.
