SUSTAINABILITY
The true cost of clothing is very well documented since the 90s however it is easily ignored.
Profits are always chosen over the welfare of workers, animals and the environment.
Profits are always chosen over the welfare of workers, animals and the environment.
The drive to make our own label was to build a company around a philosophy of respect that directly addresses these issues without compromise and of course a deep love of clothing.
Good Vibes, Karma, whatever you want to call it we just want to make and wear clothes that have been made in a good place, we want to surround ourselves with this.
Good Vibes, Karma, whatever you want to call it we just want to make and wear clothes that have been made in a good place, we want to surround ourselves with this.
Our fundamental values are:
only supporting organic agriculture;
- always respecting the people who grow, pick, spin, weave, sew and knit every SONO garment;
- carefully sourcing every element as local as possible, developing long lasting relationships with suppliers who share our same philosophy of respect;
- using wool from suppliers that respect animal welfare;
- avoiding all plastics, polyesters, nylons, polymers and petroleum based solutions;
- keeping waste to a minimum;
- built in longevity to garment construction and design allowing clothes to be worn for decades instead of seasons.
Our garments are sewn by only a few factories and artisans that are all close to our studio here in London and one amazing factory in the Loire Valley, France, with the best practice at every level of technical detail, all seamstresses are fully employed and protected under French employment laws. The relationships have been built slowly over years, we know the names of everyone who makes our clothes and know for sure they are paid fairly.
Our knitwear is knitted by hand or on flatbed machine then linked and finished by hand 38km from our studio by an experienced team of ladies who live and breath knitting.
The yarn for our knitwear is from Biella or the Sesia Valley in Northern Italy. All wool is organic and we try to use as much as possible in the undyed natural shades of the animal. The sheep and alpacas are responsibly farmed and looked after in the most humane and responsible way, the spinning, dying and finishing techniques avoid all chemicals and use 100% renewable energy.
Our cotton is 100% GOTS organic cotton woven in Veneto Italy by a small family business. This includes lining, pocket bags and drawstrings.
Our wool fabric is woven in Tuscany by an artisan and friend.
Our jersey is knitted in Carpi by another small family business using only GOTS organic Wool or cotton.
Our Viscose and Tencel are made from are FSC certified wood (small offcuts from the wood industry in German and Austria is made into a wood pulp then into fibres using a highly efficient, solvent free recycled water technique then spun into light breathable silky yarn) woven for us in Tuscany.
Our buttons are carved from organic corozo nut in Padua and dyed with plant based ecological dyes.
Our zippers are made from recycled brass in Switzerland, free from any harmful galvanisation processes and clean waste water.
Our garments are packed individually in paper bags to be sent to the stores.
We avoid plastic at every level and we try to recycle and reuse what we can.
We always try to not have too much stock and left overs, which is a task in itself as a fashion company.
There are people we learned who have been working for a fairer world since a long time and it is great to see that they stay with their standards which are not for the ultimate growth - they are for a fair product and everyone involved is getting it’s fair share.
We have always been responsible for our environmental footprint and constantly make changes to make sure our garments as sustainable as possible.
In our studio we use 100% renewable energy and try and ship as little back and forwards as possible. In our effort to do better, all our garments are packed by hand in the studio using 100% recyclable, biodegradable and compostable bags. We hope you don't mind receiving your order in a pre-loved box that we already have in our studio. We reuse whatever packaging we can to reduce waste.
For our international orders we always use DHL's 'Go Green Climate Neutral' service.
We are working on reducing our energy as much as possible.
We like being small and individual, to grow slowly.
It is all part of the process and needs a lot of thought, this is also why sometimes the website doesn’t get updated, we can’t do everything super fast, we are only a small team, but we try.