our supply chain - Ana + Zac

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Our Supply Chain

We design our clothing in Nova Scotia working closely with our team at Raintex, a small vertically integrated textile and clothing manufacturer based in Lima, Peru.

Our Fabrics

We make our clothing from G.O.T.S certified organic and conventional high quality Pima cotton. Organic Pima cotton is the rarest, softest and most durable strain of cotton in the world. Only 1% of the cotton in the world is Pima cotton, and a considerably smaller amount of Pima cotton is certified organic. G.O.T.S organic cotton focuses on chemical and pesticide free farming techniques and is certified by a worldwide leading textile processing standard which you can find more about G.O.T.S here. Our goal is to make 95% of our clothing in organic Pima cotton by 2024.

Pima cotton is arguably the best quality strain of cotton in the world boasting up to a 1 1/2" long fibre, which means the surface of Pima will last years longer than the average natural textile surface. Organic Pima cotton is the rarest, softest and most durable strain of cotton in the world.

Organic cotton uses considerably less water than conventional cotton. According to WWF, conventional cotton uses around 2700 liters of water to produce one shirt, whereas organic cotton only uses 243 liters. Organic farming maintains the health of the soil making it more resilient to extreme weather, such as droughts. Peru has seen a sharp increase in droughts and prolonged dry periods in recent years making it essential to promote the use and manufacturing of organic cotton. 

Why Organic?

One of the main drivers of biodiversity loss is the over-exploitation, pollution and the use of unsustainable agricultural practices. The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, accounting for up to 10% of the global pollution.

Toxic chemicals and pesticides used in the agricultural process strip our soils resulting in the loss of biodiversity. This is why making the conscious choice to buy clothing made of organic cotton rather than conventional, is so important. ⁠

We have been working towards becoming 100% GOTS certified organic despite pandemic and post-pandemic supply issues. We continue to source organic pima cotton from reputable suppliers and develop clothing styles that are designed to make as a small footprint as possible. 

In all transparency, proper research and development takes time, it’s not a quick process and we will continue to work to lessen our footprint. This is one part of the slow fashion model that we continue to build on.

Our Process

Pima cotton fibres are collected from family owned farms outside of Lima, Peru. The fibres are transported to yarn spinning facilities in Lima run by our certified yarn suppliers. The quality yarns are then sent to our local low impact dye house or machine woven into fabric by our manufacturer. Un-dyed ‘greige’ fabrics are sent to our associate dye house and then sent back to our manufacturer to be cut and sewn.

Our fabrics are developed and produced in local machine rental facilities rented by our manufacturers and controlled and run by our in-house trained technicians.

Our garments are cut in-house by our manufacturer, along with all sample sewing. Garment construction is currently outsourced locally and then checked (quality control) and packed by our in-house technicians. 

Once finished and packed in 1/4 of the industry standard in recycled plastic packaging, our deliveries are shipped to our warehouse in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia via Toronto straight from Lima, Peru. We import our clothing via air cargo flying an estimated 35,000 km with a total carbon emissions output of 10,178 CO2 per annum. We pack and ship your orders using 100% compostable mailers from our small warehouse studio in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. 

Inflation

We have all been feeling the effects of inflation. Keeping up with economy-wide inflation has been difficult and we wanted to be transparent with you about our price increases. ⁠

During and post-pandemic, we have dealt with difficulties sourcing raw materials, in particular certified organic yarns, as well as production delays and increases in shipping and transportation costs. 

Staying transparent with our customers is important to us. We are dedicated to maintaining the quality of our clothing by sourcing the finest Pima cotton from Peru and maintaining our close relationships with our Peruvian manufacturers and suppliers.