OUR ETHOS
OUR ETHICAL AND SUSTAINABILITY ETHOS
At Emperors’ we work hard to live by our core values, we believe that the fashion industry should be transparent, sustainably produced and inclusive in its representation of every part of society.
We are always striving to do better to lessen the environmental impact of our clothing production. We provide a safe + supportive working environment for our employees. So that The Emperor’s Old Clothes brand + the products we produce are as sustainable, inclusive and as accessible as possible. We always try our best but don’t claim to be perfect on any of these fronts and value constructive feedback from our customers, followers + peers.
SOCIAL IMPACT
Sustainable fashion isn’t just an environmental issue – it’s a societal issue too. Fashion is so firmly embedded within our everyday lives, we all want to look and feel good in the clothes we wear.
However, as consumers we have become complicit in the exploitation of the predominantly Black and Brown female, garment workers when brands outsource their production and we buy and wear these clothes. A huge proportion of garment workers are paid far below a living or even minimum wage, many forced into labour, often in unsafe working environments breaching their basic human rights. Our business model is very different here at The Emperor’s Old Clothes but we use our brand as a platform to raise awareness of these fashion industry issues and pride ourselves on being advocates for change.
So, who makes our clothes?
Every one of our garments is created on site by our small team in our Brighton + Hove studio in the UK. We pay our team members a living wage and invest in our local community with free sewing traineeships to encourage the continuation of our craft.
We believe in inclusivity and responsible advertising.
This includes being transparent about who makes your clothes across our marketing. It is also means catering to people of different sizes, ethnicities, genders, ages and abilities and representing people within these different intersections in our marketing too. We don’t claim to be perfect at this by any means – but we are consciously working towards these goals. If you don’t see yourself represented we would love your feedback.
The positive impact of the fashion industry can’t just be left down to ‘consumer choice’.
It’s not a choice if you don’t know what is happening behind the scenes of the products you buy, it’s not a choice if you’re not catered to because of your race, size, age, gender, disability, it’s not a choice if the ‘ethical’ options aren’t made more affordable or at least more financially accessible.
We are working to make our corner of sustainable fashion as financially accessible as possible for our customers without compromising on our living wage ethos or the quality of our products. We have introduced payment plans so customers can spread the cost of our ready to wear and design your own garments across 2-6 months rather than having to pay in full up front.
In small or big steps these ‘choices for consumers’ are things that as brand owners we can each affect within our individual businesses + together as an industry. In all of these ways we are doing our part in trying to change the future of fashion.
LIVING WAGE
We are so proud to be a living wage employer in the UK.
This means that each member of our team is paid the living wage or higher for Brighton & Hove. This includes our seamstresses, marketing assistants and models.
Unusually for our industry we also ensure that our core team are salaried. This means no zero hour contracts, no being paid ‘per items sewn’. We set an hourly rate and have clear contracts in place so everyone knows where they stand. This may seem obvious for those who work 9-5 but this is very unusual in the fashion industry, especially in garment production.
We believe employers have a responsibility to be transparent, to invest in their teams and to ensure job security to the best of their ability.
Despite being small we have centred these values so they are firmly in place as we grow.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Running a business sustainably is at the heart of what we do and that means working in a radical way to minimise our environmental impact.
We work with limited amounts of vintage + deadstock fabrics because we are dedicated to using up what already exists rather than adding to new textile production. We are working to make our entire supply chain including haberdashery as transparent as possible, working with local manufacturers where we can to lessen the overall carbon footprint of all our products.
We have a strict zero fabric waste policy in our Brighton studio.
All our garments are made from end of roll fabrics, the remnants created during the cutting of our garments go to making our accessories and the tiny leftover scraps are either donated to local craft projects, textile recycled or made into scrap kits so you can take part in the handmade joy and get crafty at home.
We are proud to be working with RePack to provide an innovative circular packaging system. Want to know more?
