How and where the clothes are produced is another aspect to be considered when aiming at creating a sustainable fashion label.  There is no simple answer what is sustainable and what not in this respect. Below we describe our choices.

The first principle and ambition of WBYDB is to ensure that our garments are produced in a safe and sound working environment with people receiving a good remuneration for their work. 

The second principle we consider an important factor is the distance between where the clothes will be sold and where they are produced. Ideally we would like to produce where we sell our clothes to limit the carbon footprint and support local economies. A secondary effect of the local production is a smooth quality control and no need to send the garments back and forth in case any corrections are needed.

Currently our production is located in the Netherlands. We run here small batch productions where every garment is receiving a lot of attention. We believe that the fair remuneration received by the employees is something that WBYDB really wants to contribute to. The current highly competitive sector’s business model is based on low production costs, including the low price of labour. We would like to see it to become different: we believe that one of the highest benefits should be received by people making the garments. It means, however, a change in sector's pricing formula and a change in how the profit is being made by the participants of the entire supply chain (fashion labels, production ateliers and their employees, retailers etc). In the next blog we would like to talk a bit more about the current pricing formula in the fashion world and what does it mean for the supply chain participants.

The second principle is not yet something we implemented fully in our productions. It is related to the fact that the garments we produce for the overseas markets are still limited. Our ambition when selling on the Japanese and the US market is to have a local production in Asia and Northern America. It means, however, that some proper due diligence will need to be performed in the local ateliers to ensure that the conditions in which the atelier employees are working and their remuneration are good, among others.