Frank & Faith > Ethical Fashion
It would be easy for Frank & Faith to manufacture overseas. In a globalised economy, it may even make sound financial sense. But at what real cost.
There are approximately 40 million workers, mainly woman and children, in the global garment and textile trade that pay the price for our love of cheap clothing and fast fashion. They suffer long hours, poor wages, unsafe working conditions, no industrial representation, abuse, harassment and discrimination. This is the true cost of our need for cheap throwaway fashion. These sweatshop conditions are well documented and the only way Frank & Faith felt completely confident that their garments would be made fairly was to manufacture in our home market in the UK.
This enables us to be sure our garments are made fairly, as all manufacturing falls under UK labour laws (including the minimum wage), EU labour directives and International Labour Organization conventions. In addition it is easier for us to visit our factories to assess working conditions on a regular basis. This is something that cannot be done with the use of overseas suppliers without great cost (both economic and environmental).
Frank & Faith support and nurture small factories and businesses in Britain. These are often in areas of deprived communities with high unemployment. The aim of this is to retain specialist skills fast disappearing in the British Isles. This also provides work for people who have trained to do this in the UK. A further benefit is the reduced the environmental cost of transporting raw materials and clothing around the world. Our clothes have significantly less “clothes miles” than garments manufactured in the Far East. Frank & Faith does business with factories based not only on price and margin but also focuses on providing a deeper commitment by working with the factories to grow their capabilities so they are a viable resource for Frank & Faith as well as other brands.
Because we use factories in the UK the amount of garments we can physically make at one time is small. Long gone are the huge clothing factories that use to be the heartland of the north, making thousands of garments a week. Now there are but a few left struggling to compete with the tidal wave of cheap clothing being imported from the Far East every day. This means that our collections are small, limited edition production runs. If you are wearing a Frank & Faith item you are very unlikely to find anyone else wearing the same thing. What you do get is designer clothes at fair prices that you can wear without worrying your conscience.
Organic, Natural & Sustainable
Organic Cotton
Frank & Faith will only ever use 100% organic cotton, sustainable and environmentally friendly yarns such as Hemp, bamboo, wool and Linen when designing and manufacturing their collections.
$2 billion of chemicals are sprayed on the world’s cotton every year, of which at least $819 million are classified “extremely or highly hazardous” by the World Health Organisation. A single drop of the pesticide Aldicarb, absorbed through the skin can kill an adult. Aldicarb is commonly used in cotton production and in 2003 almost 1 million kilos was applied to cotton grown in the USA. Aldicarb is also applied to cotton in 25 other countries. In total, cotton accounts for 16% if global insecticide releases more than any other single crop. Almost 1 kilogram of hazardous pesticides is applied for every hectare of cotton. This pollution leads to at least 1 million agricultural workers worldwide requiring hospital treatment due to acute pesticide poisoning and presents a significant threat to global freshwater supplies.
For more detailed information on the dangers of toxic pesticides in cotton please visit the Pesticide Action Network website.
For more detailed information on human and environmental abuses linked to global cotton production please visit the Environmental Justice Foundation website.
Nature's Fibre
Sheep’s wool is a natural fibre (“nature’s fibre”), unlike synthetics that are made from oil and never rot away. It does not need to be washed as often as synthetics because of its natural ability to resist odour and repel liquids. Luxuriously comfortable and friendly to the environment wool is Nature's Wonder Fibre.
Sustainable Yarns & Fabrics
Bamboo is 100% naturally grown, without assistance from man. Completely sustainable, bamboo thrives naturally without using any pesticides or fertilizers. As the fastest growing plant in the world, bamboo grows to its maximum height in about 3 months and reaches maturity in 3-4 years. It spreads rapidly across large areas. Because of this, bamboo is known to improve soil quality in degraded and eroded areas of land. If we made bamboo as popular as cotton, it means more bamboo plantations, which means more photosynthesis and less greenhouse gas. “The greatest challenge facing mankind” would get just a little easier if we switched over to this fantastic fibre.
Linen is the oldest know fibre ever used by man as it thrives with little assistance from us and makes an ecologically friendly substitute for cotton. Apart from that linen lasts up to 12 times longer than cotton, linen is thermo-regulating (insulating in wintertime, cool and breathable in summertime), non-allergenic and anti-bacterial and thus especially recommended for sensitive skin.
When is a cabbage not a cabbage?
When it’s the rag trade term for over makes and factory surplus. Factory surplus is excess fabric and yarns left over from another manufacturer’s production. Every year tons of yarns and fabrics are discarded or left to rot at the textile mills and factories because it is too small an amount for most companies to use.
When sourcing our blankets and throws, Frank & Faith uses only the best factory surplus fabrics and yarns as one aspect of our efforts to work towards sustainability. We purchase this perfectly good fabric or yarn because it’s ideal for our small, limited edition production runs. By using this existing surplus materials we reduce waste, save additional resources and consume less of the earth’s precious wealth.
You can look at it this way too, when you buy one of our blankets or throws you get a one off bespoke item, one of a kind as the surplus colours are randomly selected and woven together at our factory in Scotland making it a one off work of art.
Frank & Faith is a member of 1% for the Planet, an alliance of companies that recognise the true cost of doing business and donate 1% of their sales to environmental organisations worldwide. We believe this is more transparent than donating a percentage of profits which can easily be manipulated (for example one could take higher salaries to reduce profits and therefore donations).