Welcome to Our Very First Product Stories!
What's it all about? Well, as sustainable shoppers ourselves, we know how tough it can be to make sure a product is in line with our values and truly what we believe to be sustainable - not one of those so-called sustainable products that's actually just outright greenwashing. So in product stories, we get the chance to explain what we're proud to offer in terms of what we're doing sustainability-wise, plus being honest about where there's still room to improve.
Plus, it's a chance to show you a little behind the scenes of what really goes into developing a fashion design. Spoiler - it's not all champagne and photoshoots. But it can be really fun to work in, especially on the days when we can step away from the spreadsheets and website coding, and do something creative.
Our very first product story is about our range of charity tees, which you can shop here.
Why We Made This
During lockdown, it was lovely to see how many charities were doing amazing work to support people, animals and the community. Charity is already an important part of the brand and you may already know about our charity of the year initiative (if not, you can learn more about our charity work here).
We added charity tees to our plans to allow us to support our charity of the year further. Plus, we wanted to offer something different to the charity tee market. We noticed that most fundraising tee's included big, bold slogans or motifs and that's really not our style - or the style of our customers. So we wanted to make basic tees with small logos, slogans and motifs so that people can support the cause without it being plastered all over the design. And no disrespect to charities who make those kind of tshirts, they're perfect for a lot of people, but it's just not our style.
The Designs
The good thing about creating basic tees is that we can be very reactive with our offering and try out new ideas quickly, so we've tried a classic logo tee and something a little more fun - and very relevant for a design that was created during lockdown - a fun and cute sloth motif with a 'hang in there' message. The tees will be available in black and white, plus we're taking requests for other colours too. Got a suggestion? Hit the speech bubble icon at the bottom right of the screen to get in touch with your request.
The Production
As fashion production goes, tees are relatively straight forward, but there's still a lot of sourcing and product testing that takes place.
Our tees are made from 100% certified organic cotton, meaning that harmful chemicals haven't been used when growing the raw materials for this product.We've printed using vega
n inks and during no part of the production process has anything been tested on animals.
The factories involved are based in India (construction) and England (printing) and both have been taking steps to ensure sustainable and ethical production. The garments are produced in a renewable energy powered factory audited for a wide range of social and sustainability criteria.
How to Get Yours?
You might have heard us talking about the 'Ekagi Preview'. Haven't heard it yet? Let's fill you in. Being a sustainable brand means more than just creating products made from sustainable fabrics. It also means that as a brand as a whole, we need to be sensible about the way in which we run things.
You might have heard that the fashion industry has a massive problem with waste and some brands even burn stock they dont't sell. We don't want to be contributing to that. So instead, we start each collection with the Ekagi Preview. Before we commit to a big order, we ask you, our lovely Ekagi audience, to pre-order. As a thank you for doing that, we'll give you 20% off your order. It's the only time that we discount our new collection. Why? 2 reasons. The first means that we can price the clothing correctly, rather than marking up to mark down, like many brands do. Second, because pre-selling helps us to make better business decisions, we can save some money too. Which we then pass on to you in the form of the 20% Ekagi Preview discount. Sound fair? We hope so.
Want to know when the Ekagi Preview is happening? Sign up to our email list below for twice-monthly updates including free articles and tips on topics like travel, fashion, sustainability and lifestyle. When signing up, your details will be safe with us, we won't sell or share your details and you can easily unsubscribe anytime.
We always want to hear from you - we love to connect and the more feedback we get from you, the better we can be. Got questions or suggestions? Pop them in the comments box below to start the conversation!
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