Hi there, I'm doing some work on Anti-slavery brands in clothing, and am aware of your living wage and workers poolicy, and the sustainability and eco impact commitments to the materials you use, but wanted to know more about the materials you purchase for the bras and pants and how you ensure they have not been made by enslaved people - if I've missed something on the site please just do send me a link! Tahnks
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Hi Cat, That sounds like amazing work! As we're a super small brand we have to be quite grassroots about how we source materials that match our ethics; because we don't have capital to invest in MOQs or our own auditing. Our entire Ocean Protection range is made from Lenzing Micromodal. Lenzing certify the forestry, and I believe it's processed within the EU. The strapping is organic cotton and the rubber comes from a community project audited by the company we buy from. The laces we use are usually from a resaler of deadstock, so I can't make any claims about the original situation they were made in, but in terms of the money supply- I think it would be fair to say that if doesn't fund companies that use slave labour because it's a waste stream. However, as you can imagine this is incredibly complex and frustrating for brands of our size. Our new luxury fully circular silk and lace items are actually much simpler supply chains, precisely because it means much better transparency. These fabrics come out at around 5x the cost of what we normally source. Then we have trouble getting members who can afford those fabrics! It's a real swings and roundabouts. My master's project is all about localising production, in part to give alternatives to the complex and shadowy trade routes that are currently the norm. I'd be really fascinated to hear more about what you're working on and if there's ways for micro-indie businesses like ours to do better. Slavery is a blight on our society and definitely needs to be discussed more. X
Thanks so much for the swift reply - so I've started to volunteer for Houria - an anti slavery CIC which supports women through catering (more here https://www.houria.co.uk/ ) and part of our training was to find and share anti slavery brands (of which there are very few) and I suggested LBP club as I've been a subscriber for years due to your ethics and practice (and ace lingerie). They asked what your anti slavery policy was and I told them I knew about the living wage stuff and the environmental things and I would ask more - and so I have. Thanks for your reply - as you said without being a large company with the resources to do the extra stauff, you're doing what you can to ensure slavery stays out of your production chain.
Ah brilliant! Yeah it would be good to write a more concise document on our approach to it. Hopefully honesty can give people a bit more insight into the issue. I'm gonna check out Houria, it sounds great! X
And thanks so much for your support over the years! Much appreciated. Xx