Sustainability

Having spent over a decade working in fashion I (Sarah), have witnessed the shift occurring in our industry's environment due to the urgent needs of the climate crisis that is upon us.

My first step towards sustainability started with education. Over the past few years I've been participating in industry seminars, workshops and readings from both Canadian and global resources including; Fashion Takes Action, the WEAR conference, SHIFT Responsible Fashion Series, B Corp, Fashion Revolution, UN Sustainable Development Goals and more. You can read more about our approach thus far to the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals here. Before beginning to address the subject of sustainability, this education period was an essential first step for me in order to participate in the larger conversations and I intend to continue learning more on an ongoing basis.

My personal experience of spending time in nature’s backcountry has allowed me to see with my own eyes, just a glimpse of what we as humans stand to lose from the threat of climate change. This is why I set out to understand how I can at least do my part to contribute to the greater good of our planet. We want to ensure that our activities protect our beautiful world and the beautiful people in it.

"Sustainability is not about being perfect but about making progress towards systemic change." - UCLA



What does sustainability mean to us?

• Considering the way clothing is designed

• What materials are used

• How those materials are sourced

• How clothing is manufactured

• What is the environmental impact

• Who is involved in these processes and what economic and working conditions they are facing

• How products are transported across the world

• How we look after our clothes

• How quickly we are consuming and discarding our clothes

• What happens when we don't need the garment anymore

 

These are the guiding principles that we reflect on when making decisions on our activities. By sharing these points with you, we hope that it will inspire others and raise awareness to the issues at hand in our industry and let you know where our focus is.  

 Happy Workers

• Our production house is a Gold Certified Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) Facility and aligns with the highest internationally accepted Social Compliance standards.

• Our technicians and seamstresses are paid a living wage or more, and work in environments with health and safety policies that comply with local environmental regulations and law.

Low Impact

• Our collections are packaged in recyclable/reusable packaging. Some of our products are shipped in reusable, water resistant lingerie bags to safely store your delicate loungewear in and help it last for years to come.

• All of our shipping and deliveries are carbon neutral. A percentage of each sale goes towards reversing climate change and removal of carbon from our atmosphere. Read more here.

Non-Toxic Dyes

• All of our garments are either made-to-order or produced in limited quantities, in order to minimize waste.

• We select fabrics that are readily available to prevent them from ending up in landfills and reduce over consumption.

• By Catalfo's print fabrics are free from toxic andharmful AZO dyes and phthalates dyes, which are chemicals that cause harmto the people and environments exposed to them