We have always had a goal of continuous improvement here at SophieGrace. And that includes working towards being a sustainable fashion brand. Are we there yet? Not yet. But let me tell you a little bit about how we are working towards that goal.
1. Overall Concept
The overall concept of SophieGrace is to create a line of classic elegant basics that can move with you throughout your life. They will always mix and match and our consistent colour palette will allow for you easily ad pieces to your collection without having to completely overhaul it every year. We ensure our designs are simple and transitional from year to year and season to season.
2. New Manufacturing Facility In Vancouver.
First things first, we have been incredibly happy with our working relationship with our Chinese manufacturer. They are a great company that works for a number of incredible brands like Alexander McQueen, ACME, Joie and Equipment. We didn't chose them because they were the cheapest ( they aren't - most of the cheap and dodgy production is now in North Africa...) but because of the ease of working with them and their consistent quality. We pay them in USD and pay shipping and import duties on our product- so the costs do add up.
We have been looking to work with Canadian producers and we have developed a relationship with a factory in Vancouver. Our first product from here will be ready late October and it is the Emma Vest /Dress you all love so much. This is also why there has been a delay in production on this unit. We reordered the fabric and needed to do a final sign off on the sample from the factory before we made a commitment to having the fabric shipped to this location. This facility has limited capacity right now but we hope to do more and more production with them.
3. Eco Fabrics
We placed our first order on a recycled satin cupro fabric from Japan. It is currently shipping to our Vancouver factory. We are looking at all of the fabrics we use at the moment and seeing if there are more sustainable versions available. We are also exploring proprietary fabrics and looking to offer comfort, elegance, ease of care and stretch.
4. Only Make What We Can Sell
We are also moving towards a process where we manufacture only what we know we can sell. This isn't quite an on demand process but it is one that gives us assurances that we aren't making large investments in products that will go to waste. The way this works is that we make commitments to fabrics and get them dyed to our custom colours. We then store the fabrics in our production facilities and make multiple styles from one fabric. When there is demand for a certain style we can cut and sew into that style to meet the demand. This is why we are updating our website at the moment to include a "Waitlist" option (for when we are waiting on fabric and don't have a firm date for shipping) and a "Pre-Sale" option for when the product is being sewn and we have a clear ship date.
We continue to look for ways to improve and to be as transparent as possible in why and how we do things.
With love, Emma and the crew at SGD
