It took us many months of researching best practices in sustainability, building relationships with vendors, troubleshooting supply chain challenges (and boy, there are still many!), and getting the design just right so we could offer you something you can wear with pride. We committed to not cutting any corners in this process and we’re very excited we are able to offer products that align with the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility. 

Good Things Take Time

We also wanted you to know that if you placed an order, your purchase is indeed coming – it just won’t be coming at the pace we’ve all come to expect in the era of online shopping. We spelled this out in our online shop, but we want to be clear about why we are prioritizing sustainability over everything – including convenience. As you may be aware by now, our club’s mission is to embed environmental justice in everything we do. This means we investigate the potential environmental harms we may cause as a club, and prioritize working on solutions that put the people (and plants and animals) who are disproportionately impacted but environmental harms front and center. Again, this process takes time and we admit it’s always a work in progress. But it’s the right thing to do, and the solutions that come from this process offer us a holistic and impactful way to transform business as usual.

We shared our deep dive into what environmental and social responsibility currently looks like in the apparel industry. To nobody’s surprise, we learned a lot more about how the systems that get that new t-shirt to your door incentivize pollution, waste, and human rights abuses. We also discovered there are vendors, third-party certifiers, and associations that are working to transform the industry in environmentally and socially responsible ways. 

In addition to choosing the right vendors, we decided to reduce potential environmental harm by not overstocking inventory. Our pre-sale allowed us to match demand with the right supply. This helps us ensure nothing is wasted, avoid unnecessary expenses, and make logistics much more feasible for our small team through bulk mailing – all essential steps that help our bootstrap operation fulfill its mission and grow in a sustainable way. Of course, we recognize we now live in a world where Amazon can get your item to your door in 24 hours, but that expediency comes with costs – to people and the environment. Our fulfillment process, on the other hand, avoids some of these pitfalls but takes 6-8 weeks. 

The (Not So) Fun Facts

Speedier shipping and individual purchases (as opposed to bundled) mean we create more waste and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This will hopefully change as more shipping transportation goes electric and is powered by renewable energy, and as packaging changes to more environmentally responsible options. (We are currently using EcoEnclose for our packaging needs). Unfortunately, as it stands now, optimizing for speed leads to less consolidation of orders and fewer packages dropped off per mile, more trucks on the road and more GHG emissions, and more waste. Here is a good read on the environmental pitfalls of prioritizing speed and convenience over the environment.

To Return or Not to Return, That Is the Question

We also had to make some difficult decisions around a sustainable return policy, both in terms of environmental and social responsibility, and operational feasibility. As you may have noticed in our return policy section of our shop, we are not taking any returns at this time. We recognize this is breaking a norm in the era of online shopping. So we want to be clear on why and where we’re headed with returns. 

Every year, five billion pounds of returned products and packaging ends up in landfills. In order to cut back on this extreme waste, pollution, and ineffective use of our resources, we are working to set up some innovative and sustainable return programs in the future that we hope will allow us to reduce our GHG footprint, reduce waste, and keep our products circulating in our supply chain.  

If you have any issues with the size or style of your purchase, we recommend offering it as a gift to a friend or family member or consider some of the following ways to keep your garment out of the landfill:

  • ThredUp is an online consignment & thrift store, where you can constantly refresh your style while creating less waste.
  • Drop your stuff off at a local consignment and thrift store.
  • Donate your old clothes to a local non-profit.
  • Repurpose your old clothes into something unique. With a quick search online, you’ll find lots of great resources and ideas on how to upcycle your old clothes into something new!
  • ForDays will take all your old clothes (from any brand, in any condition) and make sure they never end up in landfills. You get guaranteed credits for your old clothes – no matter the condition. They close the loop by turning your old fabrics into brand new clothes. Aka they’ll pay you to help eliminate clothing waste. 

We also recommend checking out the Fashion Footprint Calculator if you want to find out your closet’s contribution to climate change. Thank you for supporting our club and for your patience as we work to ensure we live up to our mission. 

P.S.

10% of the profits from your purchase will go to support the work of the Vermont Natural Resources Council. Read more about why we chose VNRC.