Our aim to be an ethical and sustainable clothing brand.

Why is an ethical trading policy important? In a world where our resources are limited, we want to create beautiful long lasting garments which make you feel great inside and out. Our view on bringing our your inner badass isn’t limited to simply looks or traditional ideas of strength. But compassion, support, love and joy for ourselves and the world we live in.

Below is our current Ethical Trading Policy. However work to amend and update this as an ongoing approach and guide for our business practices. If something looks like it could be improved, get in touch, we love to hear your ideas and how we can incorporate them into how we run and develop our business. If your concern is around our current ranges, please take a read of this post and follow the steps at the end.

Ethical Trading Policy

We are committed to conducting business in an ethical, legal and socially responsible manner. Read our Ethical Trading Policy below

Animal Exploitation

We don’t test on animals, and no animals are used to work in the production of our garments. We may use wool in our knitwear from time to time however this will always be clearly marked.

Armaments

Make love not war.

Political Donations

Lady K Loves does not donate to political parties. If it were still going we’d be tempted to donate to The Monster Raving Loony Party. We will from time to time promote by way of social channels products, brands & magazines which we feel support our approach to the world. This is one where people are equal, periods & contraception is free, our community feels empowered to do and be whatever they want to be and love is No 1. If that’s not your thing, don’t join us on social. If it is, tag, share, comment and join in the love!

Human Rights Issues

We are SO PROUD that all of LKL’s products are made fairly. We don’t work exclusively with fair trade factories, because getting certification is expensive and not in the reaches of all suppliers. There is a range of fair trade certification bodies, this can be a minefield for people who don’t have guidance to get the best one for them. Here is a lovely blog which gives a great explanation on why fair trade and small-batch is often more expensive

All of this is is why we visit the factories we work with.

We’ve had the pleasure of sitting on the floor, drinking chai at the late afternoon tea break with women who make your clothes. Their conversations, hopes and fears are the same as yours. They’re all excited about the idea of love, love playing dress-up (especially getting tall white westerners in Sari’s) and have recently discovered selfies. We know, from talking to them that they like their job, they smile and laugh and despite the language barrier, we have jokes together.

If this doesn’t feel important to you, take a look at this and join the revolution.

Environmental

The environment is so important. We have one planet, we have one world and resources are limited. We’re committed to producing our clothing in a way which lessens the impact of the fashion industry, and to spreading the word about this too. Want more ideas for shopping in a sustainable way? Check out this blog. Fabric choices can make a huge difference. Close the Loop makes this easy to understand

Fabrics

We source our fabrics in a few ways. We combine fair trade, surplus, deadstock, organic & sustainable fabric sourcing & production. Outfit below, V2 Skirt – Deadstock surplus fabric, Teresa Wrap Top – Organic Cotton, Bandanna – Vintage/secondhand. All available on our site.

Printed wovens and jerseys

Anything printed and kinda on the fun vibe comes from the surplus or dead stock market in Delhi. As shops have a limited stock of whatever fabric they have and they have been brought directly from factories who have made more than they need.

Cotton for skirts & blouses (Ethical Trading Policy)

Plain cotton skirts and blouses made from organic cotton. One day, we were talking to our factory manager and he said, ‘Kessis, no they don’t do other fabrics, but the cotton is organic for your blouses’. At this point, we’d been working with him for over a year and couldn’t be happier about the fact that our lovely cotton is organic. Like this Tabatha top below

Jeans

We work with a textile mill in India who also makes the clothing. It is a large operation where they grow, harvest, spin, weave, dye and then produce the clothing. We searched high and low for a company like this. We knew we wanted to work with a factory which would give us more creative freedom, a regular supplier of denim, and shared our view of reducing the environmental impact of textile production, plus treated their staff fairly.

We’re really happy with this factory. The hard work has paid off. We’ve met and spoken to people who work there, and importantly the owner, who is passionate about sustainable fabrics, and pointed out there are certain finishes and styles they can’t produce because it goes against their ethical promise. They are certified in multiple ways from a range of accreditors. Over time we would like to be able to use their organic denim and reclaimed denim and offer you a returns service for your old clothing.

Plastic

We are not down with that. Plastic has some great uses and is game-changing in the medical industry. For us, it’s not the one. Did you know garments made from manmade fibres (i.e. plastics often) take 200 – 400 years to biodegrade?  Acrylic or polyester jumpers will make you sweat because the fibre isn’t letting your body breathe, they’ll also bobble badly. Garments made from manmade fibres will outlive your great-great-grandchildren. Pretty shocking right. Prince Charles famously tested wool & a synthetic jumper to see how they were after being buried for 6 months.

We’ve pledged to actively source cellulose fibres, from time to time something slips through. When it does we re-address our processes. We also make sure it’s clear on the product listing

Our packing is getting a refresh. At Lady K Loves we are actively switching to biodegradable and eco-friendly packaging. We are also getting the bags our garments are posted to us in changed to an environmental option too.  Any small piece of plastic is up for debate. Is it necessary? If not, it’s got to go.

What’s most important to you? We’re always keen to hear back from our community about what they want to see in the clothing companies they choose to spend their money with & represent when they wear their designs. This ethical trading policy is a work in progress and will evolve as our business changes.