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A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
OUR MANIFESTO FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
REDEFINING SUSTAINABILITY: We believe the term “sustainable”, as it is usually used in the clothing and fashion industry, needs to be reconsidered and redefined.
Why is the definition of a term a serious problem? Why do we care? Because unlike “organic” or “free range”, “sustainability” is not regulated, therefore it can mean anything to anyone, allowing some of the biggest creators of clothing waste and environmental destruction to promote themselves as champions of “sustainable fashion”.
We are rethinking and redefining “sustainability” as follows.
Problem 1: The huge human cost associated with mass-produced clothing. Study after study shows that before the global pandemic, working conditions in garment factories continued to be appalling. Workers were forced to work 14-16 hours a day, seven days a week, in cramped and hazardous conditions where sexual harassment and work injuries are widespread. The majority of garment industry factory workers in the Indian subcontinent earned about $30 a month, far below the local living wage required to provide a family with shelter, food and education. The global pandemic has only made the situation more dire with many garment workers now totally unemployed.
What we are doing about it:
- We are preserving age-old crafts while improving lives in areas of the world that have a rich history of highly skilled artisanship and craftsmanship. Ever since the 13th century and Marco Polo’s discovery of the Silk Road, lands and cultures on that road, including those of the Indian subcontinent, have been the source of the finest, most refined and “luxurious” fabrics, perfumes, carpets and spices. But, even so, it is perceived as “luxury” when a person has a shirt made in New York, London or Milan, and not when a person does the same in Lahore or Delhi. Low labor costs have turned those parts of the world into outposts of cheap and fast clothing manufacturing and local populations and crafts have suffered as a result. We make sure that our network of tailors do not abandon their traditional crafts and we help them retain and continue to use centuries worth of knowledge. As we grow as a business, we plan to expand the network of independent tailors.
- According to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, poverty eradication happens best when humans use their creativity to make a living. This creativity flourishes when humans are in their own habitat, where they are able to practice their familiar customs. Your purchase from the Post-Romantic Co. is a direct extension of this premise, giving tailors working from their own workshops a global platform to share their highly developed craft while maintaining their sustainable, plastic and chemical-free, natural processes they have mastered over centuries.
- We enable artisans to work in their own workshops. Our business model is based on a simple premise: to improve the lives and working conditions of artisans by helping them work in their own shops and thereby providing them with greater economic means and more freedom of choice while providing you with high-quality clothing that is priced much lower than comparable high-quality products on the market.
- We work only with individually and family owned tailoring shops that exists literally on every bazaar in the North Indian subcontinent, particularly in the Punjab region. It is no exaggeration to say there are millions of people practicing this craft. In partnering with local NGOs and other development agencies dedicated to economic development, we plan to steadily expand our network of tailors.
Problem 2: The huge environmental cost associated with mass-produced clothing. Studies show that Americans produce 75 pounds of textile waste per year on average and that the clothing industry is the second-largest polluter in the world, producing, when combined with footwear, over 8% of greenhouse gas linked to climate change. Water tested by Greenpeace from textile plants found that it “will burn human skin” and will have “severe impact (most likely fatal) on aquatic life in the immediate vicinity of the discharge area”.
What we are doing about it:
- We have no inventory and our clothes only go into production once an order has been placed.
- We consider an article shipped by us a shared responsibility with our customer. We offer lifetime repairs for any article of clothing we make.
- Our production processes are free of plastic.
- We only use natural and noble fabrics such as ethically obtained silk, linen, cotton and wool.
- We have short, small-batch production cycles that reduce waste. While we prioritize use of hand-woven fabric that is made without electricity in the Punjab region we also source artisanal fabric from small mills in Italy, England and Japan.
Problem 3: Badly sewn and poorly constructed clothing that is imposed on to consumers in the name of “luxury” and “fashion”. There is an urgent need for an awakening from the habits of consumption that have been imposed on consumers by mass producers of apparel and the arbiters and purveyors of taste, beauty and “luxury”. Clothing manufacturers — even the most esteemed brand names — persistently pass off poorly made clothing as the new must-have pieces. For instance, most of the seams in mass-produced shirts are simply joined together and sewn, or sewn with a fast-paced double needle industrial sewing machine. The actual merits of good clothing and taste are being altered in order to sell more and more. According to one study, most fast fashion brands specifically design their clothing to last no more than 10 washes in the machine. Studies show that the supply chain is so vast and convoluted that, in some cases, it would take several years to track down the original maker of a particular item.
We believe that the single most important behavior anyone can adopt to ensure a healthy planet and a better future is to use clothing that is traceable, so that they can be connected more directly with the makers and the clothing itself and then cherish and keep their clothing in use longer, thereby reducing mindless consumption.
What we are doing about it:
- We are able to trace our supply chain back to the original source of production to monitor and oversee the process and make sure everything is made at the highest level of quality possible. Unlike the massive supply chains that are pervasive in the global clothing manufacturing process, we actually work directly with each artisan who participates in making our clothes.
- We produce well-made, durable clothing and we take care of it for you over time through lifetime repairs.
- We make it possible for you to know exactly where your clothing came from, who made it and how it was made.
- With every long lasting and sustainably made article of clothing you purchase from us, you produce less waste and help fight against earth-killing fast fashion practices.
Problem 4: Off-the-rack clothing that does not fit your unique body. Most people “make do” on clothing sizes, buying clothing that fits well enough but does not truly fit their particular body. For example, quite often a shirt that otherwise fits adequately can be too long or too short. Most women we know have essentially given up on ever finding a decent pair of woolen pants that fits them properly.
What we are doing about it:
- We provide a tailor’s shop at your disposal so that you can wear clothes that are made based on your measurements. We provide life-time repairs so that your clothing can be mended as necessary for longer use.