ETHICAL FASHION - THINK, PEOPLE

Ethical fashion at Cosmic simply means we make sure people are treated and paid fairly. From farming plants for fabrics, right through to our teams in stores here in New Zealand.
Every brand we stock needs to work closely with their factories and workers to ensure transparency around fair pay and labour practices, with an absolute zero tolerance for child labour.

How do we ensure Cosmic Hemp is manufactured ethically?

Global Organic Textile Standard

This fabric certification is also a regulator of social criteria. As our manufacturers are certified, this ensures that they must pay their workers a fair wage, working conditions are safe and workers' hours are not excessive, and use absolutely no child labour.

Organic Content Standard and Oeko- Tex Standard 100

These certifications guarantee you that your new clothes have been processed without harmful chemicals. It is important to us to ensure that our products are safe for our customers, but also for our workers' safety when involved in the processes to create them.

Fair Pay and Working Hours

According to Chinese government's figures, the wages paid at the mill we work with are between 52% & 104% higher than the standard wages for this province. They work 8 hours per day, from 8am to 11am, then 1pm to 6pm.

Regular Audits

Our supplier is regularly audited and verified by SGS, a global leader in verification, testing, and certification services. These auditors speak the worker's language, are qualified in local social audit techniques, and have working knowledge of the specific industry.

What about our other brands?

We seek to stock brands that go above and beyond for their people, read on to find out more about how two of our favourite suppliers are amazing examples of socially responsible business.

Afends

CERTIFICATIONS

Fair Wear Foundation Member

EcoCert Organic Content Standards

Global Organic Textile Standards


We love this brand because they are passionate about providing permanent, positive opportunities for communities, through their factories. They put it perfectly when they wrote -


“At Afends we are committed to creating and developing long term partnerships with factories that share a common vision of sustainability, accountability and transparency.This means ensuring that our workers are treated with respect and dignity, can earn a fair wage, and that they are provided with opportunities to foster their skills. From the farmers, weavers, sewers , all the way to the cleaners, we want to make sure that at all stages we are creating a positive impact on the lives of the people who make our clothes.”

They run 100% on solar power and hold certifications with the Organic Content Standards (OCS 100 and OCS Blended) and the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). Not only are the fibres that they use sustainable, but their processes are too.
The Afends Hemp Factory was the first member of the Fairwear Foundation, a European NGO that works to improve the workplace conditions in the garment and textile industry. FWF’s eight labour standards are:

Lucy & Yak

CERTIFICATIONS

Global Organic Textile Standards

Oeko- Tex Standard 100

Living Wage Employer

We work with Lucy & Yak because of their fantastic partnerships with their farms and factories around the world. Their ethical values are exemplary, and focused completely on creating and sustaining good relationships through the supply chain. They want to prove that every worker involved in every stage of making your Yaks is treated fairly, and paid properly — happy people, making happy dungas!

Since their conception, Lucy & Yak have regularly visited every factory that they use in the final garment making process. They know the factory owners, have met the workers, and personally inspect the space in which they work. 50% of the factories they work with are GOTS certified, they aim to reach 100% by 2022. This means they are audited regularly to maintain high standards of care for workers & traceable supply of cotton.
Passionate about creating positive environments for their teams working in India, they helped build a brand new factory for their team in India, overlooking the beautiful desert and farmland of Rajasthan. It is clean, bright, runs on solar power and has air-conditioning for those 45 degree Indian summers. Their tailors are paid 4 times the state minimum wage, and living wages guaranteed for all workers involved in the business. Working hours must not be excessive, this includes overtime.
Committed to eliminating the risk of slavery in their supply chain, they consider anything against the ETI base code as potential slavery. To combat this they are working with their suppliers to track the whole supply chain at every tier, developing their own internal audits and commissioning independent audits alongside this.This socially outspoken brand has a big heart, and we love them for creating space for all of us to learn how we can do better, while wearing the comfiest of pants.
Shop sustainable fashion at Cosmic stores in Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga, Christchurch and Dunedin.

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