Sustainability

 

When I started to review my business model last year with a view to making sustainability a focal point I hadn’t realised what an enormous and frustrating task it would be. After researching many sustainable fashion businesses, reading a stack of books and articles and joining helpful organisations like ‘The Sustainable Fashion Collective’ I have come to the conclusion that Sew Much Fun needs to have a hybrid approach to sustainability if it is to maintain its core business of encouraging the understanding and knowledge of creative sewing at a practical entry level cost.

 

Over the last 19 years we have always offered an element of sustainability. We have taught and inspired hundreds of people to sew, of all ages whether it be in classes, via our sewing projects or at our birthday parties! All these activities introduce the participants to the basic skills of sewing enabling them to go onto repair, reuse and recycle.

 

But, as with all businesses we do need to improve our sustainable offering and communicate our ideas to our customers. Whether it be the ‘R’s’ of the Circular Fashion Industry or the belief of the Common Threads Initiative of Reduce, Repair, Reuse, Recycle and Reimagine. So with that as a back drop our 2021 sustainable commitment to you are as follows:

 

Design

Every product we design and create is tested against our ‘Product Responsibility’ statement. There will also always be a collection of projects focused on Reusing and Recycling fabrics and garments.   

 

Materials

Not all our materials we use today are recyclable or biodegradable but they are perfect for encouraging the understanding and knowledge of creative sewing. We will continue to source materials from reputable ethical suppliers and constantly review how we can improve our material offering whilst achieving a balance between cost, use of water, use of pesticides, air emissions, energy and ethical trading standards.

 

Learn

We promise to expand learning opportunities to you in the shop and on-line. We will gradually build up a video library of practical hand and machine sewing techniques. We will also share information on the understanding of fibres and textiles so you can all make better decisions on material purchasing.

 

Recycling and reducing waste

Within the shop we have expanded our recycling to include fabric and stuffing.

During 2021 we will replace our product packaging and our postal packaging with either recyclable, biodegradable or reusable packaging solutions.