Sustainable Clothing Manufacturers

Becoming a sustainable business has been on most companies’ to-do lists. Some take a long way and implement systems for a more eco-friendly and worker-friendly environment. Some take the easy way by means of greenwashing and inaccurate reporting. In this article, you’ll learn how to recognise sustainable clothing manufacturers.

When you think about how to find sustainable and ethical clothing manufacturers, request the following three things from any potential supplier you get in contact with:

Certificates for the fabrics/trims/accessories (GOTS, GRS*, OEKO-TEX)

International standards and social responsibility certificates (ISO, SA8000, SMETA, BSCI)

Factory visits

Ethical clothing manufacturers

It goes without saying that to be a sustainable brand, you should only work with ethical clothing manufacturers. At the very least, there must be no child labour or forced labour at your potential supplier’s factory/factories.

The suppliers should be able to prove:

That they pay a living wage

That the workers’ health and safety are not in danger at any point during their shifts

Their ethical approach should branch out from the people to the environment. A clothing factory you are assessing should only release wastewater that has passed through a treatment plant. That way, it exits the factory as clean technical water. If they use dangerous chemicals, they must prove that they are storing them safely.

Why do sustainability-related certificates for fabrics matter?

If the manufacturers you found advertise themselves as sustainable, they should use certified fabrics, trimmings, dyes, and sublimation inks. Most common ones are OEKO-TEX 100, GOTS, and GRS*.

We’ll cover them all in detail in a few scrolls from here.

The best clothing manufacturers would be able to show you that they have international standards and/or social accountability certificates.

However, if they do have it all but they are reluctant to show you their factories, stay away. There’s something suspicious going on so we’d advise you to stay away from them.

That’s not the case with stladyapparel you can visit our two factories in2/ F, Building 5 or 3/ F, Building 1 Dalinshan Industrial Zone, Liansheng North Road, Humen Town, Dongguan, Guangdong, China. AND we hold the ISO standard certificates (9001, 14001, and 45001).

Learn how stladyapparel achieves sustainability as a clothing manufacturer – read this short pdf infographic.

If you already like what you’ve read and want to request a quote, please keep in mind that our minimum order quantity (MOQ) is 100 pieces per design and/or colour in any size.

Also, if we are to cooperate,please contact us

Learn more about working with us, visit the what we do page.

How do I find a sustainable clothing manufacturer?

If you can’t get to a sustainable clothing manufacturer through your network, you can do so in the following two ways:

Conduct Google search

Join sustainable fashion networks

Google search

Google search is as good a start as any because this search engine shows increasingly relevant search results with each algorithm update. That’s why there’s a great chance you’ll find sustainable manufacturers this way. Keep an eye on the results with the bolded “Ad” next to the URL – those are sponsored results, often of inferior quality to organic results.

Sustainable networks

There are good sustainable network websites out there too. The two that we find interesting are Manufy and Common Objective. Manufacturer profiles on there are often quite informative, especially in terms of sustainability.

You can also find manufacturer info about decent working conditions, animal-friendly practices, energy and water efficiency, chemical management, pollution reduction, recycling & waste and more. Of course, certified manufacturers will have their certificates uploaded on their profiles.

We have all three certificates for yarns, trimmings and accessories we use.

The next issue to tackle is sustainability when colouring (dyeing or printing) the garments.

Is sublimation printing really that green?

Sublimation printing definitely is an eco-friendly way to apply colour to your clothes. But since it works well only with polyester, it’s not something to associate with a lot of ecological fanfare.

However, the two main reasons for it being eco-friendly are:

The process uses next to no water (all it takes to transfer a design to a t-shirt this way is around 5 ml of water-based ink)

It is energy-efficient (two machines that run this process – dye sublimation printers and heat transfer calenders use very little power to work. Our calenders average energy consumption is 5kw, significantly lower than an average household energy consumption)

Visit our clothing factories

We believe that the best way to ensure a clothing manufacturer does its business sustainably is to see it for yourself.

That is why we encourage both existing and potential clients to visit us. In fact, we have built the the factory in China to facilitate the visits.

Below is a contact form where you can ask us anything we didn’t answer on this page. Keep in mind that the more detailed the enquiry makes the more precise price and lead time estimate.

What is sustainable fashion manufacturing?

It’s a type of fashion manufacturing that:

1. Ensures that the clothing factory workers have a healthy and safe working environment

2. The clothing factory compensates its workers enough for them to lead a dignified life

3. Working hours are within legal limits

4. No toxic chemicals are used in any stage of production (especially during dyeing)

5. Materials that the factory uses are vegan, natural and/or organic

6. Water is used sparingly and in a closed-loop system

7. Renewable energy is the main energy source for the factory