2023 PEOPLE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
After a full year of And Our—we've learned a lot about people, product, and the goal: purpose. How our customers integrate their And Our into everyday life, the best ways to make our product more accessible, and how we melt our purpose of supporting our Queer and non-binary kin with ethical labor. So here is the 411 on everything And Our in 2023 and what's coming to the surface.
Willy in the Sherry Formal Dress and Lianne in the Rachel Paper Dress.
#YouWithAndOur
The core values
of And Our:
1. People, 2. Product, 3. Purpose
- Protests in China
- Factory Partnership Renewal
- San Francisco Studio
Protests in China
As you have seen on various news publications (as of 11/30/22), China has been experiencing civil unrest in response to COVID-19 policies in the country. As Chinese citizens protest for their freedoms, And Our emphasizes their support for the people regaining their everyday freedom. We understand that this has supply chain implications as well as the everyday lives of the workers who produce the garments. And Our is in communication with our factory, Springdale Jiangmen, to see how they are working with their garment workers to support them through this civil unrest. This may come in the form of time off if needed; we support any garment worker that needs time off to be on the front lines of the protests.
Factory Partnership Renewal
We are in the process of resigning our contract with Springdale Fashions, Jiangmen, LTD. They have shown us great support when it came to scaling our styles and pledging to maintain a safe and ethical work environment. As of writing this, garment workers are being paid a per piece rate of $22 USD and a base pay of CN¥20.50. Springdale also maintains a 95% factory score with 2,880 employees and over 690,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Springdale also maintains their ISO 9000:2001 certification, factory audited by CSCC, ITS, Eddie Bauer, Li & Fung. The 5% outstanding is in reference to accurately disclosing how much fabric and materials are available at any given time; making sure accurate inventory count is given at the beginning of each slated production.
San Francisco Studio
As the market changes, And Our will not be hiring any full time or part time employees in 2023. This is subject to change and will be posted on the site. We thank you for your inquiries via Instagram, TikTok, email and we will inform you if and when that change happens.
- Extended Sizes
- Product Detailing
- The Use of Polyester & Cotton
Extended Sizes
The number one request made of our brand is extending sizes. We appreciate everyone’s feedback and commitment to us—this is a move we plan to make within 2023. As a part of our work agreement with our factory, all pieces that are available for “MTO (made-to-order)” are available in sizes Small through Large. We are working on a new agreement that would include sizing up to 4XL that would still be MTO. We want to make sure as we scale and meet customer needs, And Our will still retain our ability to focus on quality garments. While upcoming product launches will not yet have extended sizing, we will have updates on size extensions as soon as we can.
Product Detailing
To make product descriptions more clear, we will be adding in whether the material is coming from deadstock rolls (small run specialty fabric that has not been touched) or available stock rolls (excess common fabrics). At And Our, we do not create or contract new fabric to be made. All of our fabric comes from existing material and may come from either deadstock or available stock fabrics.
The Use of Polyester & Cotton
As part of our process making product descriptions clearer, we will be marking any polyester or cotton used in our pieces as available stock. We do not use any deadstock polyester or cotton because that is not possible. “Deadstock polyester or cotton” is sometimes sold to the designer to move high overhead of available stock polyester or cotton and it misleads the designer and consumer. We’ve made it clear to any contract fabric vendors that deadstock fabric should be unique in its composition, design, or weave.
- Transparency Pledge
Transparency Pledge
As a part of our commitment to garment workers, we have applied and are waiting to hear back on our acceptance with the Transparency Pledge. Their mission is to help demonstrate apparel and footwear companies’ commitment towards greater transparency in their manufacturing supply chain. Transparency of a company’s manufacturing supply chain better enables a company to collaborate with civil society in identifying, assessing, and avoiding actual or potential adverse human rights impacts. This is a critical step that strengthens a company’s human rights due diligence.
Read our code of conduct with our factory here.
Read COC HereYou are the reason And Our exists. 💚
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