Sustainability is a journey which will take study, radical thinking, effort, and a significant budget all this without the luxury of time for us all to achieve the aims of the 2030 sustainable development goals. Sustainability is more than just about sustainable fabrics, mistakenly people perceive the meaning of sustainability in fashion to be only related to sustainable fabrics and materials. Fashion brands typically work in their exclusive islands however for this world cause, we must collaborate and work in unison.
For sustainability in fashion, we must look at every facet, with no stone unturned. We must truly understand every part of our supply chain, most importantly to ensure the people who work in our chain, our team members and our community, ensure their betterment, ethical manufacture and good standard of living. That is why we only work with certified and fair working condition suppliers and manufacturers.
It’s a scientific fact that we must look after our planet and do what we can to preserve life on earth as we know it. The Paramount to achieving this aim is working towards common goals. Daniele Bardis is the very opposite of fast fashion we advocate for buying better-quality garments that will last longer while ensuring everyone in our supply chain receives fair treatment, ensuring the betterment of people and the planet. Slow fashion is what we like to call it, is about designing, producing, consuming, and living wisely, fashion that is quality-based, not time-based.
We design with meaning, beauty and a story behind every single creation/product; we believe, if you’re going to buy something that is valued it must have its own identity, motion and story, something more than just an item of clothing, something you’ll love and conserve for a long time.
We use natural fibres obtained from plants, animals or mineral sources from our sustainable suppliers. Cotton, linen, silk, leather, and wool are examples of natural fibres which despite commonly held beliefs about them, are less toxic and more sustainable than synthetic fibres. Natural fibres decompose much faster than synthetic fibres, however, as those are not a derivative of oil there are far fewer chemicals involved in their production. Since our inception we chose to design quality and not quantity when choosing materials, components, trimming and manufacturers that are in line with the seventeen Paris SDGs goals.
When we thought about writing this, we said, do people perceive that leather is fully sustainable? As long as leather derives from a sustainable high-welfare farm, leather is fully sustainable, it is real sustainability. We proudly use real leather which comes from suppliers members of the Unione Nazionale Industria Conciaria (reference UNIC https://www.unic.it) Our leather suppliers are all under the umbrella of UNIC which audits, monitors and guarantees the tanneries are producing all leather products using the latest and most sustainable technology. The Italian Tanners' Association is the most important in the world for tanning companies. It has been protecting its associate companies since 1946 and represents a strategic industry, which is a fundamental component of Italy's manufacturing and economic fabric. It not only promotes the interests of the sector, but it also represents it on every level, boosts innovation, enhances both its social and environmental role and sets up commercial companies that are functional to the sectorial market. It is a member of Confindustria, Cotance the European Confederation of Tanners and ICT the International Council of Tanners. The Italian tanning industry employs 17.698 people in about 1,200 companies. Its annual turnover is 5 billion Euros and it has always been considered to be the world’s leading industry thanks to its high level of technological development and quality, its outstanding environmental commitment and its ability to innovate in terms of stylistic design.
Many fashion brands just say nothing and many brands that choose to sell only vegan non-animal-based products. From our point of view, we don’t want to be hypocrites, we believe wearing leather is a choice. For millennia human beings have worn animal skins and we have evolved those garments into those we see today. We have gone to great lengths to ensure that the leather we use is from sustainable high-welfare farms, using traditional tanning methods which do not harm the environment. We have searched and tested other plant-based materials that are like leather, but nothing so far has quite made the grade, or we feel will last. We are committed to searching for alternative materials and when the technology will be at the same aesthetic and feel that leather has we will adopt them in our products too. We realise our leather products are an investment and we want them to last. When good quality leather garments age they do so well and will serve you for many years to come.
Thanks to technology inside our studio, we work on digital and 3-D design products which aid the creation of patterns, avoiding the over-repetition of samples to achieve the finished product, which is reducing our waste and environmental impact. All the samples are fully executed inside our studio minimising our carbon footprint as much as humanly possible.
Our materials are from sustainable suppliers, frequently artisans who have attention to detail and true passion for what they are making.
We use sustainable packaging to send out our garments to customers, with the hope that when you receive your garments/products from us you will either hold on to the packaging or dispose of it responsibly, maybe up-cycle it or even keep it to store something in, they are pretty boxes after all! We have removed all single-use plastics from our packaging, we use recycled where we need to use plastic and cotton bags with drawstrings elsewhere, these are good for up-cycling or storage too.
One of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions in modern-day business is the delivery of consumer packages. Every day packages travel about the same distance as going to the moon and back 133,000 times. Online shopping has transformed the face of retail, especially since the beginning of the pandemic, more and more consumers are shopping online. Unfortunately, it’s impacting the environment in a very detrimental way. Having an order conveniently delivered to your doorstep is a major contributor to climate change. We think it is important to do all we can to protect and sustain our environments and that small changes make a difference. This isn’t just words on a page this is action. We encourage everyone to think consciously about their impact on the environment and how their everyday actions can make a difference, especially when we take action collectively.
