At Project Bowman, we recognise the significant environmental and social impact the fashion industry has on our world. Listed below are just a few things we do to create more sustainable and ethical practices across our supply chain.
Slow Production
Project Bowman is a slow fashion brand. This means we produce a small run of garments very intentionally, at our own pace and at high quality.
By taking more time to produce less items we’re ensuring we’re not over producing and creating garments that will be worn once and dumped, either because they're not ‘on trend’ any more or damage easily. Our clothing is designed to mix with other items in your wardrobe, be worn for years and most importantly, repaired not thrown out.
Use of Materials
We currently source two different types of materials.
The first is sustainably and ethically sourced fabrics made up of natural fibres such as hemp, silk and organic cotton. These materials can break down and therefore don’t have a lasting impact on the environment beyond a garment's lifetime.
We also use deadstock material, which is excess stock from other fashion houses. Using deadstock fabric means we are not producing any additional materials and preventing pre-existing fabric going into landfill.
While deadstock is a great option for us at the moment, it does mean that we have no control over how the fabric is produced. Our goal is to transition to 100% natural materials and a completely transparent supply chain.
Local Production
We’re very proud to say that all Project Bowman items are produced locally in in Melbourne.
Both our manufacturers are family owned and ethically run. This means that all workers are being paid in accordance to Australian standards, receive all their legal entitlements (e.g. superannuation) and have access to safe and secure working conditions. We regularly visit the warehouses and are able to have a connection to everyone that makes our clothes.
Manufacturing locally also means that we limit emissions caused by shipping garments to and from large interstate or overseas warehouses. We even pick the garments up ourselves!
Waste Reduction
We do our best to reduce waste throughout the production process.
On the cutting room floor, our manufacturer repurposes all offcuts from our garment production into padding for Australian made Jim Bradley boxing bags.
We wear the samples that don’t end up in production ourselves and plan on re-working them to be sold as Project Bowman one offs.
Our packaging is 100% recyclable. We prefer recyclable materials over compostable, as not every customer has access to effective composting systems but they will be able to easily recycle our packaging.
The mail boxes are made from 59 percent + recycled materials and our tissue paper is made from recycled plastic products.
Shipping
Our delivery partner Sendle is 100% carbon neutral, so every time we send a parcel out to our customers they offset the carbon emissions and invest in positive environmental causes.
Each year, Sendle users vote on which projects their investment should support. Currently, customers can choose between the Myamyn Conservation Project, Afognak Forest Carbon Project and Madre de Dios Amazon Conservation.
Next Steps
Despite all of this, we still have a long way to go. Our three main goals for the next 5 years are:
- Working towards an 100% traceable supply chain
- Usage of only natural materials
- Development of a more structured waste system.
If you have any questions, or thoughts on how we can do better, please get in touch via our contact page.