Sustainability & Fair Trade
We care about people and we care about our planet. Personally, we are conscious consumers: we like to purchase things that have a clear and ethical production process. Sometimes researching which products are 'good' can be really time consuming. At Freedom Kids we have done this work for you:
People
All our clothing has been ethically made: all our clothing suppliers ensure that the people making the clothes comply with internationally agreed labour rights. These include:
- employees are not children
- employment is freely chosen
- payment of a living wage
- secure employment
- safe and healthy working conditions
- working hours are not excessive and overtime is voluntary
- freedom from sexual harassment, discrimination or verbal and/or physical abuse
- workers are able to speak out and defend and improve their own labour rights through freedom of association to join a trade join and bargain collectively.
Most of our overseas-made clothing is Fair Trade Certified: Fair Trade is an organized movement that promotes standards for international labour, environmentalism, and social policy in areas related to production of goods. There are a number of different Fair Trade accreditation organisations, including the World Fair Trade Organisation, FairtradeUSA, Fairtrade International. Fair Trade focuses on exports from developing countries to developed countries. For goods that are made in non-OECD or EU countries, we aim to stock only Fair Trade certified goods. We acknowledge that full Fair Trade certification takes time, energy and money, so do work with some small NZ suppliers without certification that have transparent production processes.
Our ethically-made clothing also includes people producing locally in New Zealand or on small scales in OECD or EU countries with minimum labour standards including minimum wage and conditions for employees.
Planet
- We endeavour to stock as much 'Made in NZ' clothing as we can, to minimise the environmental impact of shipping.
- We endeavour to stock as much clothing made from organic fabric as we can. Such fabric is made from natural fibres that have been grown without any pesticides and other toxic materials, preserving the health of humans and the environment.
- Some of our clothing is custom-made in small runs for us. This is a way of encouraging quality and “slow fashion” over mass-produced disposable fashion.
- Because our clothing can be worn by all genders, its likelihood of being worn by more children is much higher. This reduces consumption.
- Some of our brands utilise recycled and fabric off-cuts. This helps prevent landfill.
- All our packaging is all made from recycled material, and it is either recyclable or biodegradable.
- We are continually looking for ways to minimise consumption and make our home and office more 'earth friendly'.
Ourselves
Locally, Freedom Kids is committed to doing what we can to minimise our impact on the environment:
- All paper waste is recycled, or used to start our woodburner for heating.
- 100% of our organic waste goes to either our chickens, our pig (and yes her name is Peppa!) or our compost.
- Toner cartridges are all recycled.
- All packaging we send out is made with recyclable or biodegradable material, and most of it is constructed with recycled material.