our story

fresh tees with a social conscience

It was important to us that we didn't just create any old fashion brand. We wanted to create a brand that was socially responsible.

WHY?

The fashion industry has become problematic for our planet.

Have you ever bought something only to quickly decide you don’t like it? Or maybe it starts to fall apart soon after you buy it? Have you ever found a crazy good deal on an item of clothing - like so cheap you wonder how could they even produce it for that much? And you buy because... well... its such good bargain.

These are all symptoms of the fast fashion industry. An industry that for many reasons, is socially and environmentally unsustainable.

The rate at which we are producing, consuming, and discarding clothing is putting a serious strain on the planet.

The industry is responsible for high carbon emissions, wastewater production, and large amounts of landfill waste. Fast fashion is second only to oil as the world’s largest polluter.

The social costs are equally high. Unsafe working conditions are common. Garment factory workers often work extremely long hours with minimal pay.

So what can you do?

Buy from fashion brands dedicated to sustainable and ethical production principles.
Buy 100% organic rain fed cotton garments
Buy high quality products that will stand the test of time. And wear them.
Buy from fashion brands that support manufacturing employees receiving a living wage for their work.

We stand by these principles and are proud to have collaborated with Little Yellow Bird who do too.

THE FULL DISCLOSURE

Not all organic cotton is created equally. Little Yellow Bird sets the bar high. Here's why...

COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

The cotton is exclusively organic, traceable right back to the farms that grew the crop. Instead of using toxic pesticides and fertilisers the farmers rely on crop rotation and natural fertilisers to keep the soil fertile and pest free.

The cotton is exclusively rain-fed, grown during the rainy seasons. Cotton production can be harmful to the environment when it is produced outside of the wet season as it requires large quantities of water to produce.

Little Yellow Bird use only non-toxic, AZO free, GOTS certified dyes and ensure the wastewater is filtered, cleaned and reused. In fact, 95% of the water used in the drying process is returned back to drinking quality with the remaining 5% being used in bricks and road materials.

Fashion accounts for 20 to 35 percent of microplastic flows into the ocean and ultimately into the foodchain. Choosing organic cotton or other natural fibres helps combat this problem.

COMMITMENT TO ETHICAL PRODUCTION

Little Yellow Bird doesn't just meet the minimum legal requirements, they exceed them.

they work with the best ethical factories they can find - they are all GOTS or Fairtrade certified.

The minimum working age is strictly 18 (unlike other manufacturers).

Factories are regularly audited to ensure they satisfy the high standard of social and sustainability requirements.

Little Yellow Bird ship as many of their products by sea freight - even though this takes much longer to arrive.

OUR CONTRIBUTION

How can we top Little Yellow Bird? Well we can't! But here are some things we are doing to help:

Using only NZ based suppliers to minimise the environmental cost of shipping the components that make up your tee from place to place before they arrive in your pretty little hands.

We have our tees printed locally in Tauranga so we can pick them up on our way past.

We ship using eco courier bags that can be composted in your home compost bin.

Our print materials are printed on Eco 100 post consumer recycled paper and recycled sticker paper stock.

We just brought a hybrid car to ferry ourselves around in our business - it's ugly but environmentally awesome!

Thanks for helping us do our bit in creating a sustainable and socially responsible fashion brand.

Much love,

TNT xx