WHY WORKING WITH CERTIFIED CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS REALLY MATTERS

Looking for the right clothing manufacturers can be daunting. Anyone can jump online and find a factory to manufacture a product for them. In today’s digital world, everything is just a click away – but should finding your certified clothing manufacturer be that easy?

There are many, unfortunately true, stories out there about the poor working conditions and extremely low, even unlivable, wages that some factories expose their workers too. In fact, while it’s not something many people like to contemplate, the truth is that there are many clothing manufacturers that exploit children in order to keep production costs low and ultimately, keep the retail price low for consumers.

Fast fashion is certainly still in demand – however, the exploitation that occurs through production to finished product in order to keep prices so low is not worth the real, human cost.

This doesn’t immediately mean you need to rule out an offshore manufacturer in order to remain ethical. In fact, there are many pros to producing your clothing internationally, in countries like China, Bali or India; with only one of these being lower costs for production. Other positives include access to a wide variety of sustainable fabrics, quality and adoption of the ‘slow fashion’ ethos.

If a key part of your brand’s ethos is to produce your clothing ethically and consciously, then we will absolutely support you in this mission. We have been building relationships across the fashion industry that all work with similar values, collectively sharing the responsibility of being more conscious about the footprint we leave when producing garments.

Visionise is passionate about helping fashion brands move into an area of fashion that is conscious of the human and environmental costs the industry can leave in its wake. We want you to be able to confidently answer some key questions:

Where is my product being produced?

How is my product being produced?

Who is producing my product?

We work with a small pool of manufactures that we trust and have worked with over many years. While they share in the conscious and ethical values we’ve discussed, they also have broad and unique offerings, so you can partner with the right certified manufacturer for your fashion brand.

While the commitment to conscious and ethical manufacturing means we can’t guarantee we can take on every product type, we can say that the factories we work have the upmost respect for the brands that come onboard. All of our certified manufacturing partners work very hard to maintain ethical factories, deliver excellent quality, meet timelines and communicate openly.

Working with a certified manufacturer means the cost of your garment is going toward materials, wages and decent working conditions. It means the employee working on the inseam of your pants gets a lunch break and isn’t forced to work excessive overtime or risk losing their livelihood. Certified manufacturers protect and respect the rights of children, ensuring no children are used for labour and that workers are paid a decent wage, which can support themselves and their families.

Why do we keep our pool of certified clothing manufacturers so small?

It has taken years of experience to confidently guarantee that our certified manufacturers can uphold these ethical standards. We want to ensure we are keeping up to date with certifications, where product is being produced and the quality of the product. If we move to a volume model, we risk this level of diligence falling by the wayside and unintentionally endorsing a manufacturer that does not follow the conscious and ethical standards we expect.

No one can guarantee a seamless and completely stress free production experience; there are many elements to production that are not always consistent. However, with the guidance and assistance of Visionise we can help you avoid many of the pitfalls and stressors (especially as we’ve already done the initial vetting for you). Our goal is to help make it easier for your brand to move into conscious production with a purpose.