The point of Maia is to create something amazing for moms: beautiful, comfortable, badass underwear you can nurse in. But a business is more than just a product, business comes with responsibilities.
We learned a manure truckload about apparel manufacturing and the impact of all the little choices made. We know what kind of company we want to be. We both are a little tree-huggy as it is and we knew that we wanted to bring our own values into our business.
So how do you make a sustainable lingerie business?
And I want to be clear, by sustainable, I mean environmentally, socially and financially. It takes all three to make a sustainable business. Most businesses focus on one or two prongs, but it takes all three to be actually, literally sustainable. All three require tradeoffs and hard decisions.
But we're here for it, because this is how it has to be.
I mean for fuck’s sake, we’re raising the next generation here, and we don’t want to leave them with our stinky shit to clean up, that would leave us with zero leverage when we want them to clean up theirs. And I want to be clear, being sustainable does not mean that you need to be all hippy granola and wear soft washed out colors and recycle your own urine. You can be a badass sexy bitch in high heels and care about exploitation.
We know one thing, we will not contribute to the problem with the same old bullshit that got us into this mess.
Having a gorgeous bralette company does not mean we have to be sustainable. There are no regulations. We don’t have to promise anything. But we believe that this is how business should be done, even if it’s harder or more expensive, because the costs of not doing the best we can are much more brutal.
There are a lot of ways to strategize about sustainability. Overall, we decided that the best way for us to minimize waste is to design for long-term wear. Maternity and nursing lingerie is generally cheap and intended for minimal use. It’s an especially short-lived garment if you hate its guts. We have carefully considered how to make our bras longer-lived - we want them to be worn throughout pregnancy, postpartum and beyond. Better for mama earth, better for your coin purse, better for your boobies (they prefer to trot around in something lovely).
So here we go, I'm going to walk you through some of the decisions that we've made to make things good for both your globes and...the globe (I will never ever stop making boob puns/euphemisms in these posts - you're welcome).
Materials
The supply chain for most of the clothing we buy is a black box. Take a look in your top drawer. Do you know where the fabric came from? Who made them? What conditions were they working in? Who doesn’t love a good mystery!
Sourcing materials as a start-up is hard. If you want to lessen our impact on the environment it’s fucking insane.
So here's what we've got:
We chose a nylon spandex blend for our bras for longevity. Nylon is the most hard-wearing choice out there, and spandex is what gives us the comfort, support and stretchiness we need for nursing.
Nearly all underwear produced anywhere is made with a nylon, polyester or cotton spandex blend, but since materials form the largest part of a garment’s environmental footprint we know we can do better, and are looking into recycled nylon and even recycled spandex for future production runs.
It’s a process.
Production
We decided early on that we wanted to produce locally. Finding a manufacturer with expertise and the right tools for lingerie in the US is, um, difficult. But if we take it overseas, how do we find a factory we trust to provide a safe and fair working environment when most contracts are made through agents? Should we produce more bras when we’re not sure which sizes and styles will sell and then risk them going to waste? These are the conundrums that plague our minds.
We are starting small and local with a factory right here in the Bay Area where we both live. We are so lucky to work with SFO apparel, who have a highly skilled workforce and make some phenomenal high-end athletic and swimwear. Visiting their clean, bright, well-organized factory is nothing short of delightful. It is non-negotiable for us to know that the people making our products have proper and safe working conditions, earn a living wage and have the right to unionize.
Wash and care
Consumer use (or misuse) and laundry forms the next biggest environmental impact of a garment after fabric production.
The most sustainable thing we can do after we buy a garment is to adore it, treat it like it’s precious and enjoy it as long as possible. That’s why we recommend washing our garments (and the rest of your laundry) on cold and hanging them up. Let those quick-dry materials do their thing, and your Maia bralette will be ready to wear again all speedy-like.
All garments release microfibers into wastewater when they are washed, although it’s been estimated that most are released in the first 5 washes. You can buy a GuppyFriend bag to help limit microplastic pollution in your wash.
This part's all up to you, you get to make your own decisions here. Yay decisions!
Packaging
It turns out that distribution makes up a much smaller part of our environmental footprint but because there are some great sustainable options out there, it’s one of those easy choices. We like easy choices.
For shipping, we’re using Sendle, a certified B Corp that offers carbon neutral shipping solutions.
Both Frances and I try to limit the amount of plastic waste we generate in our households and hate being bombarded with unnecessary packaging. We’re trying to use the minimum packaging that will protect your Maia bra as it’s winging it’s way to its new favorite boobs.
It’s wrapped all pretty in some of our custom designed tissue paper and sticker from noissue, both of which are recyclable and backyard compostable. The kraft mailer is from ecoenclose and is recycled, recyclable and backyard compostable. The hangtag is similarly recycled, recyclable and backyard compostable. The only thing you can’t drop right in the recycling is the twine, but it is backyard compostable, if you have such a thing.
Seriously, we took all of these little decisions seriously.
Perfectly sustainable is impossible, it’s just the bright shining star to shoot for. What we can do is take each individual decision and make the best of it. It’s messy, and there are trade-offs, but at the very least we promise to be transparent about our decisions and continue to try for better as we grow.
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