Our Sustainability
More than a Brand. A Movement.
We Do Everything with Nature in Mind
We care about our planet from the beginning to the end: From raw material sourcing to educating our customers about sustainability.
Our goal is to create world's most sustainable clothing to:
- Let the industry know that real sustainability is obtainable.
- Let you, the customer, know what should be the sustainable fashion standard.
- Let nature know we truly care.
Our approach is to lead by example. By making sustainable fashion accessible and educating our customers about real sustainability and how clothes are made, we send a strong message to the fashion industry to make a change.
Our Sustainable Principles
We believe that greenwashing occurs when innovations are made in only one area of sustainability, while avoiding the others. The only way to create real sustainable fashion, and also how we create our clothes, is to make improvements in all three areas:
Transparency & Traceability
Transparency is the first step in making a change towards a more sustainable industry.
We aim to be 100% transparent with you. We are still at the very beginning and our current budget doesn't allow us to reach the desirable 100%. As a new brand, sharing all information could compromise the future of our business, but we give you our word that as a small brand and manufacturer, we make sure every process is aligned with our mission and vision. There are still ways which we can improve on and we're doing our best to get there fast.
We take full responsibility for our impact across the whole product lifecycle: impact on the environment, people and animals. We make sure that each stage of our supply chain, from raw materials to product disposal, have zero to minimal impact.
We pledge to disclose more information about our suppliers as soon as we position ourselves on the market.
Why Transparency Matters?
Transparency generates accountability of brands and their practises across the entire supply chain.
"Without transparency, achieving a sustainable, accountable, and fair fashion industry will be impossible. A lack of transparency perpetuates an exclusive system, where people are expected to trust brands who have continued to put profit and growth above all else. When brands publicly disclose information, it allows anyone to scrutinise their policies, hold them accountable for their claims and advocate for positive change."
- Fashion Revolution
Transparency & Traceability
Transparency is the first step towards making a change towards a more sustainable industry.
We always want to be 100% transparent with you. We are still at the very beginning and our current budget doesn't allow us to reach the desirable 100%. As a new brand, sharing all information could compromise the future of our business, but we give you our word that as a small brand and manufacturer, we make sure every process is aligned with our mission and vision. There are still ways which we can improve on and we're doing our best to get there fast.
Why Transparency Matters?
Transparency generates accountability of brands and their practises across the entire supply chain.
"Without transparency, achieving a sustainable, accountable, and fair fashion industry will be impossible. A lack of transparency perpetuates an exclusive system, where people are expected to trust brands who have continued to put profit and growth above all else. When brands publicly disclose information, it allows anyone to scrutinise their policies, hold them accountable for their claims and advocate for positive change."
- Fashion Revolution
We take full responsibility for our impact across the whole product lifecycle: impact on the environment, people and animals. We make sure that each stage of our supply chain, from raw materials to product disposal, have minimal impact.
We pledge to disclose more information about our suppliers as soon as we position ourselves on the market.
Compostable Packaging
Sustainability and plastic packaging don't go together, which is why we made sure to find an alternative solution to regular plastic bags that can take up to 500 years to decompose.
We use compostable bags from Better Packaging Co. to ship our products to our customers worldwide. The bags are made from corn starch, plant-based Polylactide (PLA) and Polybutyrate Adipate Terephthalate (PBAT).
We are still searching for a more sustainable option that is entirely free of petroleum.
Efficient Waste Management
Fabric
No fabric goes to waste at Aya. When we cut fabric to make our products, we store all the leftover material in our production center to reuse it for different products. In near future, you will be able to shop a collection created out of this waste material.
Chemicals
We make sure everything is done and made using non-toxic chemicals to prevent water and landfill pollution. We use materials that are certified by international ecological standards, but we are aware that certificates do not ensure complete sustainability and non-toxicity, which is why we are always searching for more eco-friendly alternatives.
Our Emissions
CO2
As a single origin manufacturing brand we manage to keep our carbon emission extremely low. We source raw materials and produce our entire collection in Peru. The only international shipping happens when the garments are ready to be sent to you, and we ship them to our distribution centers in Los Angeles and Amsterdam.
We are planning to calculate our CO2e within 2022 or 2023.
Single Origin Manufacturing Brand
We are a small-scale manufacturing brand and we carry all steps of our production within one country: Peru. We own our production facility in Lima, Peru.
Our Supply ChainWater Usage
Most water consumption happens during Organic Pima Cotton farming and processing, and garment dyeing. Using Organic Cotton over Conventional allows us to save over 2,000 litres of water per every T-Shirt made.
The waste water used to dye our garments with natural dyes is reused and used as irrigation water for new dye plants, only leaving a minimum amount of effluents behind.
Our Progress
Even though we are just at the beginning of our journey towards making world's most sustainable clothing, we have already achieved a lot.
In our first months we have:
- Removed all plastic materials from our products.
- Made 100% biodegradable clothes.
- Implemented plant-based natural dyes.
- Found a natural alternative for elastic bands.
Our Goals
We have come a long way but we know we can do even better. These are some of our goals we aim to reach within the upcoming months and years.
- Use only natural dyes to create 100% biodegradable clothing.
- Find a natural substitute for silicone fabric finishing.
- Calculate our exact CO2 emissions and water usage.
- Educate the world about real sustainability and change how fashion is made.
What Makes Us Different?
The biggest differentiator between us and other "sustainable" brands is that we truly care about the environment more than anything else.
We have dedicated several months of our work to researching sustainability to fully understand the problems that occur in the fashion industry, including raw material sourcing, toxicity of textile ingredients and components, manufacturing processes, supply chain, circularity, and disposal of garments. And we are continuously learning more about sustainable practises to bring you the best product.
We Are Part of "I'm Plastic Free"
As a plastic-free brand we partnered up with I'm Plastic-Free to help people find new ways to reduce plastic use and microplastic pollution.
"We dream of the day the ocean can say: I’m Plastic Free."
Our Carbon Footprint & Water Usage
Although we are not able to give you exact numbers, we can assure you that our carbon footprint is much lower than regular fashion brand's emissions.
What produces carbon emissions in our supply chain:
- Fiber Production
Peruvian Organic Pima Cotton production and processing is what contributes the most to our footprint.
Organic cotton produces 46% less CO2e than conventional cotton (Life Cycle Assessment), and according to the WWF, it takes 2,700 litres of water to produce the cotton needed for just one t-shirt, whereas organic cotton only uses 243 litres. - Textile Making
Garment production in our Peruvian production studio requires electricity for the machines and light, and small amounts of water for textile dyes, finishing, and washing. - Brand Management
We do not own any offices or other facilities, except for our production studio. All of our Marketing team and Management work 100% from home.