Commitment to Sustainability
With the exception of our elastic which is from a woman owned business in Canada, all materials from start to finish are from the US*. It’s no secret that transportation accounts for a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions, but cutting down on the carbon emissions associated with overseas shipping (specifically maritime shipping) greatly reduces the carbon footprint of our supply chain.
*I reached out to all of my suppliers to ensure that their materials were also from the US, and my thread supplier informed me that ALL nylon thread is manufactured overseas, predominantly in China, though my supplier is based in the US.
Swimwear is synthetic, and synthetic materials are made by humans through a chemical process (as opposed to being derived from natural fibers). This is inherently bad for the planet. So what do we do about it? Well for now, we talk about it.
All custom printed fabrics (our patterned fabrics) are printed with an OEKO-TEX certified process, which means the fabric has been tested for chemicals and substances that could be harmful to human and environmental health. These fabrics are printed using fiber reactive dyes (as opposed to pigment printing), which greatly reduces water and energy usage in the printing process. These fabrics are 83% Polyester, 17% Spandex. Our custom printed fabric supplier is in the US, and all operations are conducted out of their factory. We even double checked with them that their supply chain is all within the US.
Our solid fabrics come from a local Los Angeles fabric supplier, and they are predominantly made from post-consumer recycled yarn. These fabrics are 82% Recycled Polyester, 18% Spandex. They are also OEKO-TEX certified. Though they have never responded to our inquiries about their supply chain, we feel confident that they are as local + sustainable as possible.
Have you ever ordered something online and it comes packaged with a bunch of junk? Have you ever ordered something and it comes with the absolute bare minimum, and you were kind of hoping for a cute card or sticker? We feel you, and we want our packaging supplies to hit the sweet spot- not excessive, but still special, and with reuse in mind.
All packaging supplies are made from 100% recycled materials, meaning there are no virgin plastics being used. You can recycle tissue paper in our household bin, and the the poly mailer and sticker sheet wherever thin plastics are accepted (but we understand that's not likely to happen). “Reuse” comes before “recycle” in the 3 R’s of recycling, and we hope you will reuse our supplies before recycling them. Our poly mailers come with a built in second use, so you can keep the bag and use it the next time you need to ship something. Our tissue paper makes great gift wrap, scrapbooking paper, or even decoupage with a little mod podge. Our care cards double as sticker sheets, so you can add a fun touch to your junk journal, phone case, water bottle, or whatever the kids put stickers on these days. The opportunities are endless, and we want you to get creative!
Now for the kicker- textile waste and fast fashion. Worldwide, 80 billion pieces of clothing are purchased each year, and 85% of those pieces end up in a landfill annually. There are a myriad of systemic problems and macro shifts in consumer behavior that inform these statistics, but we don't want to follow trends and crank out a bunch of cheap product to try and keep up with our ever growing need for more STUFF.
We make every bikini to order to ensure there is no inventory sitting around that could potentially go to waste, and we hope you care for your bikini so that it can last forever. Additionally, we turn the scraps we do produce into scrunchies to further reduce waste.
We would eventually love to implement a mini circular economy, but we don't have the resources to make that a reality just yet... one day!
A huge component of sustainability is ethics- who is making your clothes? How much are they being paid? What are their working conditions like? Most brands that take their manufacturing overseas do so to lower costs and increase profit margins by choosing countries with little to no regulations or oversight in garment factories.
By purchasing from Black Dog Bikinis you never have to stay awake at night grappling with the ethics of your bikini production- I (Mallory, hello!) am making every single bikini with my own two hands in my lovely, sunlit San Clemente studio, probably listening to Taylor Swift or NPR and never without a fun bev and plenty of snacks nearby. I wish these were the conditions in which all articles of clothing were made.