At Burgaya the process to ensure sustainable and slow fashion is as follows:
Design process
You choose a design and choose to get it made in a standardsize or tailored for you.
In this way we ensure the best fit – and therefore the most use – of the garment.
Textiles
All current and future collections are and will be made with organic fibers, harvested responsibly – or recycled textiles.
I always look for certifications and research the suppliers thoroughly.
The majority of textiles used for the newest collection good girl gone RIOT is made from organic cotton and all are dyed with biodegradable inks, with next to no use of water.
And there you go – slow, sustainable fashion.
Waste
We ensure minimum waste – as we don’t hold stock, and get textiles from suppliers with no minimum purchase requirements.
Apart from the abovementioned, the fabricsuppliers work with local water-waste managers and the fabricscraps or returned fabrics, are donated to designers or used as filling in furniture or isolation.
Sustainability is such a wide term. It concerns every aspect of a business – how you treat your employees, where you get your supplies from, clever design, down to the packaging and recycling in the stores.
That is why the focus at Burgaya is not only original design to make women feel empowered in their skin, but clever design and good craftsmanship.
We live in a world where everything is fastpaced – you can click home a poorlymade t-shirt in 2 days – you can even take fasttrack online degrees.
We are too busy and impatient, and it is hurting us mentally and our enviornment – it is not a sustainable way of living, and it is showing! Young people – the ones taking most advantage of this lifestyle – are proven to be more stressed and anxious than ever before!
We need to go back to appreciating the fruits of hard work and teach the young generations that it pays off in the long term and get away from the addiction to instant gratification.
Hard work pays off and can always be seen in the final product.
Good craftmanship lasts. Clever design lasts.
We just forgot how it feels like to wear a perfectly fittet garment. If the garment is well made, it will last through many washings and wears. If the garment is designed in a clever manner, it will last through years.
We need clothing that can be put together in different ways for different occasions – hot and cold weather. Clothing that can easily be tailored years after the purchase to fit into your current taste.
And that is Burgaya’s mission.
Ethical Fashion
This term is used to describe the human rights in the production of the fabrics and garments.
Examples of this could be; is their equipment safe? Do they get paid fairly? Do they work with harmfull chemicals? Are they insured properly? Do they have an active role in promoting a good development in the local communities? And so on..
Sustainable Fashion
Here we are talking about the enviornmental impact of the production.
Do they handle chemicals properly, in order to not polute the surrounding groundwater? How much water is used for production? What about microplastic from the artificially made fabrics?
Slow Fashion
This concerns the production of the actual garment, and is the opposite of fast fashion, which is fashion, produced quickly, cheap and in big quantities, and the brands doing this, often constantly release new collections – in oppose to slow fashion-houses who might just release two collections a year. Often pieces are handmade and of better quality than in fast fashion-houses.
There are also four stages to consider when thinking of fabrics:
1. The origin of the raw material – fx the growing of cotton, where lots of water and pesticides are used – which affects both the local communities, the farmer, flora and fauna.
2. Textile production – fx how many chemicals are used to make plastic feel as soft as real fur?
3. Dyeing, printing, washing and finishing – the designing and making of the garments.
4. Use and reuse – this concerns how it upholds its condition while being used – maybe it releases microplastics while being washed? And how is it able to be recycled properly so it doesn’t end up in the landfill? Is it biodegradable?
