What is Slow Fashion?
The slow fashion movement has been emerging amongst conscious designers for a little while now rejecting the fabrics, ethics and styles of the fast fashion industry. Born alongside the slow food movement, they both advocate for similar principles such as clean materials, minimal wastage, superior quality and care for producers.
Learn how we apply the slow fashion principles to our small business.
The majority of the fabric we work with is GOTS certified organic cotton. This is grown without the aid of pesticides or herbicides, and takes far less from the land than conventional cotton does. Ours is grown in India, and transported across the border to Nepal, where our designs are stitched.
Our loomed cotton fabric is woven in the Kathmandu Valley, almost next door to where it is dyed, and then stitched. It takes weeks to prepare and ready, and the finished fabric is durable, breathable and has a luxurious feel to the touch. The textured slub finish is unique to natural fibres and is a signature feature of our cotton.
Our goal is for your pieces to last you many years, and when no longer wearable can then be repurposed or recycled, or even composted.
There are three main types of dyes used in the clothing industry; synthetic (chemical rich) dyes, low impact dyes and natural (plant based) dyes. We use low impact dyes in our clothing designs, and natural plant based dyes in some of our smaller batch artisan accessories.
Our low impact dyes are far less harmful to both the planet and our bodies than regular, synthetic dyes are. Low impact dyes also have a higher absorption rate into the cotton fabric, meaning far less grey water runoff.
Our natural, plant based dyes are ... well, perfection. We use materials such as pomegranate skin, indigo, madder root and turmeric when we are able to use natural dyes.
All our wool (and wool felt) items are made using mulesing free sheep wool from New Zealand.
The RSPCA say, "Mulesing is a painful procedure that involves cutting crescent shaped flaps of skin from around a lamb's breech and tail using sharp shears designed
specifically for this purpose. The resulting wound, when healed, creates an area of bare, stretched scar tissue".
The rough, bare skin cannot be penetrated by flies or blowflies, meaning the lamb should not be affected by flystrike. The issue is that this is done without any type of anesthesia or pain relief.
We are listed in the Humane Society Better Wool Guide - see which other brands also source wool responsibly.
Since 2008, every Surya piece has been made by our trusted partner businesses in Kathmandu, Nepal. We don’t own a factory; instead, we work with established local businesses who run their own workshops and teams, and we’ve built these relationships over many years.
Our organic cotton partner is GOTS certified. The Global Organic Textile Standard doesn’t just check the cotton. Certified businesses must also meet strict social criteria, checked on-site by independent certifiers. These include no child or forced labour, safe and hygienic workplaces, reasonable working hours, workers’ right to join a union, and a requirement to measure the gap between their wages and a living wage and plan to close it.
Our loomed cotton partner has worked very hard in ethical clothing design + production in Kathmandu for 20 years now. Our beautiful loomed fabric is woven, dyed and stitched almost next door to each other in the Kathmandu Valley, which minimises carbon output significantly in international trade.
We travel to Nepal 1-2 times each year to work with our partners and oversee production. We’re so very proud of the people who help make Surya, and feel very lucky to work with partners who share our values.
Slow fashion means buying pieces that will last you more than one season in style, design and quality. Forget about pieces that fall apart in the wash or lose their shape, or that you buy simply because they are cheap or trending.
When respected reviewers Good On You explain what slow fashion means to them, they state "A slow fashion brand will release few, specific styles per collection, which are released twice or maximum three times per year."
We release 2 collections per year; a Winter and a Summer collection. We generally add to our existing collection rather than scrap and start again each year based on trending colours, designs or prints. Our designs are our own versions of respected older, classic styles ... pieces that do not go out of fashion and that you can wear year after year.
Whether it's a decent pair of overalls or dungarees, our take on everyone's favourite palazzo pants, the perfect wrap skirt or the ever popular cowl neck top - our pieces will lend themselves to any wardrobe and will not go out of fashion for many years. All our colours mix and blend well together, allowing our pieces to be part of a capsule wardrobe.
Many years ago we turned our attention to our online postage options and made the switch from Aus Post plastic to these amazing Better Packaging compostable biodegradable satchels. Made from corn starch and other plant based waste, you simply pop your satchel in your home compost after receiving your order and within 6 - 8 months you will be planting new trees in its soil.
Frankly, we LOVE this initiative from two New Zealand women, who have revolutionised the parcel postage industry.
Having wanted to document the production of our clothing in a little video for a while, the opportunity presented itself while on a trip in June 2016 – many years ago now! We followed our clothing from the weaving and dyeing of our fabric to the stitching of the individual piece – and everything in between.
We also wanted to showcase our beautiful Nepal, and the customs and culture that we have held so dear for so many years now. The end result is an homage to Nepal and her people, and how our clothing fits into that. Please enjoy the finished (4 minute) film below.
Thank you for supporting our small business.
Thank you for allowing us to continue to support small business in Nepal.
