Sustainability.
First of all, we are a work in progress. The Sydney Harbour Bridge wasn’t built in a day!
The most sustainable thing you can do, is wear the clothes you buy.
Think quality over quantity.
If it doesn’t fit, nobody wants it, so it’s best we start here first!
We are crazy fit testers. Like super crazy! Boyfriends, girlfriends, cousins, neighbours. We fit test on lots of shapes to get the best fit.
Again, you can only please some of the people some of the time. Sorry, there are too many of you for us to fit every garment to your particular shape. Hopefully you choose carefully and pick the ones that do!
If garments are not fit tested properly and they do not fit- then nobody wants them and “yes” they end up in landfill.
We buy in small runs in order not to over produce.
Small producers really try hard to produce just the right amount. If we sell out, then please be patient. We may bring this item back. Good things come to those who wait!
We visit all our factories, and know all of our makers personally.
It’s so much easier to work with makers you know and like. Plus it’s more fun! We find good product comes from good makers, so we go into stealth mode to seek out the good ones.
We also make it clear that they are not to overproduce. We explain the process to them and our company ethos. Everyone wants to get behind something good, right?!
Our makers will wash, clean, and stitch any faultys they find when they're going through the QC process.
We tell our makers not to discard any faultys in the quality control process… fix them and send them.
If we still receive a faulty at this end we take the same approach. Our team in Australia will fix them.
This is why supporting small companies is so great. They can do all this stuff!
Buttons! We call it the B word.
It’s really bad that every garment is sent out has a spare button. How many millions and millions of buttons have just been tossed? Seriously, have you ever stitched one back on?! Exactly our point!!
Titchie does not include spare buttons with 99% of our garments. If you need one, contact us. We do order a few spares just incase.
The only time we include a spare button is if it's covered - as these are hard to come by.
We use recycled paper on our swing tags, and biodegradable packaging.
We ship our Titchie parcels in Australia Post satchels. These are made from 80% recycled plastic and Australia Post purchases carbon credits to offset the emissions of each delivery.
If you need to return your order to us, we encourage you to reuse the Australia Post satchel you received your order in. Then once received at our end, we will make sure it is recycled.
We recycle all our shipping cartons and use them to send out goods to our retailers. The damaged or balance go in a carton recycling bin.
We love natural fabrics, and they are better for the planet, so it’s a no brainer!
Yes, organic or better cotton are sustainable practices and what we strive for, so we have lots of fabrics in development. Some will be successful, and some will not.
We are not going to offer you a thin organic t-shirt or better cotton t-shirt that wears out twice as fast as our regular t-shirting, because that means you will be buying twice as many.
Not only will be spending more on garments, freight, and packaging to send it, but it also takes a lot more water and dye, no matter how safe the practice, to produce two t-shirts instead of one.
Lots of research into new practices and training makers to adapt and understand is a grueling part of the process, but we are on it!
Sustainable fibres that last are important.
There’s a lot of fab stuff going on with fashion in regard to the environment.
However, on the flipside there is also a lot of “green washing” - big statements that may or may not be true about companies preaching sustainability.
We find it hard to believe companies are being truly sustainable when they have big DFO’ stores full of product they overbought.
If you have goods going to landfill then you are not being truly sustainable - it does not matter whether they are made of organic cotton or any other sustainable fibre.
Overproducing endless new ranges every month and buying too much stock is not sustainable. Just saying…
We are taking a long-term approach.
We are doing lots of the little things that add up to a lot, and have less impact.
Once upon a time people bought and wore their clothes, handed them down, shared them or worst case -
Sent them to the second-hand shop and they picked up a bit of cash from someone who chose to love it as much as they did!
This is our vision for Titchie.
Never throw us out!
If your Titchie eventually has a near death experience and ends up with a big stain or tear, we will allow you to give it the “green dream” and cut it up into cleaning rags. That’s as bad as it should get!
We make a conscious effort to never throw Titchie away.
If we no longer have use for samples, we donate these pieces to charity.
We also support a number of charitable organisations whose work we believe makes a difference. We will continue to honour our commitment throughout 2023 and beyond.
There is loads more we can do to be better, and we will.
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas be sure to contact us.