This week, Amy Powney, creative director of the brand Mother of Pearl wrote an article in Vogue entitled, 'Is my woolly jumper from a happy sheep?'
Amy, who is on a mission to make her label Mother of Pearl truly sustainable raises the very important point that while clothing labels have to state 'where' a garment is manufactured, it is not required to say from where the raw materials have come.
Equally, just because a garment is made from wool that is spun in Italy, Spain or Britain, it does not mean that there is a full understanding of exactly where and from what farms that yarn has originated.
At Navygrey, we believe in transparency from source to shop. The road to such traceability has not been an easy one and it's also one of the main reasons why it takes us so long to bring each individual jumper to market. And for this - we thank you for your patience!
We work in partnership with our Mill in Italy to control the entire supply chain. With their commitment to true transparency they help to ensure that all the fibre lots of wool that go into marking our jumpers come from farms that do not practice or have ceased mulesing.
What's more, the Mill works directly in partnership with SustainaWool - which promoted sustainable production of superfine wool in Australia - with an emphasis on encouraging wool being produced under natural pastoral conditions with the highest regard to the environment and the animal.
Every time we place an order of wool for our knitwear, there is a paper trail right back to the farms - so we know exactly from where our wool has come.
To have a fully traceable supply chain like this takes time and it costs a lot more to manage. However at Navygrey, we are passionate about the importance of transparent, sustainable and ethical practices. It is integral to our ethos and brand and we would not have it any other way. The little squiggly line under our logo symbolises our commitment to traceability from source to shop - and from this we will not waiver.
As Amy concludes in her Vogue article - 'the issue of transparency is big - and one I will spend my life fighting for legislation on.'
We're right with you Amy.
Rachel - Founder, Navygrey
