Manisfesto
We are part of the and this is our manifesto. Our mission, our values. This is what we live by every day here at blonde gone rogue.
We produce everything in our founders' home town - Ruse, Bulgaria. The town has a booming . We partner only with small factories that offer good and safe working conditions and can declare that they pay their employees above the living wage standard. But when it comes to ethics, we always like to make sure things are impeccable. That's why Deni - our Chief visits the factory before and during production - to meet the production team, to spend time with them and to make sure the working conditions indeed live up to our standards.
Sustainable materials
Our utmost priority after ethical production is the and of our materials. We'll be honest - it's not easy to find sustainable materials out there. It's even harder to find sustainable materials that are affordable and match our product price-point. But we believe that every problem has a solution and here are the types of sustainable materials that we use:
Up-cycled
Around 80% of our fabrics are up-cycled end-of-roll materials. These are incomplete rolls of fabrics left from other productions that we find abandoned in factories or warehouses in Bulgaria and Italy. There are hundreds, maybe millions of tonnes of being abandoned like this. Creating new from these materials is one of the most sustainable ways to produce new . We practically take materials that are perfectly good, and often of very high-quality, and we give them a second life.
Another 15% of our products are made from . O is much more sustainable and ethical than conventional . Growing uses more pesticides than any other crop in the world. These pesticides are that poison workers and the soil. is grown naturally, without the usage of these , thus protecting workers and the land.
We love . There's nothing more sustainable than repurposed old stuff. are still quite hard to find but we have managed to produce a series of T-shirts from recycled fibres and we are constantly on the lookout for more.
Cupro
A few of our designs are made from cupro. Cupro is a unique also known as vegan silk. Its comes from the plant, however, the fibres used for cupro are too thin and gentle to be used in the production of . That's why they are often thrown away. However, there fibres can be turned into a beautiful fabric. Cupro is so great because it is as soft as silk but breathes like cotton, so perfect for the summer!
Being transparent, as much as we can
How do you know that what we say is true? As an we are very weary of greenwashing. That's why in 2019 we decided to launch The Blonde Chain. The Blonde Chain is our transparency solution that gives you visibility in our production process. Do we know every single detail about our materials? Honestly, no. Especially the ones that we up-cycle. But everything that we know - we will make it visible to you, too. This is how we are challenging the whole to stop hiding behind green marketing campaigns and make their operations visible to customers.
Exceptional Quality and Attention to Detail
Durability of our clothes is of the essence. The most sustainable is the one that lasts many years, the one that can be passed on from one friend to another, from one family member to the next. That's why Deni - our Chief , makes sure to source the best quality materials and spends countless hours in our factory during the production process. She makes sure every detail is perfect, every cut and stitch exactly the right way.
shouldn't be a
Our dream is to have take over . This is only possible if the majority of customers can actually afford to buy . This is why we are continuously working towards making our products more affordable. Do we think we can reach the prices of ? No, not really. First, we have committed to paying our workers above the living wage - something that a number of fast fashion brands don't do at the moment. Second, we source high-quality sustainable fabrics - these materials are inherently more expensive than the materials used by fast fashion. Nevertheless, we are certain we can get close enough to turn from a product to a product that is very accessible to shoppers worldwide.
Nothing belongs to a previous collection
We love every single item that we produce and we absolutely refuse to burn or throw away items left from previous collections. If it's in our warehouse, it'll be on our website and it'll stay there until it sells out. This is our counteraction to 's 'now or never' selling tactics. We don't want to push our customers to buy on the spot - we actually encourage them to think well before every purchase they make and to only buy items that they would love and wear for a long time.