I am so excited to be giving you a sneak-peek into The Australian Sustainable and Ethical Fashion Guide (coming in October 2021). Bird & Kite are a gorgeous Aussie brand, foundered by Jodi Gibbs, who has generously shared a bit of the Bird & Kite story. This is an extended version of what you will find in the guide, it is wonderful to see how much can be done to become a sustainable and ethical brand. Bird & Kite are a perfect example of transparency from start to end point.

How and why was your brand created?

I guess it naturally evolved. To be honest, I wasn’t ambitious to start a brand. It wasn’t planned. Making clothes is part of my DNA. From as early as I can remember I helped my Mum make all our clothes. We lived a sustainable life out in the middle of the bush and we had to create what we needed for ourselves. So I’ve been sewing and making clothes from a young age.

Later this evolved into a passion. As a teenager, I spent hours in second-hand opportunity stores buying clothes and cutting them up to make my own creations. I also developed a huge vintage collection which is still a constant source of inspiration. Friends would always ask me if I could make them one of my creations. Eventually and organically, it turned into Bird & Kite! I’m still stunned that I get to do what is essentially my passion and obsession every day and also bring a lot of joy to the people wearing Bird & Kite. I feel blessed.

What sustainable practices, ethics and choices set you apart from the fast-fashion industry?

It’s important to know that this keeps changing and evolving as new opportunities for improvement become available to us. It’s not static. At this point in time our contributions towards a more sustainable practice are as follows.

CULTURE OVER COMMERCE – We choose to produce from Bali working with small family operated businesses and makers. This is a country where culture is more important than commerce. It is sometimes very difficult to produce our garments to schedule amongst all the religious and cultural festivals and holidays throughout the week and year…when all work stops and makers are unavailable! However, this preservation of Bali’s vibrant culture is so important and we love supporting that.

SMALL BATCH PRODUCTION – We produce in small batches rather than mass production. So we are producing limited numbers that sell out quickly. We prefer to produce directly for our customer’s needs rather than over production that ends up in landfill.

SLOW FASHION KEEPING ARTISAN CULTURE ALIVE – We use ancient and handmade manufacturing techniques and practices such as hand silk screen printing (a 2000-year-old printing process), hand batch dyeing, hand cut fabrics, hand operated knitting looms & hand stitched embroidery. The human element to these handmade practices slows down the speed of production. In addition, the weather can make the difference in the colours when dyeing and printing, too much rain can affect the printing and dyeing colours and too much sun can do the same. It is a very organic process. With all this combined, this truly is the nature of slow fashion.

MINIMISING WASTE – We believe waste is a design flaw. We do not allow waste to occur. We use every scrap of fabric that would otherwise end up on the cutting room floor and then go into landfill. Out of our fabric offcuts we make scrunchies which we then give to our customers with every order. We also donate any other leftover fabric scraps to Balinese women who use those fabric scraps to weave “rag rugs” which they then sell to support their families. So everyone can benefit.

SAYING NO TO PLASTIC – We have eliminated all use of plastic from manufacturer through to packaging and distribution. We use biodegradable compostable bags made from Cassava plant to package our garments and then they are sent to customers in compostable “DIRT BAG” satchels. All our packaging is biodegradable or recyclable and using sustainable plant dye printing.

ETHICAL LABOUR – We have a quote pinned to our design board at the office that says “Demand quality, not just in the products you make, but in the life of the person who made it”. For us, it has been a major focus to ensure that our makers are being taken care of.

Our main focus points & criteria we insist on for Makers of Bird & Kite products are:
– No child or underage labour
– Fair payment of a living wage
– Safe, healthy and working conditions
– Reasonable hours of work
– No harassment, abuse or discrimination
– No forced Labour
– Supporting religious and cultural practices
– Women’s rights observed
– Support of working mothers
– Support and respect for community values and religious attendance

ENGAGING WITH WORLD AROUND US. SUPPORTING PROJECTS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO US – We have partnered with i=Change to donate $1 from every sale​ to fund projects that empower and protect women and girls and to protect our environment. At checkout, customers are able to choose from one of three projects we are currently funding, to have a voice about where that $1 will go. We believe that all businesses and citizens have a duty to care for people who have less than us and for our planet.

What have been the biggest challenges for you and your brand?

Fashion is a competitive industry in the first place, so adding the extra challenge of succeeding whilst also staying socially aware and ethically conscious is a difficult balance to strike. The biggest barrier is that it’s difficult to make all the conscious choices I want to make for my brand, simply because the resources are not there, the products are not available or it’s not financially possible to make happen. That can be disheartening and makes me understand why brands often choose the path of least resistance, because conscious choices are hard to make. They require commitment and financial resources.

It’s my hope that this problem changes and that more conscious options become available and affordable for everyone…including brand owners. However, these are not reasons to give up and not be active in making conscious choices that ARE achievable. I feel like it’s an ever-changing, evolving landscape for us and we are always looking for new ways within our reach that we can adopt into our current ethical practice. It’s a journey into sustainability. A journey that won’t end because there is no end to it. It’s something we must keep working towards.

How do you address the narrative and resistance around the affordability of sustainable and ethical fashion? 

I think that this is a tide that is starting to turn as the general public are becoming more concerned about our future on this planet and more aware about the footprint that the fashion industry leaves. I am finding that people are looking for meaning in their purchases and expect more transparency and accountability from brands these days. With that comes a little more understanding that due to the economy of scale, slow fashion does cost more to produce than fast fashion.

If I’m honest, we really don’t have many customers pushing back about our price points, as I think we have managed to offer our customers a variety of price points that are very inclusive and do not alienate our customer base. We have done this intentionally by taking less margin on some items. We want slow fashion to be accessible to all, rather than foster this idea that conscious shopping choices are only available to the wealthy. Having said this, in the few cases we have received push back, we have gently reminded the customer that all the conscious choices we make as a brand do cost us more than taking the easy road. Receiving pushback is an opportunity to educate our customer base in a respectful and kind way. Mostly, I find that once this is explained customers are understanding and appreciate the explanation.

Do you see any major changes occurring in the fashion industry over the next 5-10 years? What do you hope for?

​I think that we will see less and less fast fashion as more customers are becoming more discerning in their shopping choices…choosing quality over quantity to put in their closets. I think we will see more transparency from brands as the market starts to expect this. I would really like to see governments start to place more restrictions. For example, if single use plastic was banned worldwide this would have a huge impact on fast fashion packaging and, in turn, more options for compostable packaging available on the market. This is just one example of how policy on a government level can drag fast fashion, kicking and screaming, into the future of fashion. I would like to see more affordable options available to brands to make the conscious practices more accessible. I think this will happen in the next 5 to 10 years. 

We are seeing more brands offering pre-order/pre-purchase options to their online customers, which is something we started doing in 2020. This ensures that we are only producing exactly what the customer needs rather than over production that ends up in landfill. I think we will see this more in brand’s business models. 

I’m quite excited by the option to recycle fabric. I see this is an industry that is just at its grass roots but will become more mainstream in the next decade. This will allow brands, or customers alike, to donate unworn clothes to fabric recycling plants, who then create recycled fabric that can be used again. This would dramatically reduce the constant consumption and creation of virgin fabrics that use up diminishing resources and ultimately end up in landfill. 

At the very least, I think we will see a big change in consumer choices with a much more educated and concerned general public.

I love hearing from brands about the things they are doing to lead change. Jodi’s passion and drive to make change is inspiring and it makes me hopeful too. I hope as brands and consumers start to educate themselves it can drive change. Yes, we need to see changes in government policy and the next 5-10 years are crucial to the future of fashion. I am incredibly grateful to brands like Bird & Kite for paving the way and showing what is possible.

You can find Bird & Kite at birdandkite.com and on Instagram @birdandkite. You will be able see them featured in The Australian Sustainable and Ethical Fashion Guide. To be notified when the guide is available please subscribe below.

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