‘Developing a deep understanding about the people crafting our clothes is a vital part of who we are.’

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past four years, it’s that building responsibly made clothes is no easy task. Developing a deep understanding about the people crafting our clothing and the conditions surrounding them is a vital part of this, which is why we’ve made such a huge commitment to assure fair labor practices are being implemented throughout our supply chain. We’re proud and humbled to announce that last month our social accountability program was fully accredited by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), the leading global organization for implementing internationally recognized labor standards.

By patterning our supply chain processes around FLA guidelines, we were able to reach full accreditation in two-and-a-half-years, faster than any other clothing brand in history. In fact, we began working with the FLA before ever shipping a product, an acknowledgement that every decision we make, from selecting suppliers to building new products, keeps workers’ rights and safety top of mind.

Accreditation however, is not the end goal for us. As Shelly Gottschamer, our Chief Sustainability Officer, points out we want our supply chain to become a model for the rest of the industry, creating a blueprint for other brands to embrace sustainability.

“We definitely want to be a standard bearer; to show other companies who are on this journey that this is the road to take.”

She also stresses that accreditation is only a single point on a longer journey to bring sustainability to all.

“(Accreditation) validates the work we’ve done. There’s still more to do but this means we’re on the right path.”




December 12, 2017 — Outerknown Journey