New Zealand Fashion

The Elk Transparency Report 2019 collates years of a thorough inquiry into the Elk supply chain – which is no mean feat.

“The process of providing transparency requires you to interrogate your entire supply chain,” explains Elk co-founder Marnie Goding.

“The greatest impact of producing fashion happens early in the process – at the farms and in the forests and it is our priority personally and professionally to understand the impact of what we make on the environment, the people and the communities we make it.” The 124-page Elk Transparency Report came about after co-founders Marnie Goding and Adam Koniaras conducted a routine visit to a supplier in The Philippines and were faced with an ethical dilemma.

Unable to convince this manufacturer to change their ways, Elk decided to cease working with them and have dedicated the last five years of business to unearthing every facet of its supply chain.

The Elk Transparency Report is an in-depth and concise account, detailing where and how all Elk products are made and by whom.

In addition to this, 92% of Elk’s materials come from natural or renewable resources and 83.7% of ELK permanent employees are female.

By providing complete business transparency – from internal operations, to the fabrications and materials used, and listing tier one suppliers, Elk is holding itself accountable.

“Sharing our transparency report acts as a public statement around our commitment to running a business with honesty and integrity. We are the drivers of our brand, we create impact doing what we do and so we have a moral obligation to operate transparently, to investigate our supply chain and to produce responsibly.”

Four New Zealand fashion labels are demonstrating clothing manufacturing and ethics can go hand in hand.

Kowtow, Icebreaker, Liminal, and Freeset received A grades for their ethical manufacturing practices, in the 2019 Ethical Fashion Report and Guide released today by Tearfund.

The report grades fashion companies around the world on their efforts to address worker exploitation in the factories that produce their clothes.

Almost 30 New Zealand companies featured in the report with AS Colour, Kathmandu and Nature Baby also receiving high grades.

Companies are assessed at three critical stages of the supply chain – raw materials, inputs production, and final stage production.

In the past year, 38% of companies improved their overall grade, including The Warehouse, Ruby, and K&K. Farmers’ score fell, to an F. Overseas brands with stores here, like H&M, Gorman and Lululemon scored between B and A. Some prominent Kiwi brands chose not to participate in the survey for the report, so researchers assessed them on publicly available information.

Kate Sylvester has put resources into a fashion industry collective instead, co-founding Mindful Fashion, “To support the local garment industry and create benchmarks for ethical clothing production in New Zealand”.

Tearfund noted the high number of New Zealand companies that received low grades and emphasised that more and more consumers want to know how their clothing is made.

New Zealand Fashion

Inside The Elk Transparency Report

Which NZ design brands evaluated best in the 2019 Ethical Fashion Report?