Kelli Donovan is the founder and head designer of Pure Pod, an Australian fashion label that is dedicated to ethical fashion:
“We run our small Eco Luxury Fashion Label from our house near Byron Bay in Australia. In the day-to-day running of our office and production studio, we recycle all paper products, plastic & glass.
Most importantly, we re-use whatever we can – we recycle packaging boxes from the local supermarket, all our material scraps are saved and made into “One Off” designs, used for mattress stuffing or given to local schools for craft projects.”
“We use a combination of 100% post-consumer recycled paper and partially post-consumer recycled paper for our office printing and we use a combination of soy-based ink with waterless printing and just-in-time digital printing for our swing tags. We are conscious to use minimal packing supplies and whenever possible we will reuse supplier boxes for freight. In terms of general consumables, we use recycled toilet paper, compact fluorescent light bulbs, re-manufactured printer cartridges (when appropriate to our needs) and eco-friendly cleaning products.
We also use human powered transportation to and from the studio as much as possible – walking or riding our bikes. We run our studio on “Green Energy”, supplied by Country Energy which is generated from solar, wind and hydro sources. We have 3 chickens that eat the majority of our scraps and we have a lovely Vegetable Garden, that supplies us almost year round.
We try to buy locally wherever possible to limit the emissions given out by travel and freight. We also use, where feasible, local business’s for all our needs, such as screen printing, pattern making, pattern cutting, sample making, admin services and mentoring, thus supporting the local economy.
Pure Pod is not registered with any Carbon Neutral business. At Pure Pod, we believe that it is up to each individual business to understand, change, and put in place effective measures to minimise one’s “Carbon Footprint”. We believe that the first step toward a sustainable business is sustainable business practice. Paying for carbon credits should be the last resort for minimizing the environmental footprint.”
After 15 years working in the “Fast Fashion”, Kelli saw first hand the immense waste created by the industry and decided that she had to do something about changing not only the industry, but the way people purchase clothing.
Beautiful natural fabrics were becoming available, and Kelli saw the need for a stylish and contemporary label within the Eco-Fashion market, that was not only sustainable, but was Transeasonal and Timeless, to compete against the Fast Turnaround and Quick Change Fast Fashion that appears and disappears every couple of months, only to end up as land fill. Thus Pure Pod was born in 2007.
To find out more visit: Pure Pod
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