Behind the Brand: Ilk + Ernie
In the words of the brand:
"We want you to feel good in our items knowing that they you are also doing good for the planet. All our garments are made with surplus fabric and our cut offs are used to create accessories - helping to reduce waste in our production line."
"We are very aware of the overconsumption and excess production issues around the globe at the moment - Zara produce 3 billion garments a year! Therefore at Ilk + Ernie, we only produce two collections a year that are refined to no more than 10-15 styles. It’s important to us that we aren’t encouraging bad shopping habits within our community. Instead, we aim to encourage transeasonal styling, through our fun versatile designs. Simply put our garments can be worn all year round, just get creative with your wardrobe!
All our collections are designed in-house at our studio in Brighton by Jess and ethically made by a talented team of men and women in Deli, India. They receive all of the amazing treatment that a lot of us take for granted: fair wages, holiday pay, health insurance, safe working environments and EU standard working hours."
"Ilk + Ernie garments are made with surplus fabric. Larger fashion corporations throw away huge quantities of fabric every season. Surplus fabric is considered dead stock, waste fabric, that if not bought by brands like Ilk + Ernie, would end up in landfill polluting the ground, or incineration polluting the air.
Every season, Jess travels to India and spends weeks trawling markets and warehouses where these fabrics are cast off. We purchase, recycle and re-use these disposed fabrics by taking them off the street and turning them into the clothes you see on our website! This hugely reduces our carbon footprint and helps save thousands of litres of water and greenhouse emissions every year."
"We not only want to reduce waste with the fabric we use, but in our factory's supply chain as well. Once a year, left over samples and unused garments from all the brands working with our factory are collected and distributed to the homeless in Delhi."