Launched in 2006 Goodone use incredible sense of colour, smart patternmaking and great body conciousness to turn discarded clothes into spiffy new garments. They see waste-in this case second hand garments with no retail value- as an opportunity for innovative sustainable design. The success of this mission speaks for itself in the clothes which are fashion forward and challenge preconceptions of what recycled clothing can be.

Goodone is such a neat business model that their services are even called upon in a consultancy capacity for other businesses looking to head down an eco path.

Garments designed in: UK

Raw materials and their origins: We source all of our fabrics locally from textile recycling warehouses in the UK or occasionally from UK brands who have dead or faulty stock (garments with no retail value).

Dye toxicity and waste management: We are very conscientious about the waste we produce as a company. We do not dye or print on any of our stock but because we use existing garments, these may have been dyed and/or printed, but we do not know the specific details of how these processes have been carried out. Any textile waste from our manufacturing is given to charity (and sold back into the rag trade). In our studio we recycle all our office waste such as plastic, paper and cardboard etc.

Garments manufactured in: Mostly here in the goodone studio in East London. We outsource a small part of our manufacture to HEBA, a Women’s Collective (training and enterprise project) who are also based in East London

Pay and working conditions: fair pay and good conditions met

Summary of miles travelled: We source all of our fabric locally to the goodone studio or within 8 miles of London. Since most of our manufacture takes place in the goodone studio we consider our business’ ‘carbon miles’ to be very low. The occasional fabric or trimmings that we source from outside London will be sourced from within the UK. This, along with posting the finished garment to the retailer, is the furthest a goodone garment will travel.

Other Ethical Practices:

• Goodone’s focus on upcycling, adding value to discarded clothes and textiles and keeping them in circulation (away from landfill) is a great model for sustainability.
• We choose to work with local social enterprises as and when manufacturing demands increase, and we choose to collaborate with and support charity projects such as Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s annual charity campaign Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (goodone has designed an exclusive dress for the 2009 campaign).
• We have put systems in place so that our studio and office area are energy efficient and we strictly control any waste we produce.
• At goodone there is an emphasis on professional development and training. Employees are provided with opportunites to develop their knowledge and expertise in areas of fashion design, production and marketing.

Future plans for ethical scope of brand:

“As the demand for production increases, goodone is looking to using virgin fabric as well as recycled fabrics. This will enable large quantities of our designs to be produced, whilst maintaining the unique design elements of the goodone as we will continue to use hand picked recycled fabrics in the majority of the garment. We will strictly use virgin material that is organic and fairly traded.

Goodone intends to continue to work across the board in the fashion industry – from high street to high end fashion; charity projects and collaborations to sustainable fashion consultancy. Currently, we are in talks with major corporations that are interested in our sustainable business model to develop their own waste management solutions and we anticipate an increase in demand for our consultancy expertise. ”