PERMANENT VACATION

RESPONSIBILITY JOURNEY

The purpose of Ensemble is to be every woman's companion along their journey. They are mothers, post grad students, entrepreneurs, artists, hardworking women -and everything in between- with their own stories. We believe that women’s bodies are unique. We want them to embrace it and celebrate every single change that happens to their body. On the other hand we also love the planet we’re in. We are trying our very best to be more responsible in terms of producing, waste management, and consuming raw materials.

Our mission is to make you feel good. Not only because of our silhouette or fabric choices but also because we produce our clothes responsibly and ethically. We don’t want to be stuck in an old mentality that this world will forever be here to stay. The risk of getting big but never growing scares us. Also, not all customers will understand the reason why we choose certain fabric, why we price our product on certain price points etc. Together we learn how to consume in a more responsible way. We’re going to raise the awareness of our consumer about slow, responsible, ethical and ultimately sustainable fashion.

Sustainability for Ensemble means being responsible to every step we take. Starting from being responsible in our creative process, production process, our workspace, our relationship with vendors and workers, our production waste and dead stock management.

This page is dedicated to our responsible journey, we’re gonna add more news along the way. 

 

CHECK OUT OUR 2020 RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 




FACT CHECK

 

NOT YET THERE

We are not (yet) a sustainable brand. Sustainability isn’t something that can happen overnight, especially knowing that the fashion industry is closely-related to consumption. We are fully aware that this road we’re taking is not going to be easy. We’re going to make mistakes and learn as we go but instead of living in fear, we’d like to take that leap. We’re not gonna rush things, we will start by committing to be a better version of ourselves everyday by making better choices across our business. 

ONE STEP AT A TIME

We are not an expert in sustainable fashion. We started out just as clueless as you are. It’s very easy to get pushed and pulled when you know so little about it, we’ve been there. One of our goals as a brand is to make sure none of you are experiencing that, so, we’d like to take you on our honest little journey. A journey of our responsibility and our commitment in executing our plan to make better choices everyday. Because a progress, no matter how small, is still a progress. Every action matters especially in the wake of a growing climate emergency. Criticism will always just be right around the corner but what matters to us the most is being honest with you all.




WHAT WE’VE DONE

RECYCLING OUR PAPER WASTE 

Every quarter we produced around 5 kg of paper waste from our pattern making process, packing orders, invoices, receipt, shipping bill and many more. In late 2019, we started partnering with Rubah Kertas to recycle our paper waste. We send our paper waste once every 4 months to keep the carbon footprint low.

 

LOCALIZE OUR SUPPLY CHAIN

We are happily working with vendors and suppliers based in Jakarta. We make our own pattern and samples in-house in our humble studio that also operates as our own showroom. With this system we are able to minimize our carbon footprint. 

FORWARD THINKING PRODUCTS

Our ultimate goal is longevity and design with a full circle mindset, using materials and processes with the lowest environmental impact, which can be a part of a closed-loop system - this is our definition of a forward-thinking product. There are several components that are important in this process: better materials, recyclable products, innovation, improving processes and chemical awareness.

USE BETTER MATERIALS

Choices of materials play a big factor in increasing carbon footprint. Using an    “organic” material does not immediately make you “sustainable”. However, it is an important factor, especially in the fashion industry. When choosing our materials, we focus on things such as:
- Does this material has lower environmental footprint compared to others?
- Is this material produced in an environment where the worker’s conditions are prioritized?

- Are animals involved in this material?

- Does this material produced with an excessive manipulation, additives and finishing?

- Does this material withstand wear and tear?

- Is this material durable enough to withstand years of use?

Materials that we use in our current collection


Currently we  are relying heavily on conventional cotton, rayon, and polyester. These materials are not the most responsible, some of them are quite problematic. But we are currently working on that issue, and our goal by 2023 is to switch our rayon into recycled rayon, and our conventional polyester into recycled polyester.

PLASTIC BIZZ

While we cannot entirely eliminate the use of plastics today, we are working towards substituting it with better solutions and to reduce the use whenever possible and use as much recycled plastics in order to comply with SDG #12 on reducing our use of plastic. We have already eliminated plastic carrier bags and replaced them with recyclable paperbag.

NO OVERPRODUCTION, NO DEADSTOCK

We’ve never incinerated any of our unsold stock nor sent them to the landfill. We never want to have to be in that position. Producing and selling new clothes is the business model we rely on, so we’re being proactive in not overproducing our garments. Rather than piling stocks in our storage, we restock our fast selling items instead. We’re also exploring new business models such as the PRE-ORDER system in order to evolve. We know this is not enough, and so have set ourselves some ambitious targets to reduce any materials waste. 


 

OUR JOURNEY COMPLYING WITH U.N SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GUIDE


The United Nations created 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in order to end poverty by 2030 while protecting the planet and promoting sustainable development. We’d like to align our work with these goals, using them as a united language in our internal and external communication and as a framework to encourage collaboration. While we work with every goal, we have identified four SDGs, upon which we have a direct impact.

We have chosen these four goals because they heavily impact the industry and supply chain we operate in. We have devoted extra focus towards these goals so we can make the most significant changes possible.

 

#Envision2030 Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity

Clean water is the key to healthy life; for us, for our workers, for all the fish in the sea, and for the trees in our backyard.  We acknowledge that our products are dependent on processes, materials and fibres that might put our water resources at risk. Therefore, we are 

  1. working with fabric printing vendors with OEKO-Tex standard 100 certification
  2. Use only sustainable packing such as biodegradable plastic bags and recycled cartons. And we encourage our suppliers to reuse packing materials and to club together more pieces in each plastic bag.
  3. Aim to avoid air and sea freight in our production planning, and give priority to road transportation, to limit the carbon footprint as much as possible.

#Envision2030 Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature

We are part of an industry where the traditional way of doing business has been at a great cost of the planet and the people involved in the process. We must make sure that this way of doing business is no longer an option. We need to reconsider, choose better options and optimise every process to ensure a viable future. Therefore we are :

  1. Prioritizing in balance of form and function for every garments that we made
  2. Making garments that built to last, outlast seasons and trends
  3. Design clothes that the customer wants to keep and treasure, for a long time.
  4. Prioritizing the use of natural fiber and or deadstock fabrics and or recycled fabrics
  5. Working closely with OEKO-Tex certified vendors

 

#Envision2030 Goal 15: Life On Land

By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally
By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world

We are dependent on natural resources for our products, and we must make sure that our chosen materials do not jeopardise forests, biodiversity or otherwise cause harm to animals or nature. Therefore starting from our 2020 collection, we are going to donate $1 from every purchase to https://trees4trees.org/ to continue our responsibility journey. We are also going to incorporate recycled rayon to our collection in order to reduce the environmental impact it may cause. 

 

#Envision2030 Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services
Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment

We want to build and run a responsible business that offers a company culture of concern and respect for diversity and a culture that acknowledges the work of each and every hand that contributes to the final, beautiful and responsible ENSEMBLE product. Therefore we are

  1. Sourcing and supporting local (Indonesian) production and suppliers as close to our markets as possible.
  2. Establishing close and long-lasting partnerships with our suppliers and only work with people that share our values for a more sustainable world

 

THESE EFFORTS ARE OBVIOUSLY HARD TO DO, WHY ARE YOU STILL IN THE FASHION BUSINESS?

We have a big ambition of creating a fashion collection that does not harm the environment in any way possible. It may sound impossible, but we’re quite optimistic. This is a marathon, and we’re barely passing the starting gate right now. But it will be a long process and we’d like to take you with us, every step of the way. If you think we’re not doing enough, not being fast enough and too optimistic, we totally understand. Because we are. The fashion world is never going to go away, so we’d rather bend than break. Let’s focus on creating a much more responsible fashion industry by making better choices everyday.