Meet our Manufacturer AS Colour

Meet our Manufacturer AS Colour:

From the conception of our brand “doing the right thing” has been important to our team and customers. We believe it is the responsibility of every individual to be a good citizen, and while being a small player in a global market can at times be daunting, we believe our impact on human rights can be just as significant as larger operations and that we can all make a difference.

Since 2018, we joined Amfori Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) to tackle the big issues the fashion industry is facing surrounding worker rights and environmental protection. Amfori is a leading business association for transparent and sustainable trade. Their vision, ‘Trade with purpose’ helps members monitor and improve their supply chains to deliver social and environmental benefits. BSCI incorporates all of our Code of Conduct including environmental sustainability.

Amfori BSCI is not a certification. This means brands and suppliers aren’t just handed a grade year after year with no direction or resources. Instead, they are an industry-driven supply chain management system, giving members access to world class standards and tools to improve our own processes of supply chain mapping, monitoring, and remediation. We get a wide range of training, workshops and e-learning. Some of which is compulsory. Brands having to be active members of Amfori, enabling us to respect human rights and drive continuous improvement on social issues in our supply chain.

Through our membership our suppliers also gain access to work shops and e-learning on issues such as Women’s Equality, Worker Empowerment & Grievance Mechanisms in their local languages. In the platform suppliers submit remediation plans post audit on any areas they need to improve on. All brand members can then see the remediation plans for their suppliers, and or aid them in creating the plans.

Global challenges such as climate change, ensuring decent working conditions for all, and responsible consumption need a global plan for action. Businesses are in a unique position to contribute, given their influence not only among consumers but also throughout the impact of their supply chain. Amfori believes they are called upon to bring businesses together and scale efforts to have an impact

For a small New Zealand business, the opportunity to tap into tools, support and network of international like-minded brands is invaluable in terms of shared learnings, experiences and increased leverage with suppliers and impacting our industry for the better.

AS Colour is committed to improving cotton farming practices globally with Better Cotton (BCI). The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) exists to make global cotton production better for the people who produce it, better for the environment and better for cotton communities. It is the largest cotton sustainability program in the world and uses members fees to tackle labour challenges that often exist in the farming sector, aiding in the core vision of a world where all cotton farming is sustainable.

Our Impact: By choosing our cotton products, you’re supporting our investment in Better Cotton’s mission. We’re proud that our sourcing of Better Cotton means that last year we were able to:

Avoid the use of an estimated 268,400 kg of pesticide

Save an estimated 259,000 litres of water

Better Cotton Farmers in China used 14% less water and 6% more Organic fertiliser than Comparison Farmers.

Over 2.4 million farmers from 23 countries on five continents were licensed by Better Cotton. Together, these farmers produced 23% of the world’s cotton.

In Pakistan 72% of farm workers who attended Better Cotton Training were women.

Partnership with Reemi

As part of our commitment to investing in and working alongside our factories to improve working conditions, we’ve given Reemi full access to the factories we partner with, helping them support more women and further their impact. The research Reemi has conducted in an AS Colour factory has drawn out important data that helps Reemi find solutions that actually work for the people we’re aiming to support. Research by the University of Munich has proven that Reemi’s approach of bringing women together to share their experiences was enough of an intervention to break some strong cultural stigmas. In 2022, Reemi was able to scale their pilot program to 6000 women.

 Together with Reemi, we aim to support 12,500 more women in the factories we work with over the next few years:

Reduced hygiene risks and alleviated fears and anxiety through access to menstrual products. More than 6000 women supported through education and products

Facilitating a safe space for education to support women and reduce stigma. Two education and research programs supported in AS Colour factories

Providing reusable period products to factory workers in Bangladesh. All women at one AS Colour factory received period products at the end of 2020

OEKO-TEX® is one of the world’s best known labels for textiles tested for harmful substances. It stands for customer confidence and high product safety.

100% of our products from Bangladesh are certified by Oeko-Tex and 80% of our China Dye houses are also certified by Oeko-Tex Standard 100. OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 certified ensures that products are free from dangerous substances—chemicals like pesticides, heavy metals, formaldehyde, and undesirable surfactants. The certification is designed to ensure the effect the dyeing industry has on the environment is minimised and the garments are safe for consumers as well as the people who make and sell them.

Certification

The Oeko-tex Standard 100 is a testing certification for numerous harmful chemicals, even if they are not yet legally regulated. The certification of products in accordance with OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 is that all parts of an article meet the required criteria. Extensive product checks and regular company on-site visits also ensure that the industry has a globally sustainable awareness of the responsible use of chemicals.

• Important legal regulations, such as banned Azo colourants, formaldehyde, pentachlorophenol, cadmium, nickel, etc.

• Requirements of Annexes XVII and XIV of the European Chemicals Regulation and their safe use REACH

• European Chemicals Agency ECHA

• SVHC Substances of Very High Concern

• Requirements from the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)

• Discussions and developments that are considered to be relevant are taken into account as quickly and effectively as possible through updates to the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® requirements.

• Numerous environmentally relevant substance classes.