Our Sustainable Approach
At Milk Cashmere we believe it comes down to shifting from a mindset of mass and cheap consumption to one of investing in a few high quality pieces focused on longevity, benefiting both the planet and the people.
How to be sustainable in today’s fashion industry is a question that is more and more present on the minds of customers today. Being a small (but mighty) brand that is growing, we certainly have our thoughts here at Milk Cashmere on the topic, but what we are most happy about is that the question of sustainability is being considered itself.
At Milk, we certainly have our thoughts on the topic. We believe strongly there is one point, one that we have found to be common to most brands that put sustainability in a prominent position on their ethos and is at the core of our approach as a brand:
BUY LESS, BUY HIGH QUALITY FASHION, ONE THAT IS MADE TO LAST
Buying less consumes less resources and produces less waste
Ultimately buying less consumes fewer resources and produces less waste. It is important to note that the physical resources used to produce fashion and the by-products that origin from this activity take time both to be created by Nature as well as to be absorbed back by Nature. This means that producing at a high rate, one that is taking more from Nature than what it can replenish in a certain period of time, or that is creating waste that is sent back to Nature at a pace higher than it can absorb it, is not a sustainable process.
At Milk, we use only cashmere and silk, high-quality natural materials, that lasts longer and is biodegradable, promoting both the durability and lower need for new garments and the natural transformation of the fibres after the end of the garment lifecycle.
“We are making in excess of 500 billion t-shirts per year. We do not need that many clothes. As much as I’m a big champion and activist for sustainability and all into anyone who’s involved in innovative practices that can bring changes in the kind of clothing fabrics that we use that don’t harm my environment, I think on a personal note, and a plea customers and consumers like you and me, is just buy less.”
High quality clothing takes high quality craftsmanship and dignified workers
It is also important to acknowledge that, however mechanized the production of fashion is, there are always people involved. And this is where the social side of sustainable comes into the game. Sustainable societies cannot be built on top of cheap, endangered, unsecure and harmful labour. Workers subject to such labour conditions will not be able to provide themselves and their families with dignified living, educational and health conditions. Sooner than later, they will either move away to other jobs or reduce productiveness on their current jobs.
Milk’s garments are produced in Europe by local and skilled craftspeople, who are paid fair wages that allow them to live a dignified life and dedicate their best to the garment production, resulting in garments with a spotless construction and superb quality
A circular self-feeding change based on made-to-last
It is simple – clothes that last longer must be better, and they must have better materials, which are more expensive, they must be better constructed, which requires a more careful and better paid labour, and they required a simpler and long-lasting design, which needs more time and thought put into the design process. All these increases the final price of the garment, but the long-term savings end up being larger than the extra paid for each single garment, not only for the consumer, but also for the environment and the people involved in the making.
Our aim at Milk Cashmere is to reduce consumption, improve quality and make fashion last longer. We speak about our cashmere pieces made to last a lifetime and become heirloom pieces that can be handed down from mother to daughter, a real aim here in our business.