Our people

Our factories are all based within the EU so we can ensure that the workers are treated with the rights they deserve. This is why we spent a long time finding a factory that matched our values.

We do pretty much everything in-house there apart from the prototyping and the pattern making. The place itself is under European ethical regulations for working conditions and workers rights, for which they undergo annual check from the government.

Our factories live by the following:

“We believe that designing a fashionable collection is essential, but the process of production is more important to ensure the final product is of high quality. We pride ourselves in creating high quality clothing as our factories are extremely meticulous when it comes to attention to detail and precision. We are strong supporters of mindful consumption, meaning that all our garments are constructed to last as fast fashion is not lasting fashion. This mindfulness also extends to the workplace environment as we strongly support working women and are proud to employ all female staff in the UK and in our factories across Europe. People are one of the most important assets of any business which is why we provide conscious production, whereby all employees are fairly paid and offered flexible hours.”

Our products

Our journey to making sustainable products has been a challenging one. In a market where sustainability is key, it’s not as simple as only using recycled materials. Firstly, we wanted to make sure that our garments last for a long time. We want our materials to last, and to continue to deliver performance over their full lifecycle. Having initially researched using recycled polyester for our first range of products, we were unable to find one that we could invest in that would provide the right level of durability. To balance out the use of polyester in our leggings, we increased the spandex quantity and focused in on not using virgin plastics for the trims and stitching.

Our aim as we grow is to continue sourcing more environmentally friendly materials. By continuing to support us as we expand, you will help us to be able to spend more time and money to gain an understanding of the best materials for our products. In the meantime, we will continue to focus on making sure that our garments have longevity and are made ethically. We are actively working with a partner to further research the links between specific textiles and micro-plastic pollution.

By making sure that our products last longer, we are reducing the amount of plastics that are ending up in landfill. In order to continue getting the best out of our products, they do require appropriate care and attention. Giving your garment the care that it needs is one of the simplest ways to extend its lifecycle. By following the correct washing instructions, and taking care to regularly clean out the zips, you can maintain the function of our products and help them to last longer. When the lifecycle of our products has come to an end, we will take them from you and recycle all possible materials.

Whilst ÉCH Apparel would like to have found the perfect solution, we are not quite there yet but we are doing everything we can to make sure that sustainability is at the forefront of our journey ahead.

Our packaging

The packaging we use has been carefully chosen to be as eco and environmentally friendly as possible, while still making sure your garments arrive safely. We have sourced the only recycled and recyclable poly-mailer bags on the market. Not only are the bags made out of 100% recycled material, with the addition of the reseal stripe they can be reused. Inside the recycled poly-mailer bags, the garments are wrapped in 100% recycled tissue paper and sealed with recycled paper stickers.

All our inks are vegetarian and plant based.

Each garment will also contain a branded seeded label; plant this in a small pot of soil and watch your wild flowers grow. We are also in talks with One Tree Planted in order set up an initiative to plant a tree for every garment brought.

Our next steps:

  • Introduce recycled fabrics to the ranges
  • Reduce the amount of clothing we produce by making more clothing on demand
  • Offer customers the opportunity to return their old or damaged clothing to be recycled or reused
  • Increase the amount of BlueSign Accredited fabrics we use to ensure responsible and sustainable manufacturing
  • Reduce any plastic packaging to only be D2W biodegradable plastic