The Environmental Impact of Smugglers and Smugglettes
THE HOME...
of Budgy Smuggler is in Manly, Australia. It's a special place. Each morning our team are out in the surf at Manly or or swimming around the point to Shelly Beach.
We love our environment and are making choices to protect it for future generations.
Secret confession: Fashion and in particular fast fashion is a massive f*ck stick for the environment. It hurts it in a number of ways such as production, transport and packaging.
Our focus is on slow fashion. Our products are built to last and we love nothing more than seeing a pair of Smugglers from many years ago still being repped at beaches around the world.
The fabric
We'll start with the bad news first. Our Swimwear is made from chlorine resistant fabric that contains polyester which is a plastic.
However, before you get too down on yourself, keep in mind than an average pair of Smugglers uses one fifth of the amount of fabric as a typical pair of boardshorts (knee-length boardies being the worst offenders). In addition, our Smugglers are made with quality fabrics that last well, so you don't need to re-purchase every two minutes.
We're keeping an eye on new fabric technologies. What we don't want to do is compromise on quality.
THE PRODUCTION
We use dye sublimation printing to get your Smugglers as bright and spicy as technology will allow. Compared to screen printing it uses a lot less water. The dyes are environmentally friendly, water-based digital inks that are colour-fast and non-fade.
The other good news is that we use precision placement printing & laser cutting which means as minimal wastage as possible.
Our production facilities and warehousing are all in Sydney so we are not importing from overseas to Australia.
POSTAGE:
In 2020 we made the shift to compostable postage bags. Packaging in the clothing industry is often worse than the garment itself! All our postage packaging is now compostable and able to be broken down and eaten by worms! The individual plastic packaging is recyclable and landfill biodegradable.
Investing in the environment: Our previous packaging and postage bags were given to us by suppliers at no cost. We now provide the compostable and recyclable packaging at a cost of more than $50k AUD per year. We see this as a price worth paying to keep almost half a million pieces of plastic out of our oceans.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
1. Buy goods that last. Avoid fast fashion.
2. If items come needlessly in plastic packaging then a simple email / social post that the company should pick up their game is a polite way to nudge them to act.
A report by the world economic forum indicates that there'll be more plastic in our oceans than fish by 2050, so it's important to act now.
If you've got any other ideas of how we can do better, please get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.
Yours in Smuggling love,
The Budgy Crew
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