What is Slow Fashion

Slow fashion values the fair treatment of people, animals, and the planet. It encompasses an approach to fashion that considers the ecological footprint of the processes and resources required to make clothing; conscious and sustainable sourcing of materials with better-quality, longer-lasting garments; fair wages and labor laws that improve equality; and a relationship to consumers including a dialogue about habits of consumption and re-use. All in all, slow fashion may take longer to produce but is better for the economy, ecology and everyone involved in order to create a more sustainable future.

Chickfly Practices Slow Fashion

Slow fashion does not imply perfection; it implies effort, consciousness and a willingness to take action to make the difference.

We take the time to go above and beyond, to follow through with the thought process of understanding a sustainable approach, to do research on the impacts of different materials and processes. We slow down and ask, what is the ethical action within our means?

Here at Chickfly we would like to highlight some of the things we have done that we are proud of. We care about the small things, like what should we do about the cardboard boxes our pants were transported in? Recycling is a half-ass solution (pardon our French). We posted the boxes on an online bulletin board and found a disabled person that was moving, we dropped them off in their driveway. Yay, we helped someone in our community! Now, how do we prevent the use of future boxes? Should we sew large bags and transport pants in them? As a small business, there are lots of questions for us to answer. Furthermore, we understand that however established we become there will always be room for growth.

Sometimes the questions are larger and more difficult, like how is it ethical to have our clothes manufactured in an industry wrought with troubles? We have chosen to use a small, Bay Area factory for our first production of pants; the business owner even works on sewing our product herself. Our choice was based both on our ability to have oversight as well as California’s labor laws. It is our hope and dream that our successive choices will help disrupt the fast fashion industry and value the workers behind the machines for their amazing textile contributions.

Stepping into the Slow Fashion Arena with Chickfly

• Made from high-quality, sustainable materials like bamboo
• Bamboo is naturally antimicrobial, wicking and odor-resistant.
  
  
• Few, specific styles per collection, which are released a maximum of three times per year, or a permanent season-less collection.
• Garments are classic and timeless, not trendy
  
  
• Pants & leggings produced in smaller batches with smaller manufacturers
  
  
• Extra fabric from cutting pants used to make panties, naturally antimicrobial

• Locally produced and made in the USA
  
  
• Chickfly teaches about the win-wins of peeing outside: nutrient recycling, water quality, climate change, and energy savings
  
  
• We chose Canadian company Oratex’s Eco-tech line because they met Chickfly's standards of environmental friendliness and quality.

• The functionality of Chickfly pants give you more reason to wear them more often
  
  
• Chickfly is more than a fashion company, we are a community of people stepping into an industry to interrupt business-as-usual
  
  
• Chickfly is contributing to the Revitalizing Historical Bay Area and San Francisco garment industry.
• Sewist starting fair wage, in accordance of California Labor Laws
  
  
• Chickfly supports non-binary, trans, and gender fluid people and invites everyone to wear our pants

• Being part of the Chickfly community is being part of our mission of spreading knowledge about how each of us can personally reduce our ecological footprint
  
  

Our Supplier/Manufacturer

We have been blessed to work with an amazing designer named Eloisa Serrano, who is the owner of Bay Thread, in Alameda, California. She not only makes the formal patterns, grades them for sizes, and creates the tech packs, she also works with local factories to produce Chickfly pants. Eloisa exemplifies our ideal partner - she owns her own business and studio and collaborates with small, local manufacturers to produce an amazing product. 

The Bay Area garment industry was hit hard during the dot com boom, and due to NAFTA and CAFTA, when large companies pulled out of the US and started manufacturing in sweatshops abroad. Most workers in this industry are immigrants that had no other marketable skill. California may seem all shiny to those who live afar, but there is also deep poverty and class segregation in the state, within the garment industry. As we try to make ethical choices in the fashion industry, we are looking into classism, international trade, institutionalized issues, and labor laws. 

Chickfly’s Bigger Mission

Here at Chickfly, we are selecting our partners based on sustainable utilization of resources, sound waste management, and ethical working conditions. We believe in the importance of a holistic and sustainable lifestyle that protects the limited natural resources, our children, and our planet. Therefore, we are obliged to use only materials that are both sourced and produced in an environmentally friendly and ethical way. Traceability of the supply chain, transparency of productive processes and social responsibility are the foundations of our business. We work closely with our suppliers to guarantee our strict principles and protect our customers.

At Chickfly, we dream of making a lasting difference in the fashion Industry and supporting slow fashion is where we are starting to make an impact. We hope you can support us too as we make changes for the betterment of the fashion industry and the sustainability of our world and all the people in it.