Section
OUR ETHICS
Behind the colourful prints and joyful spirit of Palava lies a passion for sustainable manufacturing and we’ve been making conscious, mindful choices about our fabrics and production processes for many moons. Every item of clothing we produce at Palava is designed and made with care. We don’t follow fashions and we don’t do flimsy. Our stitches are strong, our shapes are classic and our prints are unique. A Palava dress will be distinctive and eye-catching whether you wear it today or in 20 years time. And we hope you’ll do both. Working in an industry that is notoriously damaging to the environment, we are constantly learning (and re-learning!) about best practises. Read on to discover the ways, big and small, that we are being active members of the ethical fashion movement.
Who Made Your Clothes?
All of our dresses, skirts, trousers, tops and coats are made in a small family-run factory on the outskirts of London. Balbir is the main man there. He and his brother Satnam cut all the Palava cloth and their talented team of machinists stitch everything together for us.
Julie, our incredibly talented sample machinist, is also based at our London factory and is always on hand to advise us when we are developing new designs.
Our knitwear is made in Turkey - they are real experts over there. The organic cotton we use for our knits is grown and spun in Turkey too so they really know the material inside out. Guray heads up production for us over there and Bryony visits a couple of times a year to make sure our knits are just so.
Small is Good!
We produce small runs of each of our designs - we sometimes make only two or three of a style in each size. Not only does this make each dress rather special but it also means that large amounts of ‘deadstock’ simply isn’t a thing for us. So grab those dresses before they’re gone!
Zero Waste
We’re really conscious of waste on the cutting room floor. All of our Palava accessories are made from the left-over fabric after our dresses and skirts have been cut. Any scraps too small for our accessories go into our popular fabric bundles which get snapped up by crafters and home sewists.
Becoming Plastic Free
We did it! After months of research and development, we’re incredibly excited to be launching our entirely plastic-free packaging. The challenge has been on our minds for some time. Plastic is an amazing material for so many reasons but the modern world's over-use of it is having a devastating effect on the environment. Our new garment bags are made from a bio-based resin and are 100% biodegradable. They look, feel and and behave like plastic but will not litter the planet for years to come. You’ll start to notice these bags in our SS19 collection and by AW19, we will have made the full switch.