We created culthread because we wanted to buy high quality, vegan, stylish coats and jackets, which were ethically made with sustainable principles but we could not find a single item we liked that fitted that criteria. Incredible, no?
Fast forward a couple of years and we have created an ethical clothing brand built on the values we are proud to share.
So what is the Cultruth scale? You might have seen it around on our website under each product description. After searching high and low, we at culthread could not find a standard global measure to help determine the level of sustainability and ethicality of a single garment.
Our cultruth scale from 1-100
The fashion industry is known to lack transparency. There IS a lot of smoke and mirrors. Almost every brand and designer, large and small, design and produce garments by using multiple contract manufacturers or ‘partners’ to create a single garment. These partners can vary between sourcing materials from other partners before it’s even embroidered, printed, cut and sewn. Before it arrives on your doorstep, a single garment can pass through multiple countries and many pairs of hands.
Traceability and transparency is critical to ensure a truly sustainable and ethical clothing brand. It is incredibly important to understand the ‘true story’ of how your coat is made, what it is made from, and who made it. At the moment, with a lot of brands, it is near impossible.
So here are some questions that you SHOULD ask when shopping for your wardrobe. Who will guarantee that the person who stitched your hood to your collar is paid fairly for their skills and works in a respectful environment? Who will guarantee when your coat label says ‘recycled’ or ‘vegan’ that it really is? Is it the designer? Is it the brand? Is it the manufacturer? How do you know if you are dealing with an ethical clothing brand?
We decided things needed to be done differently. We wanted to be both an ethical clothing brand and a sustainable clothing brand. And we want you, our community, to know everything that we do is about the coat that you wear.
Culthread has its own atelier in Vietnam where we employ our own team, and we are responsible for ensuring their job satisfaction, a safe working environment and high quality production. We also have our own experts who source fabrics, fittings and insulation. These experts demand certification that what we use is exactly what it is alleged to be, including all dyes and treatments on our materials to be certified nontoxic and unharmful.
Then there’s the packaging which we demand is recycled, recyclable or biodegradable and the shipping which we endeavour to make carbon neutral as it makes its way to you. (Material to atelier, coat to distribution centre, distribution centre to YOU)
The Culthruth Scale is our way of sharing everything we know about what we make with you.
It is divided clearly and simply into People, Planet and Animals, the headings we consider to be the most important. Each has sub divisions so you can drill down into the details that are most important to you.
You will notice some products are doing better than others, until we get to 100% there will always be room for improvement.
The Cultruth Scale keeps us on our toes, it reminds us of who we are and it guides us to do more whilst sharing that journey with you. It is the central pillar for our ethical clothing brand.
Our goal is to be at 100% for everything we make but, we are not there yet.
Last year we managed to find culthread quality recycled thread and trimmings which made our most recent styles, Portobello and Colville even higher on our scale but it took time. Finding the high quality zipper had been particularly challenging and provided great excitement amongst team culthread when it arrived.
Learn more about the Cultruth Scale here.