Ethics

Let’s be honest. Clothing manufacturing can be cruel, unjust and exploitative. The rise of the fast fashion industry has shrouded a sizable part of the industry in wastefulness, corner cutting, and harmful byproducts which only results in human and environmental tragedy, as seen after what happened in the Dharka District of Bangladesh, or the Indonesian Citarum River. Hopefully, the vast majority of large fashion brands will continue to push their efforts to make significant and tangible changes to benefit their workforce and the environment, which has already seen massive improvements in many areas. At the same time, fashion startups have an opportunity to demonstrate the possibility of ethical production, even when manufacturing thousands of garments.

We source as much of my materials from local small businesses as possible, even when this is at a premium. Keeping the century old Los Angeles textile industry alive is important to me, and there is no way it could exist without these independent local suppliers. Garment manufacturing is predominantly an industry of immigrants who stand to lose the most if the industry disappears, as manufacturing jobs are often the only option for those just starting out. Coming from an immigrant family, I feel for those who take on these tough, physical jobs to improve their lives.

Every piece of clothing Spindle 50 makes passes through the hands of up to 8 different skilled craftspeople and never once through a sweatshop.  After manufacturing a batch of products, I personally collect and inspect the leftover pieces of fabric and sort them to be up cycled into scarves, or we use parts to finish incomplete garments. This is all in preparation for my goal of being a zero-waste company by the end of 2020.

We often hear that our clothing is very expensive. However, there is a lot that goes into making fair wage clothing in the USA. Still, savings are passed on to our customers in various forms. As enterprise account holders for 2 large shipping companies, we ship a very large amount of products which allows us to save money. Spindle is always offering discounted or free shipping, which can often go as high as $30 per item to some destinations. We have also been quietly upgrade shipping to better service levels to help offset any Covid related delays.

Seasonal sales also make for a great opportunity to pick up something from us at a discounted price- predominantly in the summer months. As we grow in economies of scale, hope to reduce our prices further, but only if we can maintain our quality and service level.

Understandably, this is a very business heavy page, but we are actually very friendly and approachable in person :). This is also a very important aspect of the business ethnics, as just about 100% of the time, our projects are argument-free. This always translates into better quality products.