This post contains ad links; if you follow the link and buy one of my favorite Reformation items below, I'll get a small commission. Thank you for your support :)
The Brand
My chosen "Sustainable brand of the month," Reformation, has as their mission to “make effortless silhouettes that celebrate the feminine figure.” They focus on what they and you want to wear right now, and can get a garment from sketch to shop in about a month.
“We believe the perfect fit is the most important part of our clothes.”
According to their website, they spend hours fitting their designs on different bodies. They fit their main range on women between 5’6 and 5’10 and they also have a petit collection for those who are 5’2 and under. Another collection they have is an extended sizes collection (up to size 22) plus a collection for women with a full C-DD cup.
Sustainability
“We put sustainability at the core of everything we do. We invest in green building infrastructure to minimize our waste, water, and energy footprints. By providing on-the-job training and opportunities for growth, we also invest in the people who make this revolution possible.”
They're Sustainability Report 2018 here!
RefScale
Reformation has a system called RefScale, which tracks their environmental footprint and compare it to most clothes sold in the US to see how their products help reduce certain impacts. This is super cool, especially ‘cause they share this information on every product page of their website!! It tells you how much CO2, water and waste that exact garment saves compared to the typical garment in the US.
“It’s all about math, and we’re super into it.”
They make sure the lifecycle-of-clothes-equation balances. All the way from “growing textile fibers and making fabric, dyeing, moving materials, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, garment care, and even recycling clothes when you’re done with them.” They have partnered with the Brazilian Rosewood Amazon Conservation Project and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) Water Restoration Program to help replace some of the resources they’ve used.
RefRecycling
This is the easiest way for you to recycle clothes: just print a RefRecycling shipping label from your online account, place that on the box your stuff came in (or any other box), fill it up with what you want to recycle, have it picked up at your door, and Reformation will do the rest. What’s really cool about this compared to other recycling centers, is that you can see where your old stuff is going, and the positive environmental impact you made. They’ve teamed up with CR, who'll sort your clothes to either be responsibly reused or recycled.
“Good On You” Rating
Environmental Impact: Great (mostly)
Labour Conditions: Good
Animal Welfare: It’s a Start
Overall Rating: Good
According to Good On You, Reformation “uses eco-friendly materials and reuses offcuts created during the manufacturing process,…uses recycled paper hangers and minimize the use of packaging with 100% consumer waste materials.” The reason why they get the “mostly” added onto the “great” is that they don’t show enough information about chemicals used, but the good news is that “they’re working on a Restricted Substances List, and keeping responsible chemistry a key priority.” Their limited-edition collections are mostly produced in their factory in LA, they’re working toward paying 100% living wages (a wage that is high enough to maintain a normal standard of living) for everyone, and over three-quarters of their management team are women or people from underrepresented populations. When it comes to animal welfare, they got a pretty low rating; they do occasionally use leather, wool and alpaca in their products, but they don’t use fur, down, angora or other exotic animal skin or hair.
My thoughts
The reason why I decided to put a spotlight on Reformation is that I’ve been – and still is - very interested in and impressed by their brand, concept, philosophy, designs, and website. Unfortunately, I haven’t bought anything from them yet.. The reason being that I try to buy less, which is good for the environment, so I guess I’m excused? They are first on my list tho! From what I see and have read on their website, they’re one of my new favorite brands! I have spotted out some goodies that I really like (see below) – I’m pretty sure one of these will end up in my shopping cart next month (my next clothing purchase)!
They inform that their size capsules (above) are only the first steps, which is good cuz I’m 5’3 so I fall right in between the main range and the petit collection. The only times this is a problem is when I get pants that are supposed to be high water (but on me are more like regular length pants..) and jumpsuits – so usually main range works just fine, but I’d love to finally be able to wear a jumpsuit that actually fit well! Maybe my body type (and a lot of my friends’ body types) can be included in the next capsule?
I’ve almost created a phobia towards low prices.. good for the higher-priced brands, bad for my wallet haha. I associate low prices almost exclusively/entirely with child labor and bad quality. Plus, since I, from own experience, know how much hard work and time goes into making a garment, I know the “real cost” and want to pay the “real price.” Thus, Reformation having pretty steep prices (coming from a student – their prices are actually really good considering they are fairly and sustainably made!), is great! It also makes me (and hopefully most people) buy less and actually consider their purchases carefully - think about if it's really something they want and are going to wear – more than once.
The only thing I don't like about their site is that a lot of the stuff I was looking at was sold out, or at first it looked like it wasn't sold out but then on the product page said that it was. Might have been better to have those taken off the website so customers won't first get super excited when they see a cute item and then disappointed when it - as well as the other 10 the were eyeballing - is sold out. But it's also a good thing to see that stuff is sold out! That tells me that it's popular and probably doesn't get produced in large quantities - good for the environment.
I love Reformation's cuteness-mixed-with-attitude looks and it really excites me to read about everything they do for the environment! Good On You says they can do better; that’s probably true, but it looks like Reformation is well on its way towards that perfect score, and has great plans for reaching their goals. You go Reformation! I’m so glad I found you and you’ve definitely gotten a new fan :)
My top picks for spring/summer 2019:
Flower Dress Guppyfriend High Rise Jeans
Flower Top Rib Top Vintage Style Tee
Black Jean Shorts Wide Leg Pants High Rise Pants
Check out Reformation here! If you're one of many who still purchase fast fashion, maybe they'll inspire you to shop more sustainably :D