We are very much advocates for sustainability in the fashion industry. 5 years ago Flare Street received accreditation with Ethical Clothing Australia, we are proudly made ethically in Melbourne, Australia. Each piece at Flare Street is an alternative to mass-production fashion, meticulously designed to last and be cherished. Our slow fashion approach is further achieved by not having to rely on seasonal ranges; we sell to customers all over the world living in different climates & seasons.
Have a read of our 5 blog posts taking you behind the scenes at Flare Street:
- Meet the designer, Nik
- Meet the Makers and explore the factory when our flares are made
- Our suppliers and where we source our fabrics
- The design process and exclusive fabrics
- Our wonderful community of flare-lovers
Environment and CSR
4 year ago, we partnered with one of Melbourne's best textile waste reduction & recycling companies. They’re designing out waste and pollution, keeping product and materials in use, integrating them back into the supply chain and closing the loop... all right here in Melbourne! We send them all of our offcuts that aren't able to be turned into our garments at Flare Street. We can now proudly say that non of our textiles end up in landfil!
In early 2022, we took it one step further and became a circular brand, with the partnership between Flare Street x Air Robe. Encouraging conscious flare-loving, Air Robe allows you to rent, re-sell or recycle your garments on their platform!
2020 saw us move to a new Studio in Melbourne which uses 100% Solar Energy. Our fabric printers are solar based as well, focusing on using recycled materials for packaging and shipping, no plastic, no water and no harsh chemicals. Our suppliers are all Australian based and ship via road or sea to ensure emissions stay low. 4-5 of our business partners use solar energy to power their business.
Flare Street has chosen to switch our banking to a customer owned back which only invests in 'clean' industries as well as creating a 927 hectare Conservation Reserve.
Our postal service provider is a registered B Corp and Australia's first 100% carbon neutral delivery service.
DHL, our Express International service provider, is offset & carbon neutral too.
All the thread we use in our garments is 100% recycled from discarded water-bottles.
Finally, for our packaging we use 100% compostable satchels, along with our sticky tape, stickers, tissue paper and Poly-bags for wholesale clients. They are dyed with plant-dyes are are made with compostable and forest-safe materials.
We recommend using Guppyfriend Washing Bag to reduce micro-plastics escaping from products during wash cycles.
Fashion & the World
The fashion industry contributes to a huge amount of pollution through landfill and environmental damage. Millions of people suffer every day at the expense of making clothes. Workers are poorly treated, underpaid and work in dangerous environments. Not only are human rights exploited, our environment is badly affected by systems commonly practiced by major fast-fashion retailers. This needs to change. We’re careful to operate sustainably and ethically through our sourcing & manufacturing processes.
Here at Flare Street, we’re proud to say that we’re ethically conscious when making our garments. We’re an independent, female-run business who makes sure every aspect of our supply chain is paid above Australian wages, empowering them to provide for themselves and their families. Our garments are made from either Organic Cotton, 20% is created from deadstock fabric and the rest we use super high quality polyester and recycled polyester. We create clothing that will last, stand the test of time and be able to be worn for years and years to come. We take the quality and longevity of our products very seriously. Our garments won't change after washing, they'll stay the same high quality for years and years - just like the best vintage clothes do.
Our Fabrics
Our fabrics are sourced from local Australian companies, all of who are independent businesses. We buy all of our fabrics in limited quantities, making sure we don’t have excess wastage while also creating uniqueness to our product. Once we’ve created our core product, flares, with these materials we ensure all offcuts are used to make other items like skirts or bralettes.
Once we have used the fabric in as many ways as we can, we donate our 'off-cuts' to a local Melbourne company that repurposes, recycles and re-spins this yarn to create socks, couches and various other items.
Fashion is constantly changing and evolving, but some things are always present and we try to create meticulously designed garments that people will want to hold on to forever like you would any other timeless classic. We’re a vegan company who use recycled polyester, polyester & organic cotton fabrics to create alluring pieces that can be worn for a lifetime.
Our product is mainly polyester based – this won’t break down in landfill overtime and so we strive to produce as close to zero wastage as we possibly can. This way, we help do our part to reduce landfill and encourage a more sustainable, long-term view of fashion. Our quality garments are made and designed to last a lifetime & be passed down generations.
All the thread we use in our garments is 100% recycled from discarded water-bottles. It is strong, more durable and means our garments lifetime is extended and repairs are minimal.
Diversity
Flare Street believes in equality and celebrating diversity. Our garments are designed to be worn by everyone, of all backgrounds, across the world and we strive to demonstrate this through our photographic campaigns, language, music and casting a diverse range of babes for our imagery. Our stance on diversity is inclusion. The way we design our flares is with this in mind, ensuring there is a wide colour palette, sizing and selection to suit every flare-lover out there.
As part of our commitment to equality, we strive to show off our flares on a diverse range of babes, regardless of skin colour, gender, sexuality, religion or any other aspect of their personal identity.
However, unless otherwise instructed by the babes we feature, we will not disclose their private and personal information.
Fabric Printing
All of the printing on our flares is done by a small company here in Australia. They are digital printers and don't use any water during production. It is the most sustainable form of fabric printing out there. We’ve worked hard to find printers whose values aligned with ours, and we’re happy to be working with them. No harsh or toxic chemicals are used in the process of our printing; only water-based inks. These inks are then ethically disposed of after use – not poured down the drain! Only recycled papers and plastics are used while printing and packaging these fabrics. We love working with local artists & designers to create unique works of art for our flares, bringing even more individuality to our fabrics.
#WeMadeYourClothes
Flare Street is an onshore company, with all our flares being produced here in Melbourne, Australia. All the employees at the factory are paid above Australian living wages, super and receive all Australian holidays. There is zero child labour & forced labour and they take the safety of their workers very seriously. It is a gender diverse team with all employees possessing the rights to join unions. In 2020/21 the factory and printers that we use were also audited and accepted by Ethical Clothing Australia.
We buy 100% of everything we use from Australian businesses in the supply chain of our flares, from elastic to our mailing bags! We take pride in keeping jobs local & also lowering our mileage and global footprint.
Flare Street is vegan with no animals involved in our production or supply chain.
We feel it’s our responsibility to spread the word of sustainable fashion and let everyone know they have the power to change the world for the better.
Let’s start a fashion revolution!
Download our Fabric Journey infographic here!!
To know more, here are a few useful resources:
Flare Street contributes a percentage of our annual profits to an Indigenous controlled Naarm based organisation, Djirra for #paytherent. Find out more about this initiative here and Djirra here!
Flare Street acknowledges the Wurundjeri people as the traditional custodians of the land where we work & manufacture, as well as their continuing connection to land, waterways and community. We’d like to pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, and all Kulin nations people past, present and future.