Sustainability Program

A plan for the future

Goodlids was born out of a desire to "do good, and have fun". We're really proud of our journey to date and the part that we have had to play in mobilising hemp as a better crop and textile for the planet. But the truth is, hemp alone won't save our planet. We've simply got to do more as a small business.

Introducing the Goodlids Sustainability Program, an initiative to do more for our planet and it's inhabitants. This program serves to shed light not only on the good things we have implemented in our business to date, but the things that aren't so good yet - as well as our plans to achieve them!

We're incredibly excited to go on this journey with you all. We look forward to sharing our progress and hearing from you guys about other steps we can take to help shape a better world!

The Good Stuff

Product Design

At the forefront of our sustainability program is our product philosophy. We believe prevention is better than the cure, that's why we have taken it upon ourselves to strive to make products that stand the test of time. Here's how:

- We use hemp fibre blends exclusively. Hemp fibres are highly functional in that they are durable, breathable and antimicrobial. Simply put, this means that our goods last longer, wear well and need to be washed less. Win-win-win.

- Each item of clothing is made to be timeless in design. We opt for simplicity in the design of our goods and expect them to be worn for generations to come!

- We use water-based inks for all of our screen-printing and rayon thread for all embroidery.

Hemp

We're proud to be a hemp brand. We use only hemp fibre blends in our clothing products, and we will only ever do so (unless a better alternative comes about). What's so good about hemp? You can check out a few reasons here!

Packaging

Packaging is something that is ever-evolving for Goodlids. We currently ship our products with bio-plastic satchels, cardboard and water-activated paper tape, as well as using biodegradable shipping labels! We give our customers the choice of either a recyclable cardboard box, or a compostable mailer, depending on their access to a compost bin! This ensures our packaging is being effectively circled back into mother nature, or recycled to be used again!

Offsetting Emissions

We currently offset the carbon emissions through all orders sent from our HQ in Auckland, New Zealand through partner Pachama. Our carbon credits purchased have funded the Jari Pará Conservation Project in the Amazon, and are now funding the Acapa – Bajo Mira y Frontera Forest Conservation Project in Colombia!

Community Initiatives

We have donated money and stock to various local initiatives. More notably Project Blue, the Backcountry Trust, and the Kea Conservation Trust. We are always happy to partner with people, businesses and projects looking to do good!

Pricing and Sales

We don't operate under the conventional seasonal fashion model, which means that we don't have big sales to get stock out the door. We stand by our products being timeless!

What we're working on

Product

Our hats aren't perfect. We currently use plastic brims in our hats, and have had some issues with some of the metal clamps reacting corrosively to salt water submersion. Hemp lasts a long time and wears really well - we're proud of that, but we need to make adjustments to have a truly sustainable hat.

We are working on making the transition to recycled plastic for our hat brims, as well as implementing an iron-free metal buckle on our hats to prevent corrosion. We aim to implement these changes by the end of 2022.

Manufacturing

We work with a number of small suppliers in China to source our goods. Our factories are producing products that are better for the planet, and are constantly looking at ways to improve ethics and sustainability processes. See below for a short overview of each of our core suppliers.

Woven Hemp Fabric Supplier - Qingdao

We source over 90% of our much-loved hemp fabric from this supplier! We also use their manufacturing services for our hemp corduroy hats!

Here, employees have access to a living wage, vacation days and team-building activities. Employees also enjoy a safe, clean workspace, reasonable hours of work (No more than 50 hours, at least one day off per week, and overtime is voluntary and does not exceed 12-hour days).

Hat Manufacturer - Guangzhou

This is where our core headwear range has been made since day one!

Here, employees enjoy vacation days, team-building activities and reasonable hours of work (No more than 50 hours, at least one day off per week, and overtime is voluntary and does not exceed 12-hour days).

T-Shirt Manufacturer - Qingdao

Coming soon

We are currently working with our factories on a robust set of standards to help them on their own ethics and sustainability journey. This process is ongoing, but we look forward to getting over to China when we can, to conduct an independent report on their manufacturing standards and see the improvements they have made first-hand!

Carbon Emissions

We aim to be carbon-neutral by the end of 2023. To achieve this we need to get a better understanding of the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing our goods so that we can assess ways to reduce our footprint through manufacturing and sourcing standards, and then offset our remaining carbon footprint through a carbon credit partner.

Circular

We aim to begin implementing circular systems in our supply chain by the end of 2022, with three seperate circular initiatives by the end of 2024. To be circular, means to design products that are able to be 'circled' back into other products, or composted back to nature. Here's what we plan on doing:

- Starting an initiative in which customers are able to give us their unwanted goods or textiles, where we will then recycle or compost them responsibly so that our product does not end up in landfill.

- Starting a re-commerce platform where customers are able to trade-in their used Goodlids items in exchange for store credit. Used items would be refurbished and then sold on our second-hand marketplace, extending the life of the product and reducing the carbon footprint of that product.

- Working with manufacturers to find use for fabric offcuts.

Have your say!

Anything we've missed, or you'd like to see us introduce? Get in touch using the contact form below!