Sustainability | Kate Ford
Our overarching philosophy at KATE FORD is to create bravely and tread lightly.
To us at KATE FORD, ‘sustainability’ is much more than a green label. It’s an attitude, a practice, and a commitment to keep learning and improving everything we do for people, place and planet.
The fashion industry accounts for a staggering percentage of the world’s landfill, and we’re passionate about combating that by minimising waste at every touch point of our process.
From conception, all Kate Ford womenswear has been made with natural fabrics sourced sustainably from the earth, such as cotton, silk, ramie, and linen, with synthetic fibres only taking up 2% of our fabrications and are only used on pleated styles for functional reasons.
Ramie is a natural fabric which is regularly used throughout the Kate Ford seasons and is a sustainable alternative for silk due to its soft to touch, delicate hand feel and shine factors. Ramie has a cellulose fibre which is obtained from natural fibres through a complex extraction process, causing it to become a luxury fabrication. Its fibres are obtained from Boehmeria Nivea and Utilis plants whilst during harvesting there is no raw material which goes to waste which explains how environmentally sustainable this fabrication is.
Kate has personally visited every fair trade factory we work with at KATE FORD. Meeting the makers and seeing first hand how the whole manufacturing process operates from end-to-end on the ground is incredibly important to her and the ethical credentials of the brand.
KATE FORD and Kate herself are big believers in hand-made items and providing work to those who are less fortunate than others. This is why Kate works directly with artisans who are extremely talented in many fields and KATE FORD is dedicated to sharing their wonderful work with the world, most especially with you, the consumer.