Isn't it lovely going to a farmer's market, finding the produce you love, chatting with the grower or producer about where they're located, what they love about growing their produce, and relaying the story of the producer to your family when you return home? It's a lovely connection right?
Wouldn't it be wonderful to understand the same of the clothing which protects you and makes you feel good?
Have you ever checked the tag on your clothes where it says, ‘Made in [insert country here]’? Ever given it a second thought? An important conversation happening in the fashion industry right now is that of how brands are producing the clothes and the conditions that workers work under.
In 2013, a commercial building in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, killing 1,138 people. A lot of those people were garment factory workers, mostly women, who toiled for years in an unsafe environment. A response to the tragedy came in the form of the creation of Fashion Revolution. A non-profit global movement that campaigns for reforms in the fashion industry focused on transparency by clothing brands about their supply chain. Their mission states that they want to unite people and organizations to work together towards radically changing the way our clothes are sourced, produced and consumed. They advocate that collaborating from farmer to consumer is the only way to transform the industry. Fashion Revolution created the hash tag you are seeing everywhere asking #WhoMadeMyClothes?
Here at Cream Collection, we'd love you to meet the team of skilled people who make your clothes.
We believe in being transparent about the processes involved in getting your Organic Cotton and pure linen home wares to you and we support the Fashion Revolution "Who Made My Clothes" campaign.
Meet John, he is one of the finest gentlemen we have ever worked with. He is polite, efficient, modest and caring. he taught himself English by going to university at night and joining discussion groups. He speaks English very eloquently now. John supplies us our Organic Cotton and Pure Line for our collections.
Meet Xulong who loves working with his brother John (Image 1) and he has a sense of achievement at the end of each day. I worked with Xulong for many days on a particular project, and as exhausted as we were, he was always smiling and pushing on to complete the project we had to complete within a very short time.
Meet Wang. This where the magic begins, Wang sets up the weaving machines with thousands of cones of thread and monitors the numerous weaving machines daily. If one thread breaks the entire weaving process stops and she will rethread the machine to maintain production. She works in a very noisy room with lots of lint flying around. She is responsible for weaving premium fabric every minute of the day.
Peiquan loves dyeing fabric in great colours "making the world a happier place" Oh bless, his comment made my day. Now I know why we feel this sense of happiness when we wear the fabric he has dyes. These people motivate us to do what we do. Bless you Peiquan, the world is better place with you in it.
Meet Yaoxian. He gets great satisfaction when he approves the quality of fabric they have woven and he is able to place a "Pass" stamp on the fabric. We rely on Yaoxian to maintain the premium standard of our fine fabric. Thank you Yaoxian for the consistent perfect quality.
Mr G is our go to man when we need to make new samples or get many garments made. He is young but efficient and thinks like a real business man!
Meet LiuDi the extremely skilled machinist. Have you ever tried to make yourself a shirt or a dress? If you have you'll understand how skilled sewing machinists are. Every piece of flat fabric is stitched together to go around a neck, an arm or a body, and every piece needs to fit together perfectly. Sewing machinists rely on the touch sense to mould fabric together when that very sharp sewing needle comes down to stitch the fabrics together
YingCunJi a garment cutter can cut up to 15 layers of fabric at one time. YingCunJi uses a cutting blade similar to a butchers cutting blade. He needs to have a very steady hand and a good eye to cut accurately. A cutting table can be up to 20 meters long, with 150 layers of fabric, and to manoeuvre a cutting blade through all the jigsaw pattern pieces requires immense concentration. He's due to retire in a few years time, but doesn't want to as he loves his work.
ZhouWeiHong can pick up the tiniest of faults in a garment. Our business agreement allows us to only pay for perfect garments so the buck stops with her. If a fault is found it, it is returned to the sewing floor to be corrected before it can be dispatched. ''Perfection'' should be her second name.
Amy and her husband created their business twenty years ago and through hard work and dedication, eight years ago they bought their own warehouse to house their clothing manufacturing business. Amy, Ming and their team are always a delight to visit as their effervescent energy carries us through the day. We LOVE working with them.
Jacky is the owner of his embroidery company here in Sydney, Australia. he loves the fact that by owing his own company he has stability, and doesn't rely on a company for an income. We are very privileged to work with Jacky, he is the hardest working guy we've met. Because he delivers outstanding quality his business is constantly busy and often works 7 days a week,14 hours each day. He never, ever stops smiling.
Oh my gosh, Catherine is one of the loveliest people we've met. Eager, never flustered no matter how much we work ask her to produce. Catherine is a proud as punch to making our custom made aprons. Until 3 years ago she couldn't stitch an entire garment but with Scarlet's help she now delivers perfect quality, not a single stitch is out of place. You may have guessed that Scarlet, CREAM's production coordinator is her daughter - the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
We thank each of these people and their extended teams to bring us sustainably sourced and ethically made uniforms, aprons and homewares.
Thank you team. xxx