Pantee Named ‘One To Watch’ At Drapers Sustainable Fashion Awards 2022
We’re so excited to announce that Pantee has been named as ‘One To Watch’ at this year's Drapers Sustainable Fashion Awards.
The ‘Ones to Watch’ list recognises new and emerging fashion brands that are built on sustainable values. Its surreal to see Pantee included in the lineup alongside so many inspiring brands just a year after launching.
From the moment we came up with our original concept, to transform deadstock t-shirts into super comfortable underwear sets, we have been committed to doing our best for both people and the planet at every touchpoint – and we’re so grateful to Drapers for recognising the considered approach we have taken throughout our journey with Pantee.
Looking back on our journey and impact to date
For the last six years, Amanda and I have lived on opposite sides of the world, myself in Vancouver and Amanda in London. Despite the distance, we began bringing Pantee to life in late 2019 and after a year of research and product development, we launched pre-orders via crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter, in November 2020 as the world's first underwear brand made from deadstock t-shirts.
Why t-shirts? Well, over 2-billion are produced each year, yet due to overproduction, some studies suggest that as much as 30% are never sold.
When we learned about the sheer amount of waste produced by the fashion industry, we knew we had to do something about it. So, we began working with a sustainably minded designer to create a collection of super soft and comfortable underwear made from deadstock t-shirts.
Since then, thanks to the support of our amazing community, Pantee has repurposed over 1000kg of deadstock fabrics (the equivalent weight of 4 grizzly bears!), become proud members of the 1% For The Planet community and planted 750+ trees with One Tree Planted.
Here are some ways the Pantee way is different:
- All Pantee underwear is made in small batches from deadstock fabrics
- Our Limited Edition colour drops aren’t based on ‘what’s in’, but what fabrics need using
- We don’t die our elastics to match our colours in a bid to save water and avoid chemicals
- All orders are packed in recycled and recyclable boxes lined with biodegradable tissue paper sealed with stickers derived from sugar cane
- All printing inks used on our boxes are water-based meaning no solvents are used
- We plant a tree for each and every order
With sustainability as our guiding light, we’re proud of the strides we have made to be as conscious as possible at every touchpoint – but we don’t claim to be perfect, and still have a way to go. There are a number of ways in which we are actively working to improve our products and processes (more details on this soon - we have some exciting things in the pipeline!).
Looking after the Panteam & our social responsibility
We take our responsibility as a brand very seriously and have made strides to be as conscious as possible, not just in terms of our environmental impact but our social impact too.
Looking after each and every person associated with bringing Pantee to life is one of our core values, and we’re extremely proud to work with a manufacturer that shares our values and guarantees safe working conditions, an above-average living wage, bi-annual bonuses and management opportunities for women. Karen, our wonderful Head of Product, has visited our production team in Dhaka twice in the last six months – even celebrating Pantee’s first birthday with the team back in October.
And of course, we also want to do our best by you – our amazing community. For too long, the underwear industry has focussed on how people look, instead of how they feel. We promise to you that we will continue to do our best to include, empower and inspire by using our platform to highlight women of all shapes, sizes and abilities.
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Thank you once again to Drapers for including us in this year's One’s To Watch list. You can view the whole list here, or if you’re interested in learning more about our sustainability practices and what goes on behind the scenes here at Pantee HQ, you can find a lot more information on our sustainability page.
