FAQs

Sustainable Fashion- FAQ

The fashion industry contributes largely to the world's environmental problems with the amount of waste that it produces. Some stats that the United Nations Environment Progamme recently released:

The fashion industry in responsible for 10% of annual GLOBAL carbon emissions. The fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water PER YEAR.
Around 20% of wastewater WORLDWIDE comes from fabric dyeing.

Overproduction is the driving force behind the pollution in the fashion industry. Traditional apparel brands and fast-fashion companies over produce by MILLIONS in order to try and accurately meet their demand.

In other words:

Fashion products are constantly changing seasonally. Because of this, companies don’t know how much they are going to sell per season, or what sizes are going to sell best so they over-produce to try and meet the demand. This means that companies can be left with an excess of inventory every season. They have one, maybe two shots to put it on sale and after that it becomes unsellable and, in effect, waste.

Some companies throw it away. Some companies give it away. Some companies even burn it.

Think about what that looks like for some of the biggest apparel companies on the planet. That is a huge number of unused products. All companies are different, and some operate more efficiently than others, but on a whole, overproduction is the largest contributor to waste in the fashion industry.

INTRODUCING ACM’s COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY ...

Our attempt at solving this issue and promoting a culture of slow-fashion within our industry. Our handmade collections are limited run pre-order capsules. We collect orders and cut each batch to order, allowing for next to no overproduction or unnecessary waste. Because of this, Products are turned around and shipped at a slower rate to ensure maximum effort and quality.

As a small company with fewer resources than bigger brands, this process allows us to maintain a higher level of quality and offer truly limited editions, while still being able to deliver plenty of trendy and exciting styles throughout the year. Our hope is that our amazing community will adapt with us, and be open to the idea of slowing things down for the sake of our planet.

ACM Handmade Goods FAQ

How does your process eliminate waste?

Most apparel brands choose to cut high volumes in order to sell during a long seasonal period, but anything that goes unsold can often end up getting burned or dumped in landfills. By operating with pre-order capsules every piece is made to order, so we'll only produce the amount that we have orders for. Meaning we'll never have to contribute to the dumping or burning of leftover clothes.

What is "Slow Fashion"?

Slow fashion is all about consuming and creating fashion consciously and with integrity. The purpose is to connect social and environmental awareness that brings responsibility with the pleasure of wearing beautiful, well-made, and lasting clothing rather than the immediate gratification of fast fashion.

What if I pre-order the wrong size, or it doesn't fit when I receive it?

We understand that exchanges need to happen at times. To help accommodate that we will produce a small handful of extras for each style, color and size. These will be used to replace damaged products, help with returns and exchanges, and if we have any leftovers they will be gifted or held onto for our sales. Keep in mind that we do not guarantee the ability to exchange pieces, but we'll try our best and as long as we have it, we'll exchange it for you.