Environment

Our manufacturing process is entirely human-powered, which means no machine intervention, so no carbon footprint. The yarn is ordered according to the specifications of the garments to be made, so no material is wasted. We make garments and products to order; there is no waste. Our production has minimal impact on the environment.

Electricity

There is no electricity used in the manufacture of any of our hand knitted garments. We provide lighting and ceiling fans in our hubs for the comfort of our makers and are investigating solar options. We produce garments by hand for the fashion industry. There is no machine intervention in our production and therefore no carbon footprint left by our process. We don’t use any chemicals in the hand knitting of our garments.

Among our seven KOCO principles is that we are a transparent, sustainable business transforming lives. We support the United Nations Goals for Sustainable Development. Environmentally we encourage responsible consumption and production of clothing and supply clean drinking water for every person who works with us. The sustainable development goals are entwined in our DNA. We want to tell the world this is the way we operate. Our commitment to high environmental and social standards is also recognised by our B Corp certification.

We work to ensure there is no waste generated in the hand knitting of our garments. All yarn used for teaching is reused and repurposed. We hand knit garments to a high, exacting standard. We do clear calculations on the quantity of yarn for samples and for garment production. Packaging, in which yarn arrives, is re-used. When we ship our finished garments, we have started to offer our clients an organic, open mesh cloth packaging. No water is used in our manufacturing process. We use water only for drinking and hygiene purposes.