Sustainability and circularity are at our core and drive everything we do
The capacity for our biosphere and human civilization to co-exist, without eroding the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
OUR STORY
A MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER
“Achieving sustainability with fashion is the raison d’etre for GOAT. There is no need to deplete Earth’s resources for producing wasteful mass-market clothing. We have the creativity and ingenuity to do better, and we must.
This desire drove the reason for starting GOAT as a brand. Not only are we recycling product and saving textile waste from landfill, but also making a conscious effort to streamline every part of our business, from our packaging to shipping, to minimize the negative impact on the environment.”
Enter GOAT Vintage as a brand, and a new way to approach how we consume clothing: slowly, with purpose.
WE BELIEVE WE CAN DO MORE
WE PLANT A TREE FOR EVERY ORDER PLACED
For every customer order placed online, we plant a tree via One Tree Planted for reforestation efforts. At checkout, customers have the option to match this with planting another tree, netting 2 new trees per order placed. Every quarter, we select a new location for trees to be planted. Right now, all trees are being planted in California.
Five years of drought and a large-scale bark beetle infestation have seriously damaged California’s forests. 2017’s record-breaking wildfire season burned more than 1.3 million acres – an area the size of Delaware. 2020’s fire season has consumed close to 3 million acres, resulting in hundreds of millions of trees that will need to be restored.
OUR SUSTAINABLE EFFORTS
It all started with our love of vintage quality
We marvelled at how much better the quality of vintage clothing was, how soft and utterly wearable, how new mass-produced clothing tends to show its age after a wash or two. Most fashion houses still derive their inspirations from decades past. Every piece of vintage clothing is at least 20 years old and we curate the very best that the 60s-2000’s has to offer.
We rescue damaged clothing from landfill
Damaged, stained and otherwise unwearable clothing is often still diverted to landfills after being processed by the clothing recycling industry. We work with recyclers to separate this stock and purchase in volume so we can upcycle it in our studio.
We’re serious about authenticating our vintage
We want our customers to be confident that each single garment has been authenticated as vintage. This means everything is at least 20 years old. If it’s not, we’ll call it out so you know. We do extensive research on vintage brands from back then and have processed thousands of garments, so we’re pretty good at recognizing reproductions, fakes and new stuff moonlighting as vintage.
Remnants and cuttings are “fabrics” for new designs
Unlike a traditional garment manufacturer where studio cuttings and remnants end up straight to landfill in the US, every single remnant is stored and used in our zero waste design by our studio design team. We use studio fabric remnants as hang tags, which can be reused again and again. There’s no excuse for using wasteful packaging! We use packaging that is made from 100% recycled materials.
ZERO WASTE DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Our +REwork Line
Vintage is made anew with updated silhouettes and designs, with an eye for zero waste in design and sewing. Our designers preserve the underlying fabric and ensure it perseveres for decades more.
We like to keep it smart, simple, and transparent.
Often, fashion supply chains are overly complex, which can make it nearly impossible to trace and verify a company’s environmental and labour standards. In contrast, we keep our supply chain simple. One design studio, suppliers situated close together, no offshore production, and local suppliers that really get us.
ZERO WASTE DESIGN PERMEATES OUR REWORKING STUDIO
We use a cradle to cradle approach in our sustainable design and production
SELECT DESTINED-FOR-LANDFILL GARMENT STOCK
While it's already challenging to upcycle the many variations we get in vintage clothing, it's an additional (welcome) challenge to work with lightly damaged vintage clothing that just needs a little more love. These are our go-to base fabrics for reworking and we wouldn't have it any other way.
PRIORITIZE DESIGNS THAT MAXIMIZE FABRIC USAGE
We strike a balance between following fashion trends and also preserving as much of the original vintage fabric as possible. It wouldn't make sense for us to make a crop tee and not use the bottom for example. So, we prioritize patterns in studio that will allow us to fully use all parts of the garment.
INCORPORATE REMNANTS INTO NEW DESIGNS
Remnants is where the fun is at! We organize and build an extensive "library" of remnants so we can easily pull them to be integrated into "new" patterns. We're proud to say no remnant is left behind.
PERFECT SAMPLES BEFORE PRODUCING
We sample our designs extensively to be absolutely sure it will be a hit with our brands and customers. This is the stage where we catch anything that may not resonate, and ensure it doesn't go any further. Zero waste design also means being connected to our customer's desires so we're producing the right trends.
ENSURE EVERYTHING IS SOLD AND ULTIMATELY, WORN
We partner extensively with retailers and brands to ensure our entire production is sold and worn.