IDA&VOLTA was born from 1 central question: How, in a time of superficial materialism, can we make the creation of a garment MEANINGFUL? The last thing we wanted was to add more soul-less clothes to an already huge piles of fashion wasting away in landfill. So, we decided to make high end ethical clothes from Belgian based on OUR VALUES. This resulted in our “Design Principles”
Our first lesson learnt…
We embarqed on a quest for suppliers that would source their textiles according to our principles: animal wellbeing, fair trade and minimal environmental impact. After researching and contacting over 60 (!) fabric suppliers that were proclaimed (by themselves or other sustainable brands) as thé most ethical and sustainable ones. We ended up eliminating all but a handful of them from our list…
Here’s what we discovered
Almost none of the suppliers could inform us where the raw material for the fabric came from. And in many cases, even the country of origin was unsure.
This was a huge eye-opener for us and we realized this was an enormous blind spot in the fashion industry.
That’s how treaceability became our priority
It is exactly this very first stage of textile production that is critical to ensure that farmers receive fair pay, animals are treated with respect and land and water are managed in a sustainable manner.
NONE OF THESE CAN BE ENSURED IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE THE RAW MATERIAL OF YOUR FABRIC CAME FROM.
That’s why we decided to not only add traceability to our list of Design Principles, but make it our explicit mission to look for and support suppliers that work with traceable materials.
IDA&VOLTA means back and forth…
…because we realised we have to go back to the ROOTS (literally and figuratively speaking) of the creation process to make a MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCE for the future.
…because your dress is the story of expression and creativity, but also tells the tale of seeds, farmers and soil.
If you want to see what we have made with these beautiful ethical fabrics, have a look in our shop.
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