Location
Australia
Made In
Indonesia
Values
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Fair
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Gender Equality
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Transparent
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Vegan
We may be Bias, but we’ve Basic-ally fallen in love with yet another ethically and sustainably minded company. Somewhere between Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, Bias Basics is encouraging a slower approach to fashion with classic, nature-inspired clothing. One of the many incredible things about this company is the fact that it is a “one-woman show”; the founder, Adelaide, wanted to live a “simple yet significant” life, and she’s decided to take along anybody who would like to join her. We’re in.
The wardrobe staples Adelaide has created emanate beauty and style, and are absolutely timeless in their design. There are three core styles in the Bias Basics collection with various shades to choose from, including rockpool, shell, sea, and algae, and the multi-functionality of each respective piece reflects this company’s absolute commitment to sustainability and positive change.
“Comfortable in her own skin, she {the Bias woman} sees no need for extravagant outfits or embellishments. She sticks to the basics because she is enough; she lets her energy and personality do the talking. She wears her clothes, her clothes don’t wear her.”
With this insight, we understand what Bias Basics is all about. It’s about empowering women to be comfortable in their own skin; it’s about teaching women that they don’t need to look to outside sources to prove their worth; and it’s about providing women with clothing that has not exploited any other women, including Mother Nature, in the production process.
Adelaide works with a Bali-based clothing manufacturer, one that has over 30 years of industry experience and has been family-operated since 1987. This manufacturer definitely ticks all of our boxes: the workers there are provided with health care, super, paid sick leave and maternity leave, amongst other fabulous things, and the business also donates to and supports local charities. As for the material the Bias Basic goodies are crafted from, it is 100% linen, and was chosen for its breathability, its longevity, and its beauty. How do you like them organically-grown apples?
Ensuring the Bias Basics garments are created with both environmental and trend endurance as key criteria is one of the many ways in which this company is producing mindfully, and also with people and the planet as priorities. As Adelaide, the incredible founder, has said, “the tides are changing”, and with the help of Bias Basics, they’re changing for the better.
Want to know where Bias Basics sits and what they’re working on in terms of these 5 values? Hover over these values to find out.
Eco Friendly
Every Bias Basics style is made from 100% linen that has been Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified (textiles tested for harmful substances). Linen is highly breathable, biodegradable and is naturally hypoallergenic due to it's unique anti-bacterial properties. Working from home allows me to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that would usually occur on a daily commute to work. I prefer to work outside or use natural lighting in order to minimise the use of unnecessary electricity. Recycled and environmentally friendly products are used within my studio and home, and I repair and donate wherever I can. A range of sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging is used in order to minimise waste. In place of conventional plastic, products are shipped from my supplier to the studio in boxes and compostable packaging. I have chosen not to use any form of swing tags on my garments, in order to reduce excess packaging. Acid free and FSC certified tissue paper with soy-based ink is used, as well as fully biodegradable compostable courier satchels, and eco-friendly and recyclable packing tape. If waste is completely unavoidable, I will consciously recycle, reused or regift wherever possible. Printed fabrics (yet to be released) are sustainably digitally printed in house by our manufactured, with zero effluent wastewater and no chemical run off.
Fair
I work with an ethically and sustainably minded clothing manufacturing company based in Bali, Indonesia with over 30 years experience in the industry. Communication and trust is key when establishing a relationship with a supplier, and I have been working with this team for over two years now. Although their business has grown, they have been operating in the same facility since 1987 by the same family. They are an ethical and sustainably minded company that strive to ensure they leave a positive imprint on both their local community and the textile industry as a whole. They go that extra mile to take care of their team, providing them with superannuation, health care, life insurance, paid sick leave, maternity leave, complying and exceeding all government salary and working hour laws (only working 40 hours per week). It was so important that my supplier had the same ethos as me, and as a company they also donate and support a number of local charities. For customers piece of mind and transparency , you can view an actual tour of the small family run factory where my designs are manufactured (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=SBWR_ibCYgI.)
Minimal Waste
There are three key styles to the collection, each created consciously and deliberately. Flattering and classic cuts that you will never grow tired of, reducing the need of excess consumption. Every piece is made in limited numbers. Minimal waste cutting techniques are used when constructing the garments, and we will be working on some small pieces, which any remaining offcuts can be repurposed for. We also use minimal packaging, and no swing tags in an effort to reduce excess waste.
Give Back
As a sole trader I personally donate to various charities such as the cancer council, RSPCA, and Red Cross. I am also working towards intergrading a charity supporting app onto the website, to allow for a percentage of the profits or round up sale donations to be made.
Transparent
Tracing our entire supply chain is a work in process, as it is a complicated to make sure all information received is 100% accurate (especially when suppliers of fabrics may vary depending on availability etc.) However that is something we are striving towards. We know that the linen used for our garments are supplied by Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified mills in India and Thailand. Linen is also inherently a more sustainable fabric than most, as it takes little to almost no water, fertiliser or pesticides to grow, with very low environmental impact.
Behind the Brand
“I constantly have to remind myself that I am just one person, doing the best I can. Let’s be honest, a truly sustainable clothing brand would be one that doesn’t exist. It’s a constant learning process, as materials, packaging and shipping methods progress, you just need to stick to your core values and allow yourself to evolve and move forward as best you can.”.
Hi Adelaide! In light of current circumstances, how are you coping? How are you taking things day by day?
2020 has been a tricky year to launch my business, but I’m just trying to stay fluid and take things as they come. Worrying about the future or how hard it will be financially isn’t going to get me anywhere, so I’m just trying to embrace this indefinite stillness being forced upon us. I’m still supporting my local community and businesses as best I can and creating for the brand and my own personal projects.
Staying inspired is key for my mental health. I already worked from home, and a long way away from friends and family, so the whole isolation thing isn’t much of a change for me. I’m very grateful to live in a pretty quiet area with open beaches, so I’m still able to see the sunrise at the beach every morning and get some fresh air. Being active, eating healthy and prioritising sleep are other ways I’m coping with things.
There are a lot of elderly people in my community who I usually stop and have a chat with (while practicing social distancing, of course) most days when I’m out on my walks, so I’m just making sure they are all ok and letting them know I’m here to help in any way. I’m also offering to help out local businesses in any way I can, because supporting each other and connecting with community is so important right now, and it’s something that is often lost in modern society.
If the EME community could take away any message from you right now, what would you want them to know?
Firstly, I am still shipping orders worldwide as usual. I hope that during these times even if you don’t have money to spare, you can still support small businesses simply by engaging with them, checking in (from a distance) and letting them know you’re still there for them once we get through this uncertain time. Remember support doesn’t just have to be financial.
Here are some different ways you can support small business in your community without spending a cent:
- Leave a great Google review for a local small business
- Leave a positive comment and review on their Facebook page
- Share a post, comment, and engage with them on Instagram
- Offer to help them out. If you’ve got some extra time on your hands, it’s such a good opportunity to give back. Maybe you can offer to make some new signage for them, take photos for their social media, just say, “Hey, let me know if I can help in any way.”
Now, on a deeper note… The current event events have rapidly changed every aspect of our lives on a global scale, and I’m sure we are all just trying to navigate as best we can. I think the most important thing to remember that you are not alone; every single person will be impacted by the current events in some way. There is some sense of beauty in that, grounding humanity and forcing us to realise just how vulnerable we all are, and just how little control we actually have on our lives outside ourselves.
In a world where everything has become so accessible, disposable, and fast-paced, its no wonder the current situation is causing so much panic and anxiety. A common way many of us have learnt to deal with things (myself included) is to control and predict, whether it’s an outcome, a person, our bodies, a situation, or an environment.
“It’s a confronting thing to face, but one of the best ways to move through these uncertain times is to accept that we cannot control anything but ourselves and our own reactions.”
As humans, our natural instinct when we sense an external threat is to go into survival mode. By putting ourselves into survival mode we are triggering our fight or flight response, which impacts our hormones, our gut and ultimately lowers our immune systems. I am by no means a qualified medical professional, however, I do speak from my personal experience of prolonged stress and the long list of autoimmune conditions that came as a result. So as overwhelming as it may seem, we should all try our best to just take each day as it comes and be kind to each other and ourselves.
We are being forced to be still, and never before have we experienced an event that has the potential to unify humanity globally. It seems the biggest threat to most people I’ve spoken to is the uncertainty; we really have no idea how this will develop and change the way we live in the years to come. But when you think about it, that’s not really anything new. Life is always uncertain, isn’t it? Even in the definition of life, it states “the power of adaptation to environment through changes”.
“We are all more capable of adaption and change than we may think, and the fact that we are all in that position together should give us some sense of comfort.”
Some people are feeling a lot of fear at the moment, and struggling with the idea of being controlled by restrictions and warnings. But try to see staying home, taking precautions, and following health recommendations not as an act of fear or weakness, but an act of compassion. Compassion for your family, your community, your healthcare workers, your country, and humanity as a whole, we are all in this together – no one is immune. Instead of focusing on surviving as an individual, let’s try to focus on thriving as a global community. I hope we all come out of this with a stronger sense of compassion, connection, empathy, humility, and consciousness.
P.S. COVID-19 might be contagious, but so is smiling! So next time you are walking your dog, or at the supermarket, or even in the car… SMILE! A little smile can go a long way these days.
P.s. We’ve got a 10% off discount code for Bias Basics. Use ‘EME10932’ at checkout.