Frequently Asked Questions
Transparency is vital because unless we know the impacts of production on the farmers, makers, community and environment we won’t be able to make changes. Unfortunately the clothing industry can be very opaque, with many links in the chain between farm and store. This is where abuse can creep in.
Transparency is also really important for us as customers – knowing our shopping hasn’t caused harm gives peace of mind.
Everything we produce comes with a code – alphanumeric and more recently QR codes too. You just need to go to the Trace pages and select your garment or, if your phone can scan QR codes, you can simply scan and click! We’ve built these stories in partnership with our social enterprise producers in India, Africa and the UK and hope you find them interesting and reassuring.
Our children’s clothing is standard fit by age so order the size you would normally buy (or bigger if you want them to wear it for a while!). We’ve also designed in some growing help too, with button elastic, longer legs and dresses that become tunics.
For our adult shirts and tunics you can check our Size Guidance – bear in mind that we don’t use elastane for stretch as our items are 100% natural fibre. This means that if you want something a bit more roomy then it’s worth sizing up.
If something doesn’t fit then we are happy to exchange it.
Since we launched we’ve always worked with fair trade producers and social enterprises to maximise our impact on people and planet. We love working with organisations that are focused on creating and improving livelihoods for marginalised communities as well as caring for the environment through the processes, materials and energy they use.
We are members of Social Enterprise UK, the British Association of Fair Trade Shops and Suppliers (BAFTS) and the Organisation for Responsible business (ORB). Our producers are also accredited by key organisations such as the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO), the Indian Fairtrade Forum (IFF) and the Khadi Villages Industry Commission (KVIC) for fair trade. The materials we use are also certified as appropriate, by organisations such as the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), KVIC and Bio.
Our stock is based in the UK and we aim to ship within 2-3 days using Royal Mail. For some home furnishing items we are running a pre-order model to avoid waste – this means that we will wait until we have sufficient orders to run a small production. This will be clearly stated on the shop page you ordered from. Taking part in these projects is really helpful as it means we can run extra productions to support our artisans and the more orders we get, the quicker delivery will be! At the moment this is just for our homewares collection – cushion covers and throws.
We post to most locations globally.
For UK orders we post out using Royal Mail – if you would like a faster service then just get in touch and we can arrange a speedier service.
For other destinations it works out cheaper for you to order via our eBay for Change shop, to take advantage of eBay’s global shipping service.
We prefer to work with natural fibres as these are kinder to the planet – they biodegrade and don’t put out microplastics into our water systems. Much of the cotton we use is certified organic, but it’s actually even more than that. We love cotton that’s rain-fed and indigenous to the location where its growing, making it an excellent choice and certainly not the “dirty, thirsty crop” that mass produced cotton has sadly become.
Plus our production is done in social enterprise artisan workshops and not huge factory sweatshops, so we know that our impacts are positive all the way through. We particularly love working with khadi, a fabric which Gandhi promoted so successfully as a way for his people to rediscover their pride in their heritage, whilst financially supporting themselves and their community. Khadi is processed by hand using far less water and virtually zero carbon electricity.
We also love to work with fabrics such as bamboo, hemp, tencel and peace silk.
At Where Does It Come From? we do our very best not to compromise on ethics. Our b2b productions are all custom to your requirements – we don’t make thousands of items to keep in a store room. We can’t see the point of half-measures or “greenwashing” – if customers have made the positive decision to shop ethically, then they should have the peace of mind that this is exactly what they are buying.
We know that you have to think about your budget. As a social enterprise we’ll be transparent on pricing and do our best to get you just what you need. The undeniable fact is that it costs more to make items that don’t damage our planet or treat workers badly, but we think it’s worth it. In fact, we don’t think we really have a choice.
We do not pick and choose which components of our products or supply chain should be sustainable, whilst ignoring other elements. We are not one of those companies who will trumpet their organic fabric offerings and then still manage production in huge faceless factories with cheap labour and questionable workers’ rights. You may find other businesses who promise you a sustainable solution at a cheaper price but we’re confident that we can meet your needs for a quality product with ethics, plus we can share with you and your customers exactly how we did it!