Introduction
Our mission at Fairbee is to accelerate the transition of consumers’ buying behaviour toward a more conscious lifestyle. Like busy bees, we are full of energy and passion to reach our ambition, which is to make ourselves redundant. We strive for a new normal: A marketplace of consciously designed and produced products made under fair labour conditions with a neutral impact on the environment.
Selection
We carefully select the brands that we present on our website. Our strict criteria proactively looks for brands whose design and production are sustainable or tracking to become sustainable. Fairbee realizes that we can only achieve the transition to responsibly-made products by working with others. We consider strategic partnerships with organizations with more expertise an advantage.
Fairbee is proud of its collaboration with The GoodonYou Organization https://www.goodonyou.eco. GoodonYou strives towards a more sustainable fashion sector by examining the policies and practices of numerous fashion brands. Good on You has proven itself internationally as a watchdog of responsible, fair, eco-friendly production in the fashion industry. Their extensive independent audits provide transparency into the sustainability and labor practices of many fashion brands.
GoodOnYou focuses mainly on medium to large fashion brands. Fairbee wants to provide brands of all sizes and sectors with a channel to market, so we decided to apply the same set of evaluation criteria to our showcased brands as The GoodOnYou organization.
Criteria
The four categories of criteria used by GoodOnYou and Fairbee:
- Environment
- Labour conditions
- Materials
- Animal welfare
The audits are conducted on the points listed in the document below:
They use five standards for the results of their audits:
- We avoid
- Not good enough
- It’s a start
- Good
- Great
| Rating | |
| We avoid | These brands publish little to irrelevant information about their sustainability policy. In some cases, the claims made by the brand are too ambiguous to have a material impact |
| Not Good Enough | These brands publish some information in one or more areas and may attach value to certain topics, but monitor the impact in the supply chain too little. |
| It’s a start | These brands are transparent about their policies and practices and focus on a number of material areas. Making good progress in these areas |
| Good | These brands incorporate policies and practices in material areas into their supply chain and demonstrate leadership in one or more areas |
| Great | These brands show leadership in all three areas. They are transparent and have both good policies and practices to address the most material issues in the supply chain |
The minimum threshold that Fairbee uses for medium and large fashion brands is Good. The smaller brands which Fairbee selects are already focused on sustainability and are intrinsically motivated to improve their supply chain in terms of working conditions, the environment and animal welfare. Fairbee’s smaller brands were typically started by entrepreneurs with an aligned mission to do good.
We take the GoodOnYou standards to the next level by implementing a different starting point:
We evaluate companies on three levels:
- Basic Conscious: The brand has developed strategic policies to reduce its footprint and/or actively contribute to reducing the negative impact in its sector. They work with their stakeholders on a daily basis to improve the supply chain.
- Highly Conscious: The brand uses innovative techniques, methods and/or processes to generate positive impact and communicates about this transparently.
- Premium Conscious: The brand is (inter)nationally recognized for its innovative processes, methods and techniques, is progressive and challenges the status quo. It continuously strives to improve and show leadership.
In summary, we look at the certifications that brands have obtained, their supply chain, degree of transparency and the role they play in innovation or change.
Smaller brands that have just started to contribute to ethical working conditions, conscious/sustainable production and/or animal welfare are offered a place on our platform. We welcome them and participate in enabling their growth. As they grow, GoodonYou will carry out an extensive audit.
Focus Fairbee
The fashion industry is in transition. Due to the multinational complexity of material suppliers and producers in an increasingly global supply chain for fashion and lifestyle accessories, Fairbee cannot yet guarantee 100% transparency. That’s why we need you. We believe in the voice of the consumer. The more we demand sustainable products, the faster producers will switch. Our role is to actively seek out brands that want the drive positive impact and to encourage traditional fashion brands to offer openness about their supply chain and production process. With your help, we will accelerate the transition to a conscious lifestyle.
Why conscious and not sustainable
The term “sustainability” has lost some of its credibility through over-use and consumer distrust. Fairbee has chosen to be “conscious” because for us it is about the way we reach our goal. We believe most people want to consume less plastic and support brands that utilize cleaner production methods, don’t test on animals and offer their workers livable wages. Conscious consumers will vote with their wallets; every purchase makes a difference and will speed the marketplace through this transition.
One bee doesn’t make a hive
Fairbee is on a mission, but we can only do this with others. We would love to hear your do’s and don’ts and favorite brands. If you come across cool products that you can’t find on our website, please share them with us. We want to hear your stories and see pictures of you in your conscious outfits. A hive can only be successful if all its bees work together, so join us and follow us. We look forward to your contributions. Please send them to [email protected] or share on our social channels.