Our Mission

To put people and the planet at the heart of everything that we do. Driving lasting positive change in the fashion industry with sustainable practices and an ethical supply chain. We create timeless, carefully crafted clothes that empower women.

Social Responsibility

Social Responsibility

We are proud to be a Pending Certified B Corporation, for meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. Find out more here

We believe it is our social and moral duty to have a positive impact on the environment. We improve people’s lives through our clothing by supporting charities, recycling and donating to develop a circular textile economy.
  • Every year we will give at least 10% of our profits to charities
  • We are committed to radically improving the rate of garment recycling through our Pre-Loved initiative. Customers can send their old garments to us to be re-loved, repurposed or recycled, to stop them going to landfill. 50% of the net profits from our Pre-Loved Collection go to charity. Currently this service is only available for our UK customers, but we are planning to expand it to our international customers in the near future
  • We donate clothing to charities including women's shelters, Women's Aid and Save the Children
    • and we also offer to plant a tree for every order
  • We manage and measure the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are produced within our supply chain
  • We actively encourage and support our team to participate in regular volunteer activities that align with our values and goals.

    • Sustainability

    Sustainability

    For us, it is vital that we give back what we take by looking at fashion as part of the circular economy. It’s based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. We aim to eliminate waste by designing with longevity ensuring the garment remains in perpetual cycles of use and reuse.

    Sustainability banner
    Banner
    We have signed The Fashion Pact; a coalition with the objective of addressing the fashion industry’s impact on the environment; joining other brands and groups across Luxury, Fashion, Sports and Lifestyle. In line with their objectives, we are committed to taking actions across climate change, biodiversity restoration and protection of the oceans, to work towards a more sustainable future.

    We are also now a proud member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. This enables our team and factories to use facility, product, and brand tools to measure and evaluate our impact on social and environmental aspects of our business. Being a member is very exciting and will help us be more transparent in our business. Find out more here


    Fabric icon Our Fabrics

    A garment’s life cycle begins with the fibre or crop it’s made from. We then consider how and where it’s woven, knitted or tanned into the fabric we use. Knowing the provenance of the materials we use has never been so important and we consider every element to create kinder clothing.

  • We use many natural fibres in our fabrics such as cotton, wool, and viscose as they biodegrade faster and don’t release harmful chemicals when breaking down
  • We strive to continually increase the amount of recycled, organic and sustainable fibres in our collections
  • We only source wool from farms practising safe sheep husbandry methods, we only use non-mulesed wool, and all of our leather is a by-product
    • Find out more about our fabrics
  • We continually work with mills to reduce the amount of water consumption and pollution during textile processing. For example, choosing digital printing methods or using organic materials, so the residual water isn’t contaminated with pesticides.
    • Find out more about our Ethical & Sustainable Production

    Production icon Our Production

    We are constantly sourcing factories that are more sustainable, use less water, create less waste and release fewer chemicals into the world. We also carefully vet and only select factories that uphold the environmental, ethical and social needs of the people that work in them.

  • More than 90% of our clothing is produced in Europe and our fabrics are sourced locally to the factories to minimise our carbon footprint
  • We have a strict Code of Conduct for our factories. They must adhere to the highest ethical standards including living wages, safe conditions, regulated working hours and strictly no child labour
  • To prevent waste, we buy small and produce only what we need.
    • Find out more about our factories

    Clothing icon The Use of Our Clothing

    We are champions of Slow Fashion. We produce high quality, long lasting clothes. This is central to our belief that we can make a positive impact with our clothes and create a like-minded community around it.

  • We are working towards bringing our Pre-Loved initiative to our international customers, where they can send us their old maternity clothing to be re-loved, repurposed and recycled sustainably. Currently this service is only available for our UK customers
  • We have a dedicated online personal shopping service to help you make the most of our clothes and keep your style relevant
  • Above all, we never want our clothes to go to landfill.

    • Care icon Care for our Garments

    Caring for your clothes will increase the longevity and minimise the impact on the environment - we want it to last for years. We advise you on how to store, care, wash and repair your garments in the most environmentally friendly ways. Washing and drying can shorten a garment’s lifespan. Read our advice here


    Recycling icon Recycling

    Recycling is integral to every aspect of our business. Whether it is using recycled fabric, ensuring all of our packaging is recyclable or simply recycling everything possible in the office. We do as much as possible and we are always striving to do more.

  • We are a founding partner in a programme that will allow us to make new fabrics from your recycled clothing for future collections
  • Our packaging is 100% plastic free, made from recycled materials, and is 100% recyclable and biodegradable
  • As part of our commitment to the circular economy, our ambition is that our garments remain in perpetual cycles of use and reuse
  • Our catalogues are fully recyclable.
    • Find out more about our packaging
    Transparency

    Transparency

    It’s important to us that you can see who we are, what we stand for and who makes our clothing. We share what other customers think of us, our collection and we value your feedback as a tool for our constant improvement.
  • The people who make your clothes matter. That’s why we carefully select the factories we work with. Every factory signs our Code of Conduct which ensures their team’s environmental, ethical and social needs are upheld and protected
  • Our collections are created by women, for women. We love wrinkles and stretch marks. We do not make our models slimmer, but we do remove plasters, tattoos and background imperfections
  • Your voice matters and we see you as part of our team. We actively seek your feedback, not just on our clothes but also the service you’ve received.
    • People

    People

    People matter. We take pride in having an equal, inclusive and safe environment that makes people feel valued and respected. We support each other and work together as equal members of a whole unit.
  • We are mostly women – 79% in fact
  • We have a family friendly working environment; half of our team have parental responsibilities. We support flexible working to accommodate the modern lifestyle
  • You are at the heart of everything we do. To give you the best service we not only have our customer service team in-house, we also pick and pack your order ourselves
  • We actively support our local community by providing work placements, apprenticeships and internships to schools and universities.

    • Our Journey

    Now is the time for change. At Isabella Oliver, We believe that sustainable fashion is the key to a greener world, as at the moment, the fashion industry is the number two polluting sector, second only to oil.

    This is why we are constantly finding ways to understand, manage and improve our social and environmental impacts. For example, from 2019 to 2020, we are using over 35% more low impact fibres in our manufacturing. We are also testing out upcycling womenswear with our sister brand Baukjen. We are collecting used maternity wear and finding a new home for it. Recently, we had a garment reach its fourth home, which we are very proud of.

    Since March, most businesses have been struggling due to the Coronavirus pandemic. At Isabella Oliver, we have done all that we can to ensure our employees are still being paid a living wage, and satisfaction is at a high point.

    This year, we are proud to be a Pending Certified B Corp Corporation accredited business, for meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. You can read more about B Corp here

    We are excited to have been invited to sign The Fashion Pact earlier this year; a coalition with the objective of addressing the fashion industry’s impact on the environment; joining around 250 other brands and groups across Luxury, Fashion, Sports and Lifestyle. We are committed to a common core of key environmental goals in three areas: preventing global warming, restoring biodiversity, and restoring the oceans to work towards a more sustainable future. This is in line with the Paris agreement to keep a global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius pre industrial levels by 2050. We support the adoption of ‘circularity’ principles across our brands such as the sourcing of regenerative raw materials, material efficiency and recycling/upcycling. This includes both ‘design for circularity’ and addressing the end of life of materials and products.

    Please see more about the Fashion pact here

    We are implementing Science Based Targets for nature to achieve measurable goals in the areas of climate change, biodiversity, and oceans along with around 900 other companies. We have pledged to reduce our Greenhouse Gas Emissions and be net neutral by 2030. We have also committed to implement 50% renewable energy across own operations by 2025 and 100% by 2030. Our packaging is already 100% plastic free, and we are on a journey to eliminate single use plastic in our entire supply chain by 2025. We have also pledged to support material and process innovations that have no negative impact on key species and ecosystems. We are also ensuring that we do not contribute to the loss or degradation of natural forests. Please see more about Science Based Targets here: sciencebasedtargets.org and sciencebasedtargetsnetwork.org

    Isabella Oliver is now a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. This enables our company to use facility, product, and brand tools to measure and evaluate our impact on social and environmental aspects of our business. Being a member is very exciting and will help us be more transparent in our business.
    Please see more about the Sustainable Apparel Coalition here