No matter the colour, all our clothes are green on the inside
Dimples has always been a proud New Zealand brand, with strong Kiwi values. Protecting the environment is one of them. Even as we’ve grown from a home business to a larger company, that commitment hasn’t changed.
The clothing industry is notoriously hard on the environment – and on the people involved. It can cause incredible environmental and social damage worldwide: from cotton farms that suck up huge amounts of valuable water, to clothing factories using harsh chemicals and exploiting their workers; from the use of fossil fuels for shipping, to ‘fast fashion’ that ends up in landfills after a few wears.
We work hard to minimise our impact on the environment by keeping our production in New Zealand, using local materials as much as possible, and avoiding the factory system altogether. It’s about protecting our world long term – and making adorable, high quality baby gear at the same time.
Made here, sold here
Dimples clothing is produced right here in New Zealand. This lets us avoid shipping product across the world using harmful fossil fuels – it’s one of the most important ways that we reduce our environmental impact.
Making our clothes in New Zealand also means that we can control the quality of our product, and the working conditions of our sewers. We know that all our clothing is produced to an extremely high standard, by workers who are paid well and treated fairly. That’s incredibly valuable.
Starting from scratch
Where clothing is assembled isn’t the only factor when it comes to the environment. Sourcing the raw materials – merino wool and cotton, in our case – is also important.
Our merino comes from a mix of New Zealand and Australian sheep, which means the raw materials don’t have to travel very far, and we can keep an eye on the quality.
New Zealand’s climate isn’t suitable for large-scale cotton production, so we import only pure, organic-certified cotton to make sure the impact of cotton farming is minimal.
Small scale production
Dimples started out as a home-based business, and although we’ve grown, we haven’t changed all that much.
We don’t have a huge factory producing our clothing – instead, our expert sewers work from their homes. It’s essentially a scaled-up version of the small home workshop where it all started. The classic Dimples bee and rose are still hand-stitched onto every garment.
This system doesn’t just result in a better quality product, it also helps us avoid the environmental costs of factory production – we don’t use huge amounts of power to run machinery, or process our materials using harsh chemicals.
Made to last
The end result of our high-quality materials and high production values is hard-wearing, long-lasting clothing. Our customers find that our clothing – merino and cotton – lasts through wash after wash without fading, stretching or pilling. Many customers use our clothing for multiple children, then pass it on to friends or family.
This is environmentally friendly in itself – the more your child or children can wear each garment, the less you’ll need to throw away. This reduces the need for production and reduces the amount of landfill.
It’s all part of our ongoing commitment to our beautiful world. We’re not green because it’s trendy or expected, we’re green because we care – and we always will.
Take a look at our NZ made clothing now.