Alleviating poverty and providing fair trade labour one garment at a time
New Zealand ethical clothing company Little Yellow Bird is alleviating poverty and saving the environment one garment at
a time, providing 20 thousand hours of fair trade labour and saving 12,200,000 liters of water in the past year.
Little Yellow Bird has made its biggest impact yet, as highlighted in the latest impact report 2017-2018. It provides a model for how New Zealand businesses can change industry practise for the better.
The clothing brand, which sources cotton from India and makes uniforms and workwear products from organic fabrics, has
an ethical supply chain from cotton seed through to manufacturing.
Little Yellow Bird founder and CEO Samantha Jones says: “We carefully monitor our supply chain from cotton farm to
factory floor, regularly visiting every stage of the supply chain.”
Many workers are still not provided with a living wage or access to safe working conditions in most garment
manufacturing. Little Yellow bird is dedicated to changing this.
Jones says: “What if you could equip someone to not just survive, but flourish?”
Conventionally grown cotton uses an extraordinary amount of water, and the dyeing process can be damaging to the
environment. This report shows how Little Yellow Bird is not only saving millions of litres of water, but also
eliminating the use of 12,200 Kgs of toxic chemicals.
The clothing brand has also educated up to 10 thousand people about sustainable and ethical fashion through various
talks and presentations at schools and organisations throughout New Zealand.
The company is committed to creating a healthy bottom line and proving that good ethics doesn’t have to come at the
expense of profit. The company has experienced an incredible 800% growth in website sales in the past year.
Little Yellow Bird is a certified B-corp, meaning the business went through a rigorous assessment process which
determined their impact and dedication to social and environmental issues.
The company has received numerous awards, and Jones recognised as New Zealand’s Young Innovator at the 2017 New Zealand
Innovation Awards.