Our Sustainable Process | Zero-Waste Sewing & Ethical Sourcing

We want to be conscious about the impact our business has on the environment.  There is so much information about environmental sustainability that it can be overwhelming.    

Since Stina Elizabeth LLC is a very small creative studio, we must be realistic with what we can do and the steps we can take towards a sustainable business. Our focus is to use the most of our main material which is fabric. That way we generate the least amount of trash.  Less trash is better for the environment. 

We are taking these steps to create a more sustainable business:

• Fabric Sourcing: Our fabric sourcing is built on a deep commitment to sustainability and supporting ethical, small businesses. We prioritize materials from sustainable small businesses and non-profits dedicated to collecting, recycling, or reselling textiles. The materials we purchase are deadstock, pre-consumer surplus, and pre-loved. We also actively seek out unique materials from individuals at community sales, thrift stores, and vintage shops. Even on the very rare occasion we must purchase new 'off the bolt' fabric, we prefer to purchase through small-business fabric retailers because small-business equals community.
• General merchandise: Aside from materials for our creations, we actively rescue high-quality merchandise from closing stores and source deadstock materials to prevent them from reaching landfills.
• Scraps: Fabric scraps resulted from cutting the patterns and thread cut outs will be used in other projects and not throwing them away.

• Packaging: The packaging of all items can be reused. Either to keep the item you bought or use it for another purpose. Promotional and presentation cards are made on recycled paper. When possible, we will reuse boxes and packing paper.
• Shipping: The shipping supplies we purchase are recyclable and/or made from recycled materials.  These include boxes, inserts, packing tape and shipping labels. The company that makes our shipping  and packaging materials is ecofriendly from the materials they sell, to how they do business.  Also, when possible, we will reuse shipping material from shipments we received. We utilize USPS for the majority of our shipping to minimize additional carbon emissions by leveraging existing daily delivery routes.
• Make Your Order Count. We've partnered with Greenspark to ensure your purchases can help protect our planet. You have the option to donate at checkout and fund the initiative to fight plastic pollution. These funds are transparently directed toward certified environmental organizations like Plastic Bank working on “building ethical recycling ecosystems in coastal communities while simultaneously creating positive economic opportunities for those who helped collect it” Thank you for joining us in building a greener future!
• Website: Our website is built on Shopify platform. Shopify is carbon neutral and committed to “empower sustainable commerce”.

We use a sustainable approach to create products that: 1) make you happy; 2) are conversation pieces, and 3) are made with high quality craftsmanship. 

One of the best ways to create with eco conscious is to make good quality products. A dress is not just a dress to wear one time, we believe that dress can be worn many times using different accessories, even by future generations. That zipper bag can be used and reused many times. 

Other one of our sustainable features is mending. We provide mending services to fix something that can me worn and used repeatedly. We also provide a sustainable sewing class that teaches helps people to identify and apply sustainable processes in their sewing. 

We are still learning about best practices to have an ecofriendly business. So, stick around to follow our journey.

Sustainable can be bold and unique.