SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT

WNU HAS ACHIEVED B CORP

‘We are delighted to announce that WNU has achieved B Corp Certification, the foremost accreditation for ethical and sustainable business.

Here at WNU, we are all about making effortlessly elegant shirts for all women. But as a business, we want to be more than just a product.

By becoming B Corp today, WNU commits to using business as a force for good; to benefit all people, communities and the planet. From the raw materials we use, the production methods we choose and working conditions of the people who make our clothing, to our environmental footprint and support of our local community, B Corp is the most stringent, independent validation of the business we choose to be.

Thank you for joining us on this adventure and helping us create the changes we want to see in the industry.’

- Pip Durell

Founder of With Nothing Underneath

WHAT IS B CORP?

B Corp is one of the most demanding certifications that evaluates brands’ social and environmental impact, with over 300 questions on governance, workers, communities and impact on the environment.

Governance evaluates a company's overall mission, engagement around its social/environmental impact, ethics, and transparency.

Workers evaluates a company’s contributions to its employees’ financial security, health & safety, wellness, career development, and engagement & satisfaction.

Community evaluates a company’s engagement with and impact on the communities in which it operates, hires from, and sources from.

Environment evaluates a company’s overall environmental management practices as well as its impact on the air, climate, water, land, and biodiversity.

Customers evaluates a company’s stewardship of its customers through the quality of its products and services, ethical marketing, data privacy and security, and feedback channels.

Our certification is the result of the collective work at WNU that started in February 2020. To read more about B Corp and view our assessment please have a look here.

Governance evaluates a company's overall mission, engagement around its social/environmental impact, ethics, and transparency.

Workers evaluates a company’s contributions to its employees’ financial security, health & safety, wellness, career development, and engagement & satisfaction.

Community evaluates a company’s engagement with and impact on the communities in which it operates, hires from, and sources from.

Environment evaluates a company’s overall environmental management practices as well as its impact on the air, climate, water, land, and biodiversity.

Customers evaluates a company’s stewardship of its customers through the quality of its products and services, ethical marketing, data privacy and security, and feedback channels.

Our certification is the result of the collective work at WNU that started in February 2020. To read more about B Corp and view our assessment please have a look here.

WHAT ARE OUR PRODUCTS MADE FROM?

Poplin: All of our Poplins are made from GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified 100% organic cotton. It is a plain-weave cotton fabric with very fine horizontal “ribs” or yarns that result in a strong, crisp fabric.

Weave: Our Weave fabrics are made from a perfect blend of GOTS certified 100% organic cotton and linen. The Weave combines the cool feel of linen with the softness of cotton – and slightly thicker than them both.

Hemp: The hemp WNU uses is 100% organic and is one of the most sustainable plants, being both biodegradable and easily recyclable. It grows rapidly without the use of chemicals and needs 50% less water than other natural fibres to thrive.

Seersucker: Our Seersucker fabric is made from GOTS certified 100% organic cotton. The ‘wrinkles’ in the fabric are created from a slack-tension weave, creating a light, durable and comfortable fabric.

Linen: WNU Linen is 100% GOTS certified organic linen. Organic linen is an eco-friendly biodegradable fabric which does not require the use of pesticides. The manufacturing process is free from harmful and synthetic substances.

Silk: We use 100% Recycled Silk, made from a mixture of continuous twisted silk yarn and traceable GRS silk waste, (Global recycle standard), a standard which verifies the presence and amount of recycled material in fabrics and tracks the flow of raw materials from its source to the final product.

Brushed: The WNU Brushed fabric is composed of GOTS certified 100% organic cotton. The cotton undergoes a brushing process with fine metal brushes carefully rubbing the fabric to produce fine fibres from the woven yarns, creating extra softness on the surface of the fabric.

Oxford: The fabric used in our Oxford collection is 100% GOTS certified organic cotton. It is created from yarns that are woven together to create a basket weave pattern that is sturdy but still allows the fabric to breathe.

Fine Brushed: Our Fine Brushed fabrics come in different blends, with the main base composed of responsibly sourced cotton. The different blends contain responsibly sourced cashmere or merino wool.

Tencel: This is a material derived from cellulose fibres made from the wood pulp of Eucalyptus trees, created using sustainable practices and responsible sourcing. It is biodegradable and compostable under industrial, home, soil and marine conditions, thus they can fully revert back to nature.

Denim: After thorough research, a supplier with state of the art technology reducing the water and chemicals usually needed to create denim was selected to create the WNU denim shirt. Bringing denim to our collection has been a considered journey and has been designed to stand the test of time.

TRIMS

As well as our fabrics, it is important to us that all components of our shirts are considered when taking into consideration sustainability.

All of the buttons used in WNU shirts are made from wasted by-products of the food manufacturing industry and are biodegradable.

Labels: All WNU labels are made from 100% Recycled Polyester.

BUTTONS

All of the buttons used in WNU shirts are made from wasted by-products of the food manufacturing industry and are biodegradable.

Shell: Our shell buttons are made using the natural shell material. Used on many WNU shirts, including all of our Poplins, Linens and Oxfords.

Corozo: Corozo is a sustainable material because the nuts are only ready to be processed when they naturally mature and fall from the Tagua tree, preventing the exploitation of this natural resource through deforestation. Used on both our Brushed and Hemp shirts.

Mother of Pearl: Also known as nacre and it forms on the inner shell layers of mollusks, especially pearl oysters. The beauty of the shell is ideal for being made into buttons and are found on our Silk shirts. =

Urea: This is starch based plastic that is biodegradable in compost. This will be used on many of WNU’s Brushed shirts in the coming months.

Shell: Our shell buttons are made using the natural shell material. Used on many WNU shirts, including all of our Poplins, Linens and Oxfords.

Urea: This is starch based plastic that is biodegradable in compost. This will be used on many of WNU’s Brushed shirts in the coming months.

PLACES AND PEOPLE

B Corp assessment evaluates a company's contribution to its employees’ financial security, health & safety, wellness, career development, and engagement & satisfaction. It measures aspects such as the pay disparity within the company from the top to the bottom - and topics including diversity, equity & inclusion.

B Corp assessment evaluates a company's contribution to its employees’ financial security, health & safety, wellness, career development, and engagement & satisfaction. It measures aspects such as the pay disparity within the company from the top to the bottom - and topics including diversity, equity & inclusion.

Over 90% of our collection is sourced and woven in Portugal, where we have built solid relationships, from the outset, with our suppliers. Currently the other 10% of our fabric is sourced from Italy (Silk) and China (Hemp). These fabrics are shipped to our manufacturers in Portugal for make-up. Our Portuguese factories have predominantly female staff and uphold the highest standard of working ethics, including pay and rights.

We have a code of conduct in place for all external suppliers, holding everyone to contract when it comes to our ethical policies.

We pay regular visits to our Portuguese factories to ensure that the standards set in WNU’s code of conduct are being met. As well as this, we make sure that all of our fabric mills and manufacturers have been audited to allow full transparency into their sourcing and operational policies.

Our warehouse is located in East Sussex where our amazing team personally package each shirt to order, before sending it to you. The warehouse and its surrounding offices are powered by sustainable energy sources and 100% of all waste is either recycled or burned to produce electricity, nothing goes into landfill.

In 2022 we brought our embroidery process in-house, and this is now done by our team in Sussex. This not only increased the quality of the bespoke process but also cut our carbon emissions, by cutting out the shipments to an external embroidery company.

We have a code of conduct in place for all external suppliers, holding everyone to contract when it comes to our ethical policies.

COMMUNITY

WNU was created to make the perfect shirt for women, but as a business, we want to be more than just a product. From the very beginning, supporting charities has been intrinsic to the brand and we are honoured to have worked with charities both locally and Nationally.
In 2021 we donated 4.3% of our net profits to charity and we aim to match that this year.

Here, below, is a list of a few of the amazing places we have worked with - please do check them out!

Smart Works Reading. The charity helping women get into work. Through a number of activations we have worked closely with Smart Works Reading, from donating shirts to add to the charity’s wardrobe to styling sessions to raising monetary donations through online activations.

Tuesday Night Bites. The charity food and clothing bank in East London. After raising money to help fund this incredible organisation, we called out to friends, family and customers (- thank you!) to make a donation of clothes ahead of the Winter months.

Luminary Bakery. The charity baking to help women from disadvantaged backgrounds. After Meghan Markle wore one of our shirts to this bakery, WNU became a corporate partner and donated profits from the sales of the shirt Meghan wore.

Heart Research UK. The charity taking on heart disease. Each year we release an exclusive embroidery design for Valentine’s Day, donating part of the profits of each bespoke shirt bought.

CoppaFeel! The charity teaching us about breast cancer. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, for two weeks we donated profits from the sales of every pink shirt sold and sent out a leaflet in every online order to help spread awareness.

Auctions. We work with a number of smaller charities and donate either products or work experience in auctions.

Heart Research UK. The charity taking on heart disease. Each year we release an exclusive embroidery design for Valentine’s Day, donating part of the profits of each bespoke shirt bought.

Auctions. We work with a number of smaller charities and donate either products or work experience in auctions.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED;

What does GOTS certification mean?

(Global Organic Textile Standard), a body recognised as the world’s leading processing standard for textiles made from organic fibres. It uses no chemicals, synthetic fertilisers, pesticides and far less water than conventional cotton. Organic cotton is hypoallergenic, breathable and has a luxuriously soft quality.

What does FSC certification mean?

Forest Stewardship Council. This is sourced from forests which are managed in a responsible and sustainable way, FSC-labelled wood and paper promotes environmental, social and economic responsibility.

What makes a material sustainable?

At WNU, a key point we look for when sourcing our ‘sustainable’ materials is that they are biodegradable. It is important that they are able to have a circular process in order to not leave behind unnecessary waste. As well as this, we must not forget about the process of making the fabric. This is something we look at closely here at WNU, to ensure that water and energy usage is as low as possible, and also to avoid the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides.

Why are you sourcing some fabric from China?

Many people have misconceptions of factories in China and whilst there are some factories there that do not meet European standards, there are many that are modern and well-run. WNU holds the same standards for our factories no matter where they are in the world, and we ensure that our Chinese mill meets the highest standards of working conditions and quality standards outlined in our code of conduct. Another misconception people may have is that the quality is lesser. We source our Hemp fabric from China who are at the forefront of this, harvesting up to 70% of Hemp grown in the world.

Why do you sometimes run out of stock?

It is always important to us to never produce any unnecessary waste. We, therefore, always try to base our garment orders on sales data and demand but this is not always 100% accurate due to the effects of trends and external promotions. Therefore, when a product is much more successful than we anticipated we may run out of stock. However, with the implementation and testing of our pre-order model we aim to improve this accuracy and have more available stock.

Why do re-stocks take so long?

WNU is a slow fashion company, and ensures that our sustainability morals and ethics are always upheld. This means that some of our lead times may be slightly longer due to the scarcity of organic yarns and the time taken to manufacture to our high ethical standards. As well as this, many of the world’s supply chains are still recovering from the effects of covid, meaning that our lead times for certain products has almost doubled in recent years. As a team, we are always looking at solutions to reduce these timings, however, never at the cost of our ethics.

Is your packaging also sustainable?

We have recently developed our online packaging to be 100% sustainable. When you receive your ecom orders from us, everything from the box to the sticker can be recycled at home. The bags you receive in store are also mostly recyclable, once the cotton handles are detached the body of the bag can be recycled. Whilst the cotton handles are not recyclable, they are biodegradable due to the nature of cotton. We are currently working to develop our store bags further to allow them to be fully recyclable.

How can I make my garments last as long as possible?

Whilst we ensure that our shirts and shorts are made from high quality and durable materials made to last, it is also imperative that you care for your garments correctly. Please always make sure to take note of the washing and care instructions of each particular WNU shirt you own. If you have any questions regarding how to care for your garments, please do reach out to us at hello@withnothingunderneath.com and our team will always be there to give you the best advice.

What to do with WNU clothing you no longer wear?

A key point we always try to hit is to design shirts that stand the tests of time. However, we do understand that your style and preferences may change. Therefore we would love for you to donate any of your old WNUs to local charity stores or give them a second lease of life by listing them on websites such as Vinted, Ebay or Vestiaire Collective. We also have plans to implement a textile waste recycling program by the end of 2023 so you can send your old WNU shirts back to us in the hopes of creating a more sustainable and circular process.

HAVE A QUESTION?

Feel free to send your questions to hello@withnothingunderneath.com

To learn more about materials, visit our materials page here.

Discover our shirt shapes here.