Responsible Style, Now and Forever
Over a decade ago, Clare, our CEO founded ME+EM on three key pillars: flattering, functional, and forever. From focusing on long-lasting aesthetic appeal to scrupulously selecting the highest quality fabrics, slow fashion is in our DNA. Collaborating with experts both in-house and externally, we have created a comprehensive roadmap to becoming the most socially and environmentally responsible brand we can be.
Our Factories
Visibility, honesty, and transparency are values we extend to all our relationships. To effectively communicate this with our suppliers, we created a code of conduct that they must adhere to in order to work with us.
In March 2022, we were proud to graduate to full membership of the Ethical Trade Initiative, an organisation dedicated to bringing about long-term change and respect for workers worldwide. As members of the ETI, we have adopted its internationally recognised base code of labour standards as the foundations of our own code of conduct, specifically relating to protecting and promoting workers' rights. Through our graduation we have demonstrated the practical ways in which we work that promotes transparency and fairness within our supply chain.
We are also members of SEDEX, an organisation that helps companies improve their responsible and sustainable business practices. We require all our suppliers to be members of SEDEX as well so that we can have full transparency of their business operations and how workers are treated. This is achieved through a rigorous auditing framework and assessing sites to ensure workers rights are protected. It also gives us the opportunity to celebrate their successes and partner with them to remedy areas for improvement.
Community + Giving
As a brand founded by and predominantly run by women, it’s crucial to us that we pay those opportunities forward to support and empower others. In 2020, ME+EM Founder Clare Hornby was made an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust Women Supporting Women initiative, which works to equip young women across the UK to build their own future through education, training and employment. We continue to support their vital work throughout the year with exclusive collaborations and donations.
We donate the proceeds of our sample sales to Smart Works, an organisation that arms women with the tools and clothes they need to succeed in job interviews. We have also collaborated with the Lady Garden Foundation, a charity working to remove the taboo around discussing gynaecological health, while raising awareness and funding for gynaecological-cancer research (https://smartworks.org.uk/) (https://www.ladygardenfoundation.com/)
In addition, we are pleased to be an accredited Living Wage Employer. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay based on the actual cost of living. Over 9000 organisations, including ME+EM, voluntarily choose to pay the real Living Wage because we believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. This commitment applies not only to directly employed staff but also to our third-party contracted staff.(https://www.livingwage.org.uk/what-real-living-wage)
Circularity
In our commitment to preventing any materials or garments entering landfill, we recycle or donate all our fabrics and trims from our head office to art schools and colleges. We donate damaged or unsellable stock to Newlife, the charity supporting disabled children and their families, for their recycling centre operation. The operation gives opportunities to people from all backgrounds and abilities to volunteer and learn new skills. (https://newlifecharity.co.uk/about/)
And we have partnered with My Wardrobe HQ to offer a capsule selection of our range for rental.
Skills
- We are 'Intelligent Style, Now and Forever'