We are as sustainable and as environmentally conscious as we can be but are always working to improve. It's quite a hard one as a brand. We get asked to make more, do more sizes....grow grow grow....but that isn't us. For new sizes to be added we take out other lines and replace them, we can't just simply make more as we don't have the staff, capacity or space to do this.
We don't want to grow we like being small and we will stay this way. We love being able to listen to our customer and what you want from us and being able to respond accordingly. Although it does take us some time, we get there in the end.
Our fabrics are mostly made in the same locations as our dungarees, we do use a factory currently in turkey, India and one in the UK (pics on the homepage). All of our workers are paid well and looked after. We check the factories regularly as we own the factory in the UK and it is walking distance from our office. Our Indian factory are paid above the living wage have housing and food also provided for them.
All items are made in short runs so there is no waste, nothing ever goes to landfill - we don't make for trends we make because we think an item is cool. If it isn't popular it doesn't get restocked, if it is - we do another run. We don't want to see people selling our products above the RRP and buying them to resell above asking price, that just doesn't sit right with us.
We don't use influencers or bloggers to promote our products as we don't believe in this model being ethical or sustainable. We don't do discounts to drive sales or offer discounts to people sharing our items online. We love that people do this and tag us and really appreciate it as a small business but if you are doing it for a reward, you'll get a pat on the back and a thumbs up from us but that's all we can do. We want to make it as fair as possible for our wholesale customers and don't want them to feel like they have to compete with us. The only discount we offer is our Blue Light Card discount to say thank you to our brave front line workers.
We only have the capacity to make small amounts at a time and will NEVER mass produce our products even though we have demand to, we don't want to! We like being small and being able to control who is making everything and how it is being made. Run & Fly has been around since the early 1980's and we are around the same size as when we started and this is by choice. Most of our staff have been with us for the last ten years at least. We like to manage all aspects of the brand and know every person in our supply chain by name. We like to make long lasting products you can buy and we can make with a clear conscience that we are doing the best job we can.
All offcuts are given to a primary school in Leicester where we are based for their art projects and we have done this since the start and they make some amazing things.
We have to wrap our products in plastic as our warehouse is very old and very dusty (and cold!) so it keeps the items from becoming damaged and damp sat on the shelves.
As with most people and businesses we aren't perfect but we do try our best and do what we can to make the most of our planet and our future.
If you have any other questions please feel free to email us at hello@runandfly.co.uk
