Responsibility + Sustainability

“The most important right we have is the right to be responsible” - Gerald Amos, Environmentalist
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Sustainability is a legitimate term; to not take more from nature than we can give back. Unfortunately we do indeed take more than we can give back, and we do cause more harm to nature than we do to nurturing it.
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Our population here on planet Earth houses seven billion human beings, and everything we make does some damage.
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Until we can figure out a process that does not interfere with nature’s capacity to regenerate itself we have no right applying the word sustainable to our business.
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Responsibility equates to business transparency. Making a positive difference to do less harm, and by using fewer materials, less energy and water, will generate less waste.
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Like many brands we outsource our manufacturing and we do not own a factory, but we make sure this is known, and ethically done so. We design products for longevity, using regenerated materials that do not take away from our planet. We pay our workers a good wage and we use shipping methods that have lower impacts than ‘next-day’ deliveries. We use packaging that has been recycled. And importantly, we give back.
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We are in a climate emergency. We need to restore our planet to its full health. We need to make changes; big and small. And we need to do this now.
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We at Sūndar are part of the consumer industry, so we cannot claim to be sustainable. We are on a path promoting sustainability and we are responsible for our business.
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We understand we can do better, and we are 100% committed to doing better.
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✌️ + 💚
Sūndar Swim

 

Material

Sūndar Swim was born on the values of protecting our planet.

We researched many material options and concluded that ECONYL® yarn, a 100% regenerated nylon yarn derived from pre and post industrial waste such as landfill and ocean waste, was the most aligned and suitable for our swimwear.

The quality of ECONYL® allowed for our swimwear to be reversible with UV protection.

ECONYL® is based in Italy and you can visit their website here:

www.econyl.com

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Factory

We have partnered with Bali Swim in Indonesia who manufactured our current collection; Wilderness.
We visited the factory in 2017 prior to manufacturing to conducts checks and understand their manufacturing process. We were satisfied with the working conditions and the many employees we talked to spoke well of their workplace.
Bali Swim follow government regulations and pay employees above the minimum wage (Rp 2.770.300) for Denpasar in Bali and notified us that this year (2021) the government didn't increase the minimum wage due to the pandemic however Bali Swim have been able to increase each employees salary. Each tailor is set a target and will earn commission; overtime is paid as well as a food allowance. 
Our reason to partner with Bali Swim, over others, was because in order to use Econyl (100% regenerated nylon) we needed to either be an established brand or work with an affiliated factory. Bali Swim impressed us with their work ethos and quality of their products. Ideally we wanted to manufacture locally however found it difficult to find the right fit.
One of our future goals is to move manufacturing locally.
It may be useful for you to know that this brand is solely funded by the founder.

 

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Packaging + shipping

Our packaging is completely recycled material or upcycled/repurposed material.

The swimwear is wrapped within a beautiful drawstring bag that is made from off-cuts of sari's manufactured in Goa, India. We source these directly from Hari, a shop owner on Palolem Beach - we met him in 2016 when the idea of Sundar Swim was first born!

The sari bag is then wrapped in recycled paper and placed in a paper mailer (recycled of course) which can also be reused for returns or repurposed for personal use.

Swing tags are made from old shipping boxes that our founder has collected over the years, and the ink is vegan/water based, as is the hygiene label used in our one piece and bikini bottoms.

 We ship with the Royal Mail as we are a very small business; this is the most sustainable and cost effective method we have found. As we grow we will look to work with services that are committed to becoming carbon neutral.

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Diversity

We are currently a one-woman band who has lots of helpers! Our supply chain is made up of men and women from Indonesia, Hari a man from India, Jack our web developer from Australia, Polly and Grace our graphic designers, Jo and Ben who help with our marketing and are based in Brighton.

The people modelling the swimwear is the founder, Tanya, and her friend Sareeka. The person behind the camera is Rhiannon; another friend of Tanya's.

As we grow we are committed to ensuring equal opportunities and to better our representation of all women via our social platforms.

We are transparent and expect our community to hold us accountable and to teach us with compassion as we continue learning.