Sustainable by design, ethical by choice
Design & Sourcing
Designs reamed up in-house, sourced from the most eco-friendly, high quality suppliers available
Fitting
Fit testing with you - our Flock - means making sure you feel amazing in our garments
Development & Manufacturing
Working hand-in-hand with our makers and paying living wages to dignify their craft
Made-To-Order Selling
Producing only what is truly wanted - better for the planet, and better for you and us too
Delivery
100% recycled packaging and an ethical delivery partner ensuring impact-positive shipping
We design everything in house from our East London studio. Designer Susanna Wen collects inspiration from art, nature and culture. Together with our makers, she builds concepts around their skills to create our collections.
We hand sketch every silhouette, detail and print, then share them online, keeping feedback from our community in mind through the design process.
Sourcing
Finding partners to source our fabric from with an equal commitment to ethics and sustainability is no easy task. We only source from the most ecologically friendly and high quality suppliers we can find. Our network is now composed of a group of inspirational and forward thinking producers that we have forged meaningful, and long lasting relationships with.
Fitting
Fitting is an important part of our design process. We work with our amazing pattern cutter Gracie to make several samples of every design. We then get to work on fit testing with our community. Whether it’s inviting customers to our studio or sending samples in the post for video feedback, we work hard to ensure you’ll feel good in our garments whether you’re a size 6 or size 30. Get in touch at support@birdsong.london if you’d like to be involved.
Development & Manufacturing
Providing our makers with a Living wage is the reason we founded Birdsong. We work with them closely during the development of each item. Together we come to a price point that is justified and dignified for the craftsmanship and careful creation of our garments. Once our designs are perfected, our makers get to work on photoshoot samples. We photograph them here in our East London studio, and upload to our site, ready to be made-to-order for you.
Selling
All of our clothing is made-to-order, which is better for us, and better for the planet. Made-to-order allows us to only produce what is wanted, never creating more than we sell. We keep our makers topped up with small rolls of our fabrics - from custom prints to organic denims - so when you order from Birdsong, they can get straight to work. As they’re so close by, this is faster than manufacturing in the “standard” way through factories thousands of miles away. Sometimes it can take a few weeks as they’re already working on someone else's order, but we provide the lead times in each product page and we’re always here to give you updates on support@birdsong.london.
Transport
From crop to closet, our clothes ship between 2 countries, travelling on average 8,423 km. In a BBC report last year, it showed an average high street garment travelling between 7 different countries before it goes to be sold, on average 22,000 km. By cutting and sewing our garments in East London, this means we are able to cut 14,000 miles of air travel out on average for each garment, compared to high street brands.
Packaging and Delivery
All our packaging and postage is done ethically by Mail Out. Part of Unity Works in London, Mail Out offers people with learning disabilities support with their health and wellbeing and apprenticeships in warehousing. We use 100% recycled packaging and biodegradable stickers.
Care
Each purchase comes with our recycled paper mini zine on “How to stay in love” with your item. This includes full washing instructions, care advice and even what to do at the end of your item’s life cycle.