Our Ethos
Gaia Conceptions' mission is to provide customizable bespoke organic clothing that is anchored in sustainability and beautiful design. We are a brand that emerged from a strong desire to create the most environmentally friendly clothing possible. When our company was founded in 2003, Andrea wanted to explore just how environmentally friendly apparel could be. This required examining each stage of a garment's lifecycle. True Slow Clothing, which is frequently compared to the Slow Foods Movement, emphasizes fair trade organic raw materials, intentional design, artisanal quality production, taking responsibility for production waste, a commitment to a sustainable business model, and making sure the garment can be recycled or passed on to someone else at the end of its life.
Responsible Materials
We have a large selection of organic textiles to pick from. With continued relationships with local farmers and mills, we are constantly aiming for a smaller footprint and growing our local fibershed. We also collaborate with global organic fiber and material efforts to encourage other change-makers like ourselves. To impart color to our apparel, we garment dye it with low-impact dyes or natural dyes. Dying the garments after they have been cut and sewn uses far less dye than dyeing the fabric yardage before garment production, allowing us to save precious dye resources until a garment is requested. All of our clothing is biodegradable and can easily be returned to the earth at the end of its life.
Responsible Production
Our in-house, made-to-order production approach is crucial to our commitment to Gaia and distinguishes us from other inventory-based sustainable fashion brands. All Gaia Garments are designed, patterned, cut, sewn, and dyed in our Greensboro, NC, studio by a team of artisans who are paid a living wage.
The Process
In order to keep our production just as sustainable as our organic materials we use a made-to-order production model. We began as a made-to-order company and have kept that model as we’ve grown. It reduces waste (we don’t overproduce inventory or cut into materials that aren’t needed). As a result, we can offer a wide range of styles, sizes, and customizations that other inventory-based businesses can't afford to offer while still maintaining their high profit margins. We also don't overproduce inventory or cut materials that aren't needed.
In contrast to other sustainable brands, this is a major area where we prioritize actual sustainability over profit and the desire for continued expansion. We can be considerably more flexible with our collection and give more customer customization possibilities because we don't cut into fabric and create a garment until it's requested. There is also the sustainability of not wasting precious material and human energy until another human has stated that they want and will utilize the product, and we never want to lose that commitment to Gaia.
We place all the orders we receive in a given week into a production plan. Then over the next 2 weeks we make all of the garments in that production plan – they move through the studio getting cut, sewn, dyed, inspected, packed up, and finally shipped out as a group. At any given moment, our team will be working on two or three production plans – one batch is in cutting, one in sewing, one in dyeing and fulfillment then getting ready for pickup. Each production plan is totally unique, containing only the garments you all have ordered.
This entire process takes us 2-4 weeks
Step 1 - we cut
Each garment is hand-cut based on your custom design and fabric selection.
It's at this stage that your specific organic fabric, bespoke design combinations, and length choice are applied.
Step 2 - We Sew
We serge and straight stitch all our garments together for super strong and durable seams.
Lots of Love and attention to detail goes into this stage of your One of a Kind Gaia Garment !!!
Step 3 - We Dye
Each garment is hand dyed either with our NATURAL DYES or eco friendly LOW IMPACT DYES depending on your color choice.
Responsible Collaborations
Collaborations and donations that support social justice through environmental justice are part of our company culture. For several of our textiles and materials, we collaborate with other artisans around the world. Applying our local-centric mindset to global manufacturing provides us with a unique opportunity to uplift slow clothing communities on a global scale while retaining the power, pride, and sustainability inherent in local systems.
We work with the Rao family in Hyderabad, India to make our Organic Natural Dyed Blockprint Fabrics.
We partner with WomanWeave in Maheswhar, India to weave our Natural Dye Handwoven Fabrics.
We also work with local farm projects to support the growing of organic cotton and hemp fiber to use in our fabrics.
We work with the local company Material Return to recycle any of our left over Fabric Scraps into useable fabrics to reach our Zero Waste goals.
Inclusivity and Accessibility
Through our imagery and marketing, our size range, our variety of fits and styles, our personalization possibilities, and our discounted purchase alternatives, we seek to make everyone feel welcome and celebrated. Our clothing cannot be everything to everyone, but we strive to serve as many people as possible through our products and pricing.
Zero WASTE
We find creative ways to turn our fabric scraps into One of a Kind Garments, gifts, or sheet mulching in our community garden. Any left over scraps are sent to Material Return to be recycled into usable fabric yardage.
Be sure to join our newsletter for announcements on Free Gift Giveaways and our latest zero waste projects.
Our Business Model
While our company is established in providing sustainable products, we also wish to conduct our business in a sustainable manner. There are numerous techniques for conducting an "eco-friendly" business. While every effort to make a company more sustainable is admirable, we have decided to go all the way.
Most current sustainable fashion brands continue to use a fast fashion (inventory-based) business model, but they add something sustainable, such as organic materials, American-made, fair trade, or all of these. These businesses typically charge a 3–10x markup on their inventory-based items compared to their production costs. Because of their extremely high profit margin, they can easily afford sale discounts of 20% or higher to offload overstock and will have fast-fashion return policies like refunds and exchanges.
What you will not see is a handcrafted, customizable product developed in-house by the owner and her team. Typically, there is little to no transparency on how much their employees are paid and how much profit they add to a garment.
This is what sets us apart !!!
Because of our made-to-order business model, we can only charge a 2X markup. This means you can have a hand-cut, hand-sewn, and hand-dyed bespoke garment at a wholesale price. However, this limits how much we can discount things and necessitates stricter return rules for our discounted pricing option.
Alterations + overdyes + Exchanges
Thats all Great you say!! but what if I'm not in love with the custom choices I made once I get a chance to try the garment on in person? Great question, buying bespoke cloths online can be tricky and there is no guarantee you will love your garment.
We provide a range of options to help you get a Gaia Garment that you will love.
Coming Soon
Our Re-Sell Program
If our Alteration + Overdye options just isn't going to do the trick or you're ineligible or past the deadline for Exchange we have come up with an amazing way to find your garment a forever home while you get a CASH REFUND OR STORE CREDIT. The best part is you can utilize this program at any time and are no longer limited by return deadlines.
We also recommend checking out other resell sites such as Poshmark or one of the many facebook groups where Gaia Garments are sold and traded.
Your Home to Buy and Sell pre-loved Gaia Garments
+ discounted Sample Sale pieces from the studio
Garment Design
While organic materials and made-to-order production are obvious choices for a company committed to sustainability, garment design is equally important. We endeavor to make clothing that is comfortable, versatile, and long-lasting. Some of our classic yet modern designs were inspired by traditional silhouettes encountered on the travels of our founder, like the chuba from Nepal, the sari and dhoti from South Asia, and the kimono from East Asia. Clean lines mixed with points of interest that are not too distracting are our favorite combination.
We also offer customer customization options so you can tweak our basic designs to suit your particular needs. We hope that by working together, we can create a garment that you will love and cherish.
Meet the team
Andrea
Founder + Designer + Seamstress + Dyer
Kate
Seamstress + Dyer + Shipping
Cynthia
Cutter and Seamstress
Nancy
Seamstress
Tram
Seamstress
Bridget
Cutter and Seamstress