In order to keep our production just as sustainable as our 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), this allows us to offer a wide variety of styles, sizes, and customization that other inventory-based companies can’t afford to offer. Because we don’t cut into fabric and produce a garment until it’s ordered, we’re able to be much more flexible with our collection and we’re not in the guessing game of predicting demand. There is also the sustainability of not expending precious material and human energy until another human has said they want and will use the object, and we don’t ever want to lose that dedication 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, and packed up and 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 3-4 weeks