Ethics

Our women's clothing all starts with an idea, a shape we already love, or sometimes a vintage piece we find inspiration in. 

We make a detailed sketch of new styles, always adding pockets and nutting out the improvements which will often just make something much more wearable day to day. We love being able to put our own spin on current fashion styles or classic shapes and make it a piece that the made590 customer is excited to add to their wardrobe. We then work with our fabulous pattern maker Christian, who will create a base sample for us based off our sketch. We will then try the sample on and make adjustments or improvements to fit, length, sizing or anything else we think of. Often this will mean an all-important second sample to make sure it's right and to perfect the finish for our makers to work off.

The pattern is then graded across our size range, and we take particular care with our grading in sizes XL and above. Not a lot of people know that to correctly fit a bigger body you need to grade each individual pattern piece in a specific ratio, rather than just enlarging a smaller size. this is something that's super important to us as we strive to create thoughtful, insightful designs to fit a wide range of body types. Next we pick fabrics to go into that style which means a lot of things need to be taken into account. Print scale, fabric thickness, drape, stretch and appropriate prints for the style need to all be taken into account when deciding. This can sometimes be the hardest part, but we usually try to sneak in at least one option that we personally want to be wearing that season! 

The styles will then go off to our amazing makers! The styles is cut, sewn, pressed and finished completely in Sydney where it's delivered straight to our shop (usually by the boss lady herself!). We then photograph each style with the made590 models and release our ranges which are carefully planned out for each season. The entire production run can take months of planning but we love working so closely with our makers and team on the entire process, except maybe when it comes to carrying ALL the stock up the stairs!

Our knitwear is all made and knitted with the amazing Bill! We have worked with Bill for over 10 years and he is the last machine knitter in NSW producing for small brands. He has a lifetime of experience and relies heavily on local work throughout the year to keep his business running.

Until recently Bill was situated in the Inner West of Sydney but was forced to move due to rent rises and is now located in the western suburbs of Sydney. Many larger brands who used to be locally knitted have taken their knitwear production off shore due to the restrictions in wool supply and the decline in Australian production meaning in turn the yarn suppliers have also died off or limited their ranges.

Working with Bill is so important to us as it means we get to see the knits taking shape, choose our own buttons (which we get covered by another local maker, Shivan!) and the end product is a quality garment made completely here in Sydney. Each piece is so special and we hope, will be treasured and worn by it's owner for years to come.

All of our digital printing is done by Jack and his team in China who we have worked with for many years and who own a SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit)certificate.

Although we would love to be able to print in Australia as well as make here, the digital printing is not yet available to use here at the quality and range we can achieve through using overseas printers. We are constantly checking in with local printers and hoping in the future we will be able to print and produce our range entirely in Australia.

Our screen printed designs are all done locally in Leichhardt with Publisher Textiles. We have worked with the lovely people at Publisher since the very beginning to produce quality screen prints on our specially selected fabric bases as well as using their heat sealer to set out mens tee designs which Christina screen prints every few weeks.

Screen printing our own fabric gives us greater control of the colours, a shorter turn around time and also means even the print is produced in Sydney, keeping another business running too. 

The majority of our clothing is made by several different makers in and around Sydney who specialise in different types of production. Our stretch fabrics, coats, dresses, skirts and tops will all have different makers and garment production jobs go to them based on their production time and specialist area.

Approximately 15% of our garments are made by our production partners in China who have a SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) certificate. These items are chosen to be made to a higher standard of production and finish than we are able to produce here locally (for example denim finishing, washing, rivets and studs etc). These items are always obviously labelled and described on our website so there is no confusion on where you garment is being made. They are also always sampled and and the pattern produced here with our very concise pattern maker Christian who we have been working with for around 4 years. All patterns are sampled on two body sizes to ensure the grading is consistent and correct.

Most of our makers have made for made590 for a long time and Christina can often be found on the phone chatting and checking in with them daily! We keep going back to that same makers time and again as they are also small female-lead businesses we have developed close relationships with and Christina will often say "Finding a good maker is like finding gold!", so you should always try to stick with the ones you have on your side whenever possible. This is another reason we have started working with Jack in China to make our production dreams come true, a level of trust and reliability has long been established through the years of printing our fabric with him.

Our makers are an extension of the Made family and they set their own prices with their manufacturing. All garments produced under made590 label have been done so ethically and award wage or above has been paid.

Prints are life around these parts and we know what really sets our clothing apart from other brands is our fabric designs! Gone are the days where Christina used to fly to Japan to shop Fabric Town and ship it all back to Sydney to produce small runs in Japanese cottons, now we have full control over exactly what we produce and the fabric bases we use!

Our fabric ideas will often start with a short discuss between the team, ideas are generally an overwhelming "yes!" or a "hmm no" and Christina is generally the voice of reason when it comes to ideas being thrown around for fabric.

We will often find inspiration in vintage textiles, childhood nostalgia and of course being a team of animal lovers we have a good dose of animal inspiration too. We work to fill gaps in our range producing prints for many different walks of life. We are very aware how varied our customer base is and how different people want different things from their wardrobes. All the staff have an opinion on what they want to wear, colours they love and cuts that make them feel good. We are always on the hunt for the next big thing for made590.