The LionKingShirt Story: How It Strives For Sustainability - Constructed
At Lion King Shirt: Top Premium Tees for Modern Fashion, there’s a strong belief that clothing companies must step up and reduce their impact on the planet, as this is not only an individual's responsibility but also a team's.
Knowing this fact, ever since this small biz was founded, it has had “Green manufacturing” written all over. In this blog post, you’re gonna read everything - in full transparency - about how they keeps sustainability at the core of everything they do.
How They Got Started
Do you know how every tech company started out? Just some guys with their coding knowledge and a big dream? Well, LionKingShirt was just the same.
You’d be surprised to know: the founders were once a student who loves both marketing and fashion, kickin' started that dream since his time spent in Harvard. He partnered with some talented artists as well when he gathered enough materials for this dream to turn into a reality. They were so worked up about how fast fashion brands crank out cheap clothes like nothing, trashing the environment (and your taste in fashion, too). And when such brands claim they're sustainable, you can't even tell if it's legit until you see your dear items got torn off and damaged only after a short period. It was the time when demand for ethical threads blew up like crazy.
In their prime year, the three founders decided to build a POD T-shirt company that indirectly “dissed” disposable fashion. And there you go, a brand-new POD Tee company was born! At the start, the brand was an online tee shop stationed inside a garage, teaming up with local printers.
Growing The Company But Keeping It Green
You know what happens when, let’s say… an indie singer makes it into the big leagues? Usually they changed their style into something unrecognizable, and turned their backs on the fans who stayed with them since the start. With this company, that will never be a thing. The core beliefs still stayed.
As the brand name slowly got recognized, they had to scale up the process while still sticking to ethical values.
The founders literally racked their brains to pick manufacturers who treat workers right and reduce waste. Before working with any factory, they had to visit in person to inspect things closely.
The brand has to check every factory to know they're legit
They also started buying sustainable materials. Organic cotton was a no-brainer choice, since regular cotton had all those nasty pesticides. For polyester mixes, the manufacturing staff sourced recycled polymers, not new plastics. The inks were water-based to keep the rivers clean.
3 years later, their brand partnered with three fully vetted factories. And lo and behold, sales jumped from 500 to over 5,000 units a month. It sounds like a lot, yet, it was a careful kind of growth, to keep ethics ahead of profits.
Green Packaging and Shipping
You remember when COVID first hit the Earth? It changed shopping like, forever. That was when LionKingShirt as a brand, had immediately set up shop online.
The plan was also to make packaging and shipping eco-friendly. They designed boxes to minimize materials and ship them full to cut down on trips. All of the brand’s packaging is recycled and biodegradable - no nasty bubble wrap or styrofoam up in here. There are also recycled paper tape and plant-based inks on labels too.
For shipping, this POD t-shirt online store is best buds with carriers that run low-emission vehicles. They also started a recycling program, collecting boxes from customers to reuse. Gotta minimize that footprint from the warehouse to your doorstep!
Circular Product Design
Quick question: do you already own some Lion King T Shirt? If yes, then you would know that these babies are designed to last. The brand steers clear from trends that go out of style quickly. The fabrics can be fully recycled with zero waste when their time's up. This reputable company also buys back used gear from customers to break down and transform into new textiles.
The R&D guys are exploring closed-loop recycling systems, where fabrics just keep flowing in a cycle with no end. The dream is to keep textiles in circulation forever, with no landfill waste!
Community Outreach and Education
Educating customers on sustainable fashion is super important. As you see, there are always blog posts and guides with in-depth info on how buyers can make eco-conscious choices.
The warehouse in Oakland hosts free events where people can learn about textile recycling and upcycling clothes creatively. The brand also teaches printing and design workshops using natural dyes.
LionKingShirt is all about getting the community involved in the green mission. The more people are inspired to support ethical brands like theirs, the bigger the difference becomes!
Digging Into New Eco Fabrics
Here at this workplace, the team works closely with suppliers to create recycled materials and repurpose textile waste into fresh threads.
A T-shirt is coolest when they're eco-friendly
Did you know? There were even some dope innovations like plant-based polymers instead of plastics and natural dyes from flowers, plants and minerals. The goal is to make durable, Earth-friendly fabrics. Just as long as the idea doesn't mess up the planet, the team at the company got it covered!
Doing Right By The People
You should know that to make a company work long-run, the people matter the most! Don’t let anyone say otherwise. LionKingShirt makes sure all the employees and factory workers are treated fairly.
The crew does regular checks of the facilities and partners abroad to guarantee good wages, reasonable hours, and ethical practices. The rule is to only partner with manufacturers who align with labor standards. The staff in the company also helps with training and education opportunities to empower all the staff.
Cutting Waste in Buildings
The company’s partners use cutting-edge gear and processes to minimize fabric waste when making apparel. The factory composts, recycles, and repurposes any leftover textile scraps that can't be avoided.
Conserving water, electricity, and other resources is a priority in daily operations. The brand is even pursuing zero-waste certification for both offices and warehouses to shrink the footprints more.
Pushing Fashion Forward
As a growing company, the whole company knows that they could motivate change across the clothing industry. So it went 100% transparent, publishing about suppliers, materials, and methods. Each month, a team tracked the impact on things like water use and carbon.
The brand also started advocating hard for reform. Reaching out to politicians, the brand lobbied for laws supporting eco-fashion. They even teamed up with green nonprofits, donating profits to support their lobbying campaigns.
By putting ethics first, this reputable brand has put the “able” in “sustainable”. Major brands felt pressured to clean up their act and stop damaging the planet - but not for them.
What Lies In Store for LionKingShirt
In the future, the people at this company will keep improving their eco practices. The designers create durable pieces instead of disposable trends that no one will wear next season. While other companies push new lines every quarter, this brand focuses on a small collection built to last.
A little teaser for you: there are new sustainable textiles and dyes in store. There are teams working directly with engineers to formulate eco-fabrics from recycled and upcycled materials. Cutting-edge plant-based inks will be used too.
Most importantly, the quality-control team within the company closely monitors the suppliers to guarantee fair labor and clean production. If any factory falls short, all parties work together to fix things fast. Worker exploitation and pollution are a big no-no!
Looking to the Future
The company aims to fully close the loop on responsible manufacturing down the road. Imagine a circular production cycle where waste can be made into new textiles, eliminating the concept of fashion waste.
Reaching goals like that will take time. But commitment to ethical business is here to stay. We'll keep pushing fashion brands to be sustainable throughactions, not just slick marketing. At this brand’s workplace, each and everyone leads by example!
Wrapping Things Up
Finally, thanks for taking the time to learn about the brand’s journey towards sustainable fashion. Hopefully, this inspiring story gets you pumped about ethical manufacturing.
No doubt the team will keep pushing forward with new innovations that respect people and the planet. The commitment to running an eco-friendly business is forever, even as the brand grows.
As you see throughout the years, sustainability in the fashion industry ain't easy. But the more customers who demand change, the quicker the tide can be turned.
So holler if you ever wanna chat about building a cleaner future. Peace out and power to the people making this world greener. Both little startups and industry giants gotta work together. Keep fighting the good fight!
