Sustainability is very important to us, but we also recognise the challenges of any true sustainability in the current consumerist culture of fashion. We’re always taking steps to become a more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable version of ourselves, but admit we have a way to go.
Due to the unique nature of our fabric, our English manufacturing partners always use highly trained machinists, dyers, and knitters that have a long history of working with similar fabrics and are always paid a living wage. Production capacity was significantly and intentionally reduced during COVID to safeguard worker health via social distancing.
We’ve increased production over last year, but we intentionally don’t produce swimsuits at the unsustainable rate you might be accustomed to. It’s important that our production remains small enough that all stock can be packed and prepped by our local London team, who are all paid above London living wage, while maintaining their wellbeing — ensuring the social sustainability of Youswim as a workplace. This form of sustainability (ensuring we’re all still here and happy to support our product and customers for years to come) is equally important to us.
As mentioned above, our fabric is currently made with EU-sourced premium quality nylon yarn. We totally understand that virgin nylon, no matter how high quality, isn’t as environmentally sustainable as some recycled options and we’re working to do better. For the last year, we’ve been busily working to switch our nylon to a recycled yarn, but due to the unique demands of our stretchy fabric, it’s proving a little more difficult than we’d hoped. We’re making progress and are closer than ever to producing an equally high quality swimsuit of recycled nylon, and are excited to update our community very soon.
