The challenge

The unsustainable fashion industry, particularly the unsustainable practices during the production of clothing and mass-production of generic “fast-fashion” clothes. To illustrate, a regular cotton shirt requires 2,800 liters of water in production. This alone shows the significant resource consumption and does not yet include negative externalities that arise such as environmental pollution in terms of CO2 emission, chemical pollution & waste, etc. More importantly, 12% of all resources/raw materials (fabrics) are lost during the production process. One reason for this is overshoot liquidation because producers opt for economies of scale, meaning they purchase more raw materials than necessarily required to benefit from lower purchasing prices. Furthermore, there is an upcoming desire to have unique pieces of clothing among generation Z (also generation Y). In other words, offering clothes that allow individuals to differentiate is a deep need of the generation of strong personalities.

The solution

If our solution were to be described in one word, it would be: upcycling. We use the excess fabrics of producers to manufacture our own products. These fabrics are in perfect condition but would normally be destroyed, making it a win-win situation for the Cambodian producers and us. Moreover, this procedure saves a significant amount of resources and since we care about our stakeholders at the production sites, we pay the Cambodian sewers fair wages. In addition, upcycling is heavily dependent on the available excess fabrics. This causes our products to be naturally limited and unique because certain excess fabrics will only be available once. This, paired with our designs, solves the issue of uniqueness. Combining sustainability, social justice, and appealing design is what makes SAROWA stand out.

Mission

To have a meaningful contribution to a sustainable future for humanity