OUR ETHOS

OUR ETHOS

Kip&Co is a better way of living. It’s your best night’s sleep, it’s a meal with loved ones that feeds your soul, it’s memories made on backyard adventures and global wanderings. Our homes have a thousand stories to tell, a tapestry of life. Proudly indie, we are as unique, authentic and colourful as you.

This is a life lived to the full, but one that leaves the world better than we found it. We’ve made a personal commitment to minimise the harm to the planet in everything we do, and that means that sustainable and ethical considerations come first. We’re proudly carbon neutral. We’re part of the circular economy. We source responsible partners and sustainable fabrics. We use our voice to celebrate indigenous artists through conscious collaborations. And we speak up when it matters. We’re not perfect, but we are getting better every day.

OUR NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH UPPAREL

Australians discard about 23kg of textiles per person to landfill annually. That’s a zero-sum game that needs urgent intervention, and Kip&Co is proud to be part of the textile revolution. Through our partnership with Upparel, we can now offer customers the opportunity to up-use, upsell and uplift the value of their old textiles. Simply book a pick-up of your old textiles online, and you’ll receive a $25 Kip&Co voucher. The textiles will be either donated to charity, upcycled into something new, or recycled into things like insulation or stuffing.

Book your collection here!
Upparel x Kip&Co

WE ARE CARBON NEUTRAL

We really give a damn about what happens to our beautiful planet. We’ve spoken to you lots over the years (thanks for being such good listeners!) about the steps we’ve taken to minimise the harm in everything we do (ethical, social and environmental), but at the start of 2020, after Australia’s Black Summer that left us all shell shocked, we set ourselves an EPIC sustainability goal, to go carbon neutral by the end of the year.

We’ve partnered with a lovely bunch of nerdy experts (coz man, this stuff is COMPLEX!), who’ve painstakingly helped us measure our FY2020 carbon footprint.

We wanted to do more than just offset our emissions from factory gate to your front door, so we’ve taken things to the next level and are raising the bar! Our carbon credits offset the whole shebang of our agricultural activities, manufacturing and processing materials, and freight all the way to your hot little hands.

Our independent carbon neutral consultants then helped us find the most awesome verified carbon credit projects to offset that footprint.

We’ve chosen two amazing projects to partner with this year. First up is a the Kamuthi Solar Power Project in India (where most of our manufacturing happens). This project is critical in the region - it helps to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and thereby reduces pollution. The second project is the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor - a brilliant native reforestation project in Australia (because we’re from the land down under!), that, as vegetation is replanted, will help to protect endangered native animals in the region.

Thank you all for caring and encouraging us to continue to improve our sustainability as a brand. Please know that your voices are SO important, and we really urge you to ask other brands you love to go carbon neutral too. As consumers, it’s important we all keep making conscious decisions about how we shop.

RESPONSIBLE SOURCING

In 2019, we developed new terms and conditions for our suppliers based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code (the leading global alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs). Our new T&Cs provide for even higher standards of safe and fair working conditions, integrity and transparency in dealings, improved environmental outcomes.

To ensure compliance, we require all suppliers to be independently audited every two years. In addition, Kip&Co founders, Kate, Hayley and Alex, conduct supply chain inspections in person to ensure we are able to support our suppliers on their own sustainability journey. We value the collaborative spirit of our supply chain.

CONSCIOUS COLLABORATIONS

Collaborations are an important way we can support artists, brands or causes we feel strongly about. In 2020 we collaborated with the Bábbarra Women's Centre from Arnhem Land. The centre was initially created as a safe space for women, and has now grown into a creative hub that enables future enterprises to support healthy and sustainable livelihoods. The Kip&Co X Bábbarra collaboration was best practice, with 50% of profits going back to Bábbarra, to support their initiatives It was important that the licence provided the artists with a true partnership, both in terms of profit and, importantly, in the development of the range itself. The agreement gave the artists key decision making in every step of the process.

Giving Back

SAVING OFFCUTS FROM LANDFILL

We are incredibly proud to announce a long-term partnership with Indian charity, Goonj. Since 2019, we have been donating 100% of our cotton offcuts from our Indian supply chain to local community initiatives managed by Goonj. So by supporting Kip&Co, you're saving offcuts from landfill, and ensuring that they now have a meaningful impact in people's lives.

Goonj has been operating in India for over two decades, and re-uses and recycles urban surplus to address core community issues like water, sanitation, health, livelihood, and education. Kip&Co's cotton offcuts will be used to create cotton pads, providing a clean, essential solution that has saved women from infections, and a loss of dignity. Other fabric offcuts will be used to create products like backpacks and purses for the local community, with sales going back to Goonj to allow them to continue their amazing work.

DONATIONS

In 2020, following the devastating bushfires, we donated $100,000 of product to the victims of the bushfires who had lost their homes and property. In addition, Kate, Hayley and Alex all made personal financial donations to charities responding to the crisis.

In Australia, each year we make a significant donation to charities that provide emergency housing and services to victims of domestic abuse and /or homelessness including Launch Housing, St Kilda Mums and Geelong Mums. To date, we estimate that we have donated over $200,000 to this cause.

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING AND MARKETING MATERIAL

Our goods are packaged in either re-useable cotton bags (which we’ve done since we launched in 2012) or biodegradable cornstarch bags. All our packaging bands, look books, product inserts and marketing collateral are printed on 100% recycled paper, and we have made significant reductions in the amount of printed marketing material we produce. Our postage bags that carry our product that final little step from our warehouse to your home are also biodegradable cornstarch bags.

SPEAKING UP

As a responsible corporate citizen, we think it's important that we speak up and use our voice to highlight issues that matter to us. Kip&Co has always been an extension of ourselves and it's important to us that we remain true to our values.

ORGANIC

In 2021 we made a huge step forward in our sustainability commitment, with all cotton bedding now GOTS certified organic cotton! GOTS is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibres, including ecological and social criteria, backed up by independent certification of the entire textile supply chain. That means that, along with Kip&Co’s pyjamas, sleep bags, and romper collections, you can now sleep easily in your cotton sheets knowing that we have removed harmful chemicals, irritants and pollutants from our cotton supply chain.

GOOD STUFF AT KIP&CO HQ

Even the little things matter (from little things, big things grow, as Paul Kelly says). Here’s a few very simple policies for our Kip&Co HQ that are underway already:

  • we’re a take-away coffee cup free zone (each team member is gifted a beautiful ceramic cup...so much better to sip your espresso / chai / herbal out of!)
  • we choose 100% green power for our energy
  • we only buy recycled paper and keep printing to a minimum
  • we recycle
  • we donate all fabric scraps to local kindergartens
  • we’ve updated our checkout page to include space for the Traditional Place name of the addressee.

If you’ve got other ideas for simple things we can do around Kip&Co HQ, drop us an email, we’re always looking for new ideas.

Sustainable Packaging and Marketing Material

In 2019, we made a company commitment to have sustainable packaging across our supply chain by 2021. So from September 2019, you’ll start to see our new, sustainable packaging! Our goods are now packaged in either re-useable cotton bags (which we’ve done since we launched) or biodegradable cornstarch bags. All our packaging bands, look books, product inserts and marketing collateral are printed on 100% recycled paper, and we have made significant reductions in the amount of printed marketing material we produce. Our postage bags that carry our product that final little step from our warehouse to your home will also soon be biodegradable cornstarch bags. These changes will be phased in as our existing stock of packaging runs down, and we hope that the change will be complete by 2021.

In 2019, we developed new terms and conditions for our suppliers based on the Ethical Trading Initiative(ETI) Base Code (the leading global alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs). Our new T&Cs provides for even higher standards of safe and fair working conditions, integrity and transparency in dealings, improved environmental outcomes.

 

To ensure compliance, we require all suppliers to be independently audited every two years. In addition, Kip&Co founders, Kate, Hayley and Alex, conduct supply chain inspections in person to ensure we are able to support our suppliers on their own sustainability journey. We value the collaborative spirit of our supply chain.

Organic

Currently, Kip&Co’s baby sleep sacks, and baby romper collection are all made from organic cotton. Kip&Co is looking to introduce new organic cotton product alternatives in future and is committed to expanding this offering.