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Reformation wants to change the way you think about a clothing factory — dirty, dangerous and, more often than not, deadly.
The L.A.-based eco-chic label — founded by Yael Aflalo in 2009 and favored by “it” girls including Karlie Kloss, Emily Ratajkowski and Bella Hadid — is inviting the public to check out its new ethical and sustainable factory in downtown Los Angeles and to meet the team making the clothes. Aflalo explains that the company is “committed to transparency around our factory, and that’s why we’re opening up our doors.”
The tours will allow visitors to “walk through the factory floor where we produce our clothes from start to finish, including product development, cutting, sewing, packaging and also possibly check out a photo shoot in our studio,” she says. “We wanted to let customers see firsthand what our sustainable factory looks like and how it works.”
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The DTLA factory consists of more than 300 employees from all over the world, including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, Honduras, China and the U.S. Ref has been posting teasers of its team members on Instagram ahead of the tours.
Meet Sayed, one of our pattern makers. #WeAreReformation
A post shared by Reformation (@reformation) on
According to Ref, staffers are paid fair wages and merit-based bonuses and are offered health benefits, English classes twice a week and citizenship services. They also get free legal support, career advancement opportunities, Metro passes and monthly massages.
“We want our customers to know they can feel good about wearing Reformation, and we want them to be able to see the true story behind how their stuff is made,” continues Aflalo. “We also hope this helps encourage other brands and even other industries to work towards being better for the planet and for people.”
The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, and many garment workers suffer in unsafe conditions and without fair wages to satisfy demand for faster, cheaper clothing — facts laid bare in tragedies such as the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh and explored in the 2015 documentary film The True Cost.
As an industry, Aflalo says, “we need to start taking real action to change this.” Through Reformation, Aflalo hopes to “continue to shift the thinking of what sustainable clothing can be with everything from dresses and wedding styles to our new categories like jeans and swimwear and hopefully help lead a movement where sustainable manufacturing is the status quo.”
The first factory tour will be led by Aflalo on April 22, Earth Day. Additional tours will continue on the first Friday of every month, with Ref staff and friends showing off the space. Schedule a tour here.
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