As part of our series on premium sustainable fashion brands, we’re delighted to introduce London-based company Jake + Maya today.
Jake + Maya was born out of a successful Kickstarter campaign in March 2017. With a promise to produce sustainable clothing for children, the brand quickly met its initial funding forecast with over 80 crowdfunding backers.
Slow fashion for fast growing kids
Jake + Maya’s unique design and production process indeed offers a refreshing take on children’s fashion. Their children’s clothing grows with your child, increasing the lifespan of a standard garment from an average of one year to over three years.
Through a creative combination of stretchable garments and repairable garments, Jake + Maya has indeed been able to design sustainable children’s fashion items.
And their commitment to sustainability goes beyond simply extending the life of children’s clothing. Jake + Maya’s production process aims to bring clothing to consumers with the least possible impact on the environment.
While traditional fashion manufacturing will see up to 30% of used textiles wasted during the production process, Jake + Maya has developed zero-waste cutting techniques to reduce its waste to just 1-2% of the final product.
As a result, Jake + Maya’s garments require an average of 300g of cotton instead of the industry standard 500g. The sustainable brand is thus able to save 4,000 liters of water per children’s laundry.
Children’s fashion loved by parents and children alike
Jake + Maya’s sustainability efforts are matched by a creative vision for children’s fashion that ensures parents and children will love the collections.
Children’s clothing is easy and fun to wear. The collection includes tailored waistbands on trousers, many items having longer hems and cuffs. Additional adjustable features have been incorporated into the designs to extend portability through growth spurts and for many years to come. Clothes change and transform over time.
” As a mum of twins (Jake & Maya), I find it really frustrating to see the sheer volume of clothes we are regularly forced to get rid of. Children grow very quickly and they often get rid of their clothes faster than they can wear them” says Tze Ching Yeung, Creative Director of Jake + Maya Kids. ” Inspired by my kids, we designed a collection that could last longer growing up with the kids.”
Each item is easy to wear with many different styles to choose from. Prints have been made gender equal and many items are unisex. Clothing is customizable to encourage individuality and the freedom to experiment. To keep kids excited for longer, the key designs are multi-functional and easily reversible.
Lengthening and mending: long-lasting children’s clothing
While traditional fashion brands encourage year-round consumption with renewed collections and fleeting trends, Jake + Maya teaches parents how to stretch and mend their children’s clothes so they don’t have to. need to buy unnecessary spare clothes.
The approach may seem counter-intuitive to business thinking at first, but the sustainable brand embraces its core values by encouraging the reduction of consumer waste. To do this, the brand offers free extension services with their in-house tailors. Parents can send their children’s clothes to Jake + Maya to have them extended and receive the clothes within two weeks or less.
The brand also teaches parents through educational videos on their website how to mend and repair damaged clothing.