Suite Stitch is on a mission to transform the fashion industry and empower women. When we look at transforming the fashion industry, we look for suppliers and factories who embody sustainability and worker well being. It took a long time to find our current factory and I am so excited to be working with a factory who shares our values and commitment to improving the fashion industry.
Transparency is a core value and something that will help transform the fashion industry by allowing consumers and brands to understand the supply chain. We have a great relationship with our factory and wanted to share some more information through a conversation we had with the factory.
We are so excited to announce the release of our latest design! We have worked hard to make this new staple wardrobe piece come to life and we wanted to share some information about our amazing factory that is located in Guatemala that does a wonderful job from start to finish!
Keep reading to learn more about the incredible people who work to help make Suite Stitch’s garments come to life!
Suite Stitch: Is the factory currently woman owned?
Factory: Correct – we are 100% woman owned! The factory is currently owned and managed by Ana (shown below)
SS: What does the typical work week look like for employees?
Factory: We work 5 days a week and do not work weekends or overtime.
SS: Context for our readers. In the fashion industry, it is typical for workers to work 6 days a week. In fast fashion, you can see an excessive number of working days (also referred to as consecutive working days) and excessive overtime. To work with a factory that does not work weekends and overtime is incredible and where the fashion industry should strive to be.
SS: How long has the factory been in business and can you give us a little bit of history?
Factory: We started the factory in 2016. In 2018 we started building our new facility, which we moved into at the end of 2019. We decided we had to start our own factory to deal with the issues of outsourcing which are so common in this industry. It was the only way we could control the quality of the building for the safety of the workers, could control pay, working hours and treatment of the people, and ensure high quality standards with low waste production.
SS: Generally how long do employees stay and how many employees do you have?
Factory: We are a very small factory, about 80 people. We have less than 1% turnover, so quite a few of the people have been with us since the beginning
SS: Is there anything you’d like to share regarding fair wages or more than minimum wage? Also, do your employees get paid hourly or by piece rate?
Factory: Everyone is paid hourly – we never pay piece rate. Last year, the government mandated an increase in the minimum wage for the apparel sector, so everyone at the factory got a raise – even those making above minimum wage. We ran the statistics then and our average pay was 126% above minimum wage (not including management).
SS: Do you have any fun pictures of employees?
Factory: Here is a team photo, but it doesn’t include everyone as a few are shy!
SS: Do you have any sustainability practices or certificates?
Factory: We are Hey Social Good certified and Amazon certified. Below is an additional image of all our certificates.
Be on the lookout for our newest design to hit the website and social media soon!