At the core of our business is a desire to rework the traditional textile supply model, and we've approached our buying with this in mind right from the start. Typically, fabrics for the creative community are commissioned or purchased as entirely new textiles. We believe this primary model creates a damaging and contradictory system of waste, a system essentially modelled on the fast-fashion industry, and one that increasingly impresses a ‘fast-sewing’ methodology upon the home sewist.

Of the fabrics we purchase, around 85% are sourced as designer deadstock. The remaining 15% of our fabrics are those that we mill exclusively, and these are manufactured under strict code of conduct adherence in collaboration with mills we have trusted, long-standing partnerships with. Our aim is to provide transparent information about what we sell, and to educate our community as to the pros and cons for deadstock vs new fabrics, to help us all make informed decisions about our creative endeavours!

The fashion and textiles industry is not only estimated to be the second most water-intensive industry in the world, but a major polluter of water at all stages of the value chain, from the agricultural runoff from crop growing fields, to the dying process releasing toxic chemicals and the washing of clothes releasing microplastics.

These are some scary statistics, and we're acutely aware of our responsibility to do as much as we can to ensure the fabrics we sell are not only completely safe for use by our community, but have as minimal impact on water and pollution as possible. Across the fabrics we mill directly, we look for a series of specific certifications that relate to water and chemicals, such as OEKO-TEX Standard 100.

OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification has become one of the most widely known textile certifications and ensures that finished textiles have been tested for harmful substances in human ecological terms. OEKO-TEX has globally standardised testing criteria and follows rigid independent testing. To attain OEKO-TEX Standard 100® certification, fabrics must be tested and confirmed to be free from harmful levels of more than 100 chemicals that known to be unsafe for people. These include banned toxic or allergic substances such as azo colourants, formaldehyde, pentachlorophenol, cadmium and nickel, to name a few. Textiles also need to be colourfast and deemed safe for any emission of VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) and are also required to have a skin friendly pH level.

It's often easy to overlook the impact our own garment laundering at home can have on the environment and the health of our loved ones! On the blog are a few tips to help reduce the environmental impact of your laundry routine at home, as well as save you money and keep those handmade clothes lasting longer.

We're proud to say that all of our paper packaging and paper retail components are FSC certified! Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international, independent, non-governmental, not for profit organisation established to promote the responsible management of the world's forests. Products carrying the FSC® label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations.

Our paper packaging and carry bags are coloured with non-toxic vegetable based inks, which are less harmful to the environment than their petroleum-based counterparts! Placed a mail order with one of our stores or made a purchase online recently? Our courier bags are made with recycled plastic and are fully recyclable in soft plastics.

We strive for responsible internal practices in all of our locations and our new Head Office and warehouse is at the forefront of this thinking with energy efficient lighting, heating and appliances. Our choices for all sundry items like cleaning products, sellotape and printing paper are all made with both the environment and local business in mind and we are constantly looking for ways to improve our choices. We practise diligent recycling within all our branches and everything from fabric and paper scraps to plastic shipping bags are separated out and re-used or recycled in some way!

Decarbonising our business is no small task! As a business that operates primarily from New Zealand, our location presents us with many challenges. One of those challenges stems from New Zealand's inability to produce or mill fabric onshore at a commercial scale, meaning everything we purchase is sourced internationally. To get fabrics here, we're reliant on global freight companies powered by non-renewable fossil fuels.

In 2023, we began mapping and calculating our carbon footprint. We're aiming to work with local businesses here in New Zealand that favor renewable energy and offsetting projects focusing on the growth and protection of our indigenous forests.

At the core of our business is a desire to rework the traditional textile supply model, and we've approached our buying with this in mind right from the start. Typically, fabrics for the creative community are commissioned or purchased as entirely new textiles. We believe this primary model creates a damaging and contradictory system of waste, a system essentially modelled on the fast-fashion industry, and one that increasingly impresses a ‘fast-sewing’ methodology upon the home sewist.

Of the fabrics we purchase, around 85% are sourced as designer deadstock. The remaining 15% of our fabrics are those that we mill exclusively, and these are manufactured under strict code of conduct adherence in collaboration with mills we have trusted, long-standing partnerships with. Our aim is to provide transparent information about what we sell, and to educate our community as to the pros and cons for deadstock vs new fabrics, to help us all make informed decisions about our creative endeavours!

Our HQ team are responsible for managing traceability of our supply chain, communicating with suppliers and collating information. We are relatively small buyers, which means we have limited influence on our suppliers regarding their practices, but the fact that our supply relationships are formed gradually over time and often through existing contacts, gives us trust and confidence in the integrity of our information.

As leaders in the home sewing and textiles community, we have a responsibility to openly share our sustainability-related goals, actions and progress with all of our stakeholders, including our customers! Here on our website, you'll find a breakdown of our areas of impact and the approach we take to minimise these.

To supplement this, it's important to our team to ensure we provide a wide range of tools and resources to enable our community to join us in up-skilling and knowledge building. Our social media channels, websites, pattern brand and TFS blog are all extensions of this desire to educate, and are an ongoing exercise in sharing. Our blog features over 300 posts ranging from everything from home sewing pattern reviews to fabric and colour guides, sewing tips and tricks, in-depth Make by TFS (our own pattern brand) sew-alongs, to DIY and scrap busting projects, staff makes and more.

Engaging with our local communities is a natural extension of our core values, respect and mindfulness. Over the years we have developed a comprehensive fabric donation scheme to divert all of our fabric off-cuts, scraps and remnants to local schools, kindergartens, community groups and charities, across our retail stores and HQ. In addition to this, we maintain a philanthropic program supporting a variety of local organisations through event sponsorship, fundraising support, direct advertising and project partnerships.

We're proud to maintain long-standing relationships with a wide range of key fashion and design tertiary educational providers across New Zealand and Australia, providing ongoing student discount programs, graduation and award sponsorships.

If you have a community group, charity or educational organisation and you're seeking a textile-focused sponsorship or donation, we'd love to hear from you! Please get in touch via community@thefabricstore.co.nz

Our Head Office and warehouse is located in Auckland, New Zealand and is the base for our distribution, online store and office teams. Our staff across our retail stores and head office are a friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic bunch, who have either studied fashion or been self-taught in the industry and we pride ourselves in being able to provide a high level of customer service because of this. Our teams are our most valuable resource, and we work hard to ensure their health, safety and wellbeing is a constant priority. Learn more about our workplace and story here.