After 15 years in the fashion industry working for brands like Hugo Boss, Burberry, Bally, and Harrys of London, merchandising executives Julia and Nicolas Vendramin say they finally found their purpose — with a little nudge from fate. It took the birth of their daughter and a global pandemic, but when the husband-and-wife team launched LABELL-D last year, they did so with a mission: to make sustainable fashion the new normal.
The online luxury retailer seeks to drive change by encouraging what you might call conscientious consumption, playing its part to reduce the negative impact the global fashion industry tends to have on workers and the earth.
“Every product has a life cycle, and we believe you should know the whole story,” say LABELL-D’s founders, who aim to end waste in fashion by educating and inspiring customers with a strictly curated selection of sustainable styles. “We highlight how products are made in a socially and environmentally responsible way and their impact on people and the planet. From the sourcing, harvesting, and processing of raw materials, to design, manufacturing, shipping, and storage.”
Top-to-bottom transparency
LABELL-D sells only products the Vendramins stand behind. That means everything in the store must pass their test for best-in-class sustainability practices, whether it’s a global luxury brand or an up-and-coming designer.
“We have strong standards, and we expect the same of all brands on our site,” say the founders. They use a panel of experts to ensure all their products are sourced, accredited, and verified up and down the supply chain to offer the most ethical choices, including everything from materials and emissions to animal welfare, chemical usage, and waste management. “Our selection process is rigorous, and we hold our partners accountable.”
A growing segment of consumers have the best intentions about shopping responsibly but are often confronted with confusing, complex, or downright misleading information about what they’re actually buying. To meet their needs, LABELL-D makes it a point to offer complete transparency.
“Our aim is to be the reference for sustainable fashion, to cut through the noise and bring clarity to the sustainability conversation to help you make informed choices,” the pair says.
Sustainable style without the compromise
But an even bigger part of LABELL-D’s mission might be to prove that these days, wearing ethical fashion doesn’t need to come at the expense of, well, fashion. It’s not just about making shopping for sustainable products easy, as Julia Vendramin puts it, but about making it cool, edgy, and aspirational.
“Because we believe there is as much pleasure in making a discerning, positive choice as there is in making a stylish one,” she says. “Or as we like to say, fashion that is sustainably made without compromise on feel, form, or style.”
To that end, LABELL-D puts just as much emphasis on curating their tasteful collection of fashion-forward luxury brands and unique designers as it does on ensuring their sustainability bona fides. Their on-trend, rose-print Elaine Bib Frill Blouse from Aligne, for example, is made from 100% Eco-Vero Viscose, which both feels and looks 100% more luxurious than it sounds. The same goes for the Regular Dunn Stretch Pure Blue jeans from Mud Jeans, which are made with organic and post-consumer recycled cotton.
Among many other brands, LABELL-D features capsule lines from global houses like Gucci Equilibrium, which uses recycled nylon yarn, and sustainable Stella McCartney products that never use PVC, leather, feathers, or fur. Their Veja trainers are made from responsible materials like organic cotton, ChromeFree leather, and organic jute. And their shoes from Good News are made with recycled rubber soles, organic cotton, and recycled eco-lite footbeds.
“Our Nike Space Hippie trainers are made from recycled plastic bottles, T-shirts, and yarn scraps,” says Nicolas, describing a shoe that’s much more future-chic than it is flower power. Or if you prefer to do your yoga responsibly and look cool doing it, LABELL-D’s Because Leggings are made from recycled plastic bottles, too. You can wear them with the Adidas Superstar trainers, which you’d never know are made from material that’s entirely vegan and entirely recycled.
“Buying into the latest trend is often tempting, but what we wear speaks volumes about our values as well as our style,” Julia says, pointing to the urgency of her company’s mission. “Fast fashion is a defective cycle of waste that we need to exit, and fast.”
And the next time you’re making a responsible fashion purchase from LABELL-D, don’t forget to check out with Amazon Pay for a fast and seamless shopping experience.