At Helder we are future focused
That’s why we make our planet our business. These days sustainability is hot and greenwashing is just around the corner. Too often the term is used just as a plain marketing tool.
At Helder, sustainability is fully integrated in our company strategy: it’s in our roots, it’s in our DNA. But for us, it is about more than sustainability, it is about transparency.
We do business with sustainability on our mind in every step on the road and we want to be transparent about those steps, from production over transport to our prices.
So we are a sustainable brand but above all we want to be transparent. After all, the meaning of our brand’s name Helder is pure, clear, transparent.
Let’s get more specific and answer some questions!
How do we select our fabrics?
We work with fabrics that are sustainable by nature (origin of the fiber) and by (a closed loop) process. This choice has a significant influence on the designing process, it becomes part of it. It can be a real challenge to fit ideas of our designer with fabrics that are sustainable since the choices are more limited. You need to have creativity comes to play.
We love to work with cupro, bamboo, tencel, deadstock fabrics, recycled denim and innovative fabrics like piñatex.
How do we select our manufacturers?
All the designs and the samples are handcrafted in our atelier in Mortsel, Belgium.
A limited part of the collection is made in Antwerp, Belgium, the rest of the collection is made by craftsmen in a small atelier in Iasi, Romania (hometown of our designer). Our knitwear is 100% manufactured in Waregem, Belgium.
We know all the people working on the garments. We know they work under good working conditions and they get a fair wage. That’s what makes for a responsible production.
What is our sales policy?
We make a clear statement on not following the sales rat race. We respect our garments, our planet and our customers too much to devaluate our collections.
We calculate fair prices and make collections that cross the seasons. That philosophy is translated in our no sales policy.
The only thing we do is stock and sample sales from time to time.
How do we organize transport?
We organise transportation by plane but when possible we use transportation by road.
On a personal note, our designer is driving an electric car and we want to bring that spirit to our business. That’s why we are looking into ways to make our transportation more green so to reduce our carbon footprint. It’s a work in progress.
How to create a longer life for your garments?
We advise you to wash your garments only when necessary. You could be surprised what a night in the open air can do to get rid of bad odor!
If you do want to wash your clothes, know that the lower the temperature, the friendlier for the environment. And instead of using the drying machine, think about air-drying your clothes. The planet will thank you.
Current projects
Since this search for sustainable fashion creation is an ever growing process, we do not stand still.
At the moment we are working on our packaging for the e-shop. The idea is to move from single use plastic to packaging that can be used up to 20 times. Further on we are looking into ways of up-cycling our overstock.
Soon more!
To end we would like to say: we are no saints. We do sometimes have to compromise for economical, practical or aesthetic reasons. So not all is 100% perfect. But what we do can is promising you 100% transparency!
