find out who made your clothes

Fashion Revolution advocates that people ask the question ‘Who made my clothes?’ In a bid to encourage consumers to think about the way a garment is made before it arrives in the shop. Within the fashion industry this information is often not disclosed by fashion brands.

As we are a brand that is seeking to be transparent about our production processes we would love to share more with you about who makes our Jenerous clothing.

Find out who made our clothes? Founder Jenny Allan with Shelia a worker at Jacobswell WFTO factory in Bangalore, India 2020

We make our Jenerous clothing in India in a small Fair Trade factory based in Bangalore, and we’ve just returned from visiting our suppliers in India. On our latest trip we enjoyed discovering new places as well as spending time with our partners based in Bangalore.

Where are Jenerous Clothes Made?

Our Clothes are Made in a Registered Fair Trade Factory in Bangalore

In recent developments (Aug 2024), Jacobswell have decided not to renew their WFTO membership due to the financial implications, and are therefore no longer a registered WFTO member. However, the products on our website were all made whilst they were a member. Their business structure and commitment to empowering and safe work, continue to be unchanged, and this decision reflects the challenges facing small businesses across the globe.

It was so great to visit Jacobswell and to see the team again. We met Beth who has recently joined the company, and brings a wealth of experience and creativity to leading the team. It was exciting to develop some new styles for Spring/Summer 2020 and Autumn/Winter 2020.

One of the best parts of our time in Bangalore was seeing how the team have developed and grown in knowledge and skills, since I last visited in May 2019. Our factory works with vulnerable individuals, most of whom are women, and provides sustainable work that helps them on their journey out of poverty. They are committed to training and empowering their staff and providing a fair wage for the work that they do.

When I visited last May, Shelia was one of the newest members of the team, she had recently become unemployed and was taken on as an assistant to Radha, the senior cutter. Sheela has been learning how to cut patterns and fabrics, and has also been taught how to sew on the machines. It was great to see her sewing and to witness the achievement and her progress as she made some of our samples. The picture above shows me wearing one of the first garments that she has sewn for us.

Hand block printing and Aari beading

Whilst in Bangalore we visited our ethical hand block printers and selected some beautiful new prints for our upcoming collections. This is an artisan skilled craft that's fascinating to watch. Everything is done by hand, from carving the wooden block, mixing the dyes to creating the final patterned fabric.

We also made some progress with sourcing an Aari beading and embroidery supplier. This is again a highly skilled Indian beading technique where the fabric is stretched over wooden frames and a needle with a hook on the end is used to attach the beads. We hope to be able to include some of this hand crafted beadwork in our future collections.

New Modal stretch dresses

Another exciting development was visiting Tirupur an area that is a few hours drive from Bangalore. Here we visited a Fairtrade factory and have developed some new stretch dresses, which are made from sustainable Lenzing Modal fabric. This soft, luxurious fabric is made in an environmentally sound process, from super-fine beechwood fibre. Look out for a classic long evening dress coming soon!

After a busy trip we have lots of new products, that we can't wait to share with you! Keep a look out for our new styles due in April, or sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about our new collection.