SKOT Fashion
SKOT is a purpose driven clothing brand, which offers high quality products that are made in a sustainable way. Clients value SKOT because of the transparent approach towards improving the industry, the inspiring stories about their ambitious journey and because of the quality products they make. SKOT is specialized in the fit and the fabrics, dedicated to give you a comfort feel and a representative look. No fast fashion, but beautiful timeless products that can be worn for multiple seasons, made with three values in mind: Sustainability (fair materials, fair production and fair chain), Product (high quality, feel-good fit and detail) and Behavior (always improving and have fun while doing it and transparency).
SKOT was founded in 2017 by two Frysian friends, one with a passion for sustainability, the other with a passion for fashion. The goals was to produce sustainable and high quality shirts. The founders visited factories that make the materials and produce the shirt, both in Italy and Turkey. They searched for the best combination of quality product and responsible production, both for the environment and the personnel. After numerous designs, endless fitting sessions and adjustments on the perfect shirt, they felt proud to start with two shirt types: Fun shirts and Serious shirts. The Fun collection consists of shirts that are a bit shorter and have a more outspoken design and they can be worn for leisure wear. The Serious ones are perfect for work wear, with careful attention to the right collar strength and a good fit.
Why did co-founder Ruben van Veen start SKOT fashion? The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. There are a lot of factors contributing to the pollution, from fabric production, water use, dyeing, transport and waste removal. The clothing industry is responsible for 10% of the annual CO2 emissions. To grow a kilo of conventional cotton you need 10,000 liters of water. A quarter of the world’s production of pesticides and insecticides is used for cotton. In many clothes toxic formaldehyde is used. On average, each (non-organic) contains a glass of 200ml full of poison. We can make use of the resources of the planet, but we can´t deplete them and we can´t waste the only hand that is feeding us. Another problem in the fashion industry is the use of cheap labor. Due to the labor intensive character of clothing, the production of clothing shifted to low-wage countries. This caused for an explosion of small production factories, especially in Asia. The production chain became very fragmented (with subcontractors, agents and different suppliers), so it wasn’t clear where your clothes came from. But that didn't matter to most people, to most people it wasn´t important how clothes were made. Clothing brands started focusing on sales. Clothing became emotion. Companies also joined forces, which led to a few large chains with a lot of purchasing power. And this is exactly where the value chain of clothing went wrong. On the one hand, a few powerful companies who are interested in price and speed but are not interested in the ethics of production (because their customers do not ask for it). On the other hand, a fragmented market, which is forced to produce faster and cheaper. In addition, it is easy for these producers to disregard responsible working conditions or preservation of nature. And because the Western market does not see (or does not want to see) the problem, the downward trend continues. It’s a race to the bottom.
It’s not an easy problem. You can’t immediately tell if a piece of clothing has been made by child labor or that poisonous substances were used. Given the fragmented production chain, many clothing labels can’t even state this even if they want to. A low price indicates a high probability of malpractices, but a high price does not automatically mean that a piece of clothing is socially and environmentally sound. Therefore, consumers are not given a clear choice, and the consequence is that people are mainly looking at price and product quality.
All of this makes the clothing industry an unhealthy one for the following reasons. One, the production of clothing happens in risky working conditions. Two, in the production process natural resources are wasted. Three, the clothing market is intransparent and this ensures that the abuses can continue. On a shirt that sells for 50 Euros, about 3 cents go to the cotton picker and 18 cents to the person who made it. That’s why SKOT tries to minimize the impact on the earth in every single step of the chain: production, trade, use and removal. And that's why SKOT has high standards on sustainability. According to SKOT sustainability is: use materials with minimal impact on nature, act fair to people working in the production of clothing and above all, be completely transparent about the production chain. Sustainability is buying quality clothing that lasts long and causes less waste. It is buying from brands that do not hide behind a complicated production chain. It is buying clothes that inform the consumer on the level of sustainability. SKOT shirts are made of 100% organic cotton, grown with 60% less water. Produced with fair labor throughout the chain and there is full transparency about who made your shirt and in what way. Also, after buying a SKOT product you get some eco-friendly washing product from their friends at Seepje. Furthermore, when the time has finally come and you and your shirt have to separate ways, don’t feel hard about it. Send them your shirt and they’ll recycle it and you get a 10% discount on your next shirt.
Based: Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Ships to: For free to The Netherlands and Belgium.
Products: Dress shirts for men.
Mission: SKOT believes in a fair and fun world. We use the positive power of fashion to create a sustainable world. We are dedicated to make beautiful products with minimal impact on nature and positive impact on people. We make sustainable quality affordable. We’re on a journey. The goal is 100% sustainable fashion with the best products.
Vision: The clothing industry has long and complex supply chains, with significant environmental and social footprints. SKOT wants to change this. We try to transform every step of the process of making clothes into something positive. We want to contribute to a new generation of sustainable products. We dress the next generation people in high quality designs with minimum damage to the planet so everybody will have a wardrobe that is fully sustainable.
