"At Junior we adore this brand! Having won best newcomer a few years ago, we've watched this brand get better and better every year. Very well deserved Toastie Kids x"
BONITA TURNER, EDITOR JUNIOR MAGAZINE
We are incredibly proud and humbled to have been awarded Platinum by the 2020/21 Junior Design Awards in category 'Best Children's Eco Fashion Brand'.
This prestigious award takes into consideration the holistic approach a brand takes to sustainability, looking beyond greenwashing into a company's genuine ethos.
On this note, we wanted to share with you our approach to sustainability; sourcing and production, accomplishments and objectives and how we harness our power as a young, influential fashion brand to educate children on nature, with a view to embedding powerful foundations from early childhood encouraging a strong and lasting bond with the natural world.
Töastie create premium quality outerwear and inspiring content that empowers children to engage, explore and connect with nature. We keep sustainability at the heart of our brand, because every choice we make must come back to nature.
The question of sustainability in fashion is something which is hotly debated, with a lingering question mark hanging over whether a brand can ever truly call itself 'sustainable'.
We want to invite the question as to how two Co-founders so intent on conserving and protecting the planet can justify having a fashion brand. Below, we do our best to unpack this.
The ethos behind Töastie is a passionate belief that the brand must serve a greater purpose. When it comes to 'sustainability' all things are intertwined and it is not enough to simply use recycled materials to call yourself a sustainable brand. Yes, this is an important step (provided it is done in the right way), however we believe that a holistic approach to sustainability is the only way to make a difference.
We feel passionately that children are the future custodians of our planet and it is our responsibility to give them the tools, the education and the motivation to explore, engage, love and cherish the natural world around them.
This younger generation, that are growing up surrounded by the trappings of technology, must be given every encouragement to connect with nature.
They must learn to care about nature and this is not just something that can be taught in classrooms, it is something that needs to be experienced to be understood. In order to experience nature you must be in nature.
Our outerwear is designed to meet the technical requirements to best serve children on their adventures in the wild. Whether this means playing at the bottom of the garden on a wet and windy day, wrapping up warm after riding the surf all afternoon or simply playing out outside on the street with friends.
Fusing fashion with function, are main aim is to create truly comfortable outerwear for children that is non-restrictive. Coats that work as their partners in crime, coats that don’t weigh them down or hold them back, coats they always look forward to pulling on for adventures.
Every design is intensely scrutinised to ascertain exactly what its end purpose is. How and why it is needed. No coat is ever just a coat. Every item must justify its existence before we consider putting it into production.
Careful consideration is put into the detail of each design to ensure maximum longevity of use; both in terms of building in ‘room to grow’ as well as ensuring every garment is made to the highest standard and made to last. We want our coats to be passed down through families and friends. This is why we will soon be launching our own ‘Pre-loved | Re-loved’ area on the website, to ensure our coats continue to accompany children on adventures after your own child has outgrown theirs.
We are always looking to innovate with our use of sustainable materials and work closely with our suppliers to rigorously test and challenge new concepts on the market to ensure they meet our criteria for hand-feel, look and ultimate performance.
'Created to be worn, loved and outgrown, but never thrown.'
At Töastie, we make responsible Eco choices and seek to provide transparency throughout Sourcing and Production. We are audited by Positive Luxury and are proud to have been certified with their Butterfly Mark.
The Butterfly Mark is a third-party accreditation mark that identifies the luxury brands that meet the highest standards of verified innovation and environmental performance, offering transparency at points of sale and equipping consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions.
Their auditing closely examines our supply chain and all certifications associated with Eco claims, such as the use of PET plastic bottles for the shell of our rainwear.
Our packaging and labelling is made from recycled materials, fully recyclable and FSC certified. Our FSC certified tissue paper is printed on acid-free paper using soy-based ink and our suppliers at Noissue plant a tree for every order. Our stickers are made using cane-fibre biodegradable paper. Our polybags are made from 100% recycled materials and are 100% recyclable. Finally, wherever possible we ship our bulk product by sea freight rather than air freight.
Other areas assessed by Positive Luxury include Social Performance, Environmental and Social Responsibility and Investment and Innovations.
Positive Luxury recognise that this is a journey and awards within the Butterfly Mark are granted as and when the brand can prove to be making an impact in the relevant area. You can view our audit and sustainable achievements here.
We are proud of the milestones we have fought hard to reach as a young brand. They do not offer us complacency, instead they fuel our fire to keep striving harder to make a difference.
Our key sustainability objectives for the year ahead:
A minimum of 40% recycled materials will be used in all of our production from 2021. By 2022, we aim to have 80% of the range itself made entirely from recycled materials. We are confident that by working closely with our sustainably conscious and innovative suppliers we can meet this target.
Töastie is going carbon neutral by 2021.
We truly believe that by empowering children to love and engage in nature, we are embedding the foundations that give them the very best possible motivation to love and protect our planet and its future.
Thank you for joining us 🖤