Transparency, sustainability
All of the Être Organic Underwear products are made in Kapuvár (a city of 10.000 people in Hungary) with the skills of local workers.
Our team has 8 colleagues whose work and motivation we greatly appreciate. One of our company’s main values is that our team members sew our products in safe and dignified working conditions and for fair wages.
The average salary at our company is 1.3 times the minimum wage in Hungary and all of our makers earn at least the minimum wage in Hungary.
Currently, most of the company’s income comes from contract manufacturing (orders from our Spanish partner – with whom our business relationship goes back many years – represent a large proportion of that). However, one of our most important goals with establishing and building our own underwear brand is to be able to pay higher wages for our makers in the future.
We support our colleagues’ transportation (car, bus, etc.) with the maximum financial help required by law.
We also provide flexible working hours so that team members with young children or elderly relatives can strive for a better work-life balance. We believe this is one of the most essential keys to long-term employment.
In addition, a pleasant, green environment is also a priority for us (you can find a nice yard with flowers right outside of our company’s building), where colleagues can recharge and relax a bit during longer (circa 20 minutes per day) or shorter breaks (circa 5 minutes every 2 hours).
Our sewing factory has a positive atmosphere not only outside, but also inside. We’ve decided to build our own factory building and we were able to move in there in 2018, which was a tremendous joy for us, since the new location of our company was a result of a real family collaboration. Energy efficiency was one of our main goals when creating modern conditions.
Firstly, the insulation of the building has relevant energy certificates. What’s more, the thermally insulated windows and doors, and our external insulation also tell about our maximalism. It’s surprising, but true even in the coldest season, that heating for a few hours in the early morning ensures warmth for the whole day. In addition, we use modern LED panels as light sources, which are crucial not only for energy consumption, but also for maintaining the health of our eyes.
Compliance with the labor code is strictly monitored in Europe and Hungary, and we receive such examinations every year. We have never been fined, and we fully comply with regulations regarding working conditions, overtime, and salaries.
We also attempt to participate in the education of future professionals, such an event is the profession fair organized by the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where we also exhibited.
We own the factory where our products are sewn and we have 100% traceability of our Tier 2 suppliers: the fabric and the latex free stretch ribbon are both from Turkey.
The supplier of the fabric is one of the leading companies in Turkey which sell organic cotton as fiber, yarns, both knitted and woven fabrics, and garments. Their agricultural programs are GOTS certified. The supplier of the latex free stretch ribbon has OEKO-TEX, TSE and ISO 9000 certifications.
Our fabric is a combination of 46% Bamboo and 46% Organic Cotton and 8% Elastane.
Regarding the bamboo viscose content, the yarn is produced by a company that holds an OEKO-TEX certificate, so their processing, materials, dyes, etc. are done to OEKO-TEX standards.
The manufacturer sources their bamboo yarn from a company called Karsu, you can find their certificates here: https://karsu.com.tr/en/certificates/.
The OCS (Organic Content Standard) certificate confirms that the cotton content is organic. We discussed the difference between GOTS and OCS certification with our supplier and they have pointed out the fact that for a fabric to be certified as GOTS, it should include at least 70% organic material and GOTS has restrictions on other fibers that organic content can be blended with. We’re attaching a PDF file that contains all of the details.
The OCS is a voluntary global standard that sets the criteria for third-party certification of organic materials and chain of custody. Only material from certified organic farms (under one of IFOAM’s Family of Standards) is accepted to the OCS. A professional, third-party certification body audits each stage in the supply chain.