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Sustainability is not a department here. It is the thing the whole brand was built on, and it has been the brief every piece is designed against since 2005.
We are a family business in Brighton, and parents ourselves. There is no difference between what we want for our own family and what we ask of the brand — where there is an ecological way of doing something, we take it, even when it is the more expensive path.
Our line has always been the same. Buy once, buy well, pass it on. Everything below is how we try to earn it.
the bonniemob knitwear and jerseywear are made from GOTS organic cotton. That standard follows the fibre the whole way — grown without the synthetic pesticides and fertilisers conventional cotton depends on, then processed and dyed to organic standards, with social criteria for the people doing the work.
Our dye houses use no AZO dyes, anywhere in the range. Our winter knits are an organic cotton and cashmere blend, and everything is machine washable at 30 so a piece can be looked after at home rather than dry cleaned.
Our knitwear is fully fashioned, which means each panel is shaped on the machine stitch by stitch rather than cut out of a length of knitted cloth. Nothing is cut away, so there are no offcuts and no raw edges, and it uses considerably less yarn than cut-and-sew.
It is slower and it costs more to make. It is also the reason a bonniemob cardigan still holds its shape on its third baby.
Our knitwear is made in Hong Kong and China, on Shima Seiki machines — the same Japanese knitting technology Tracey first learned on, and still the most advanced there is. We have worked with the same factories since 2004. Many of the people there she has known since her days in Nottingham and Paris, and every visit still includes a trip to the machines and a chat with the technicians.
We expect everyone involved in making a bonniemob piece to be looked after. Fair treatment, a living wage for a forty-hour week, and workplaces that are clean, uncrowded and safe. We visit regularly, and we support Fashion Revolution and its question — who made your clothes? Twenty years of the same relationships is not a small thing, and it is most of the reason the quality is what it is.
Our coats, jackets and snowsuits are made from GRS certified recycled polyester — shell, lining and padding, not just the outer — and every one carries its hang tag, so you can see the certification for yourself rather than take our word for it. The water-repellent finish is BIONIC-FINISH® ECO, free from PFCs and fluorocarbons, and free from formaldehyde and paraffin.
Our swimwear is made with REPREVE™ fabric, spun from post-consumer plastic bottles, and gives UPF 50+ protection that blocks 97.5% of UV rays. Quick drying, and comfortable enough that they will actually keep it on.
Our packaging is made from recycled materials, our hang tags included, and we take plastic out wherever we can find a way to. Incoming delivery boxes go straight back out again with orders, and the office is set up so that recycling is the easy option rather than the virtuous one.
Bulk production always comes to us by sea rather than air, which carries a far lower carbon cost. It is the least glamorous part of running a clothing brand and one of the places where small decisions add up fastest, so we keep going back to it. Where we have not solved something yet, we would rather say so than dress it up.
Most bonniemob knits are made with turn-back cuffs, so sleeves can be let down as a child grows and one size fits for far longer. We ask you to wash at 30 and never tumble dry — better for the planet, and the reason a piece still looks like itself years later.
There is nothing we love more than a photograph from a customer showing a cherished bonniemob piece on their third or fourth baby. That is the whole point of it, and it is still the only measure we really care about.
For over twenty years we designed large seasonal collections twice a year, because that is what the fashion calendar asks for. It has been asking for more and more, at a moment when the planet very plainly needs less.
So we have stepped away from the seasonal cycle. From here the bonniemob makes smaller, more considered drops — fewer pieces, each one we truly believe in, designed to be kept rather than replaced. You can read the whole story on our about page.
Sustainability is not black and white. It comes in shades, and it means doing as much as our resources allow, then coming back and doing more. We are still learning and still changing how we work. There is a long way to go, and we have already come a fair distance.
the bonniemob was named Best Baby and Kids Clothing and Accessories Brand at the Marie Claire Sustainability Awards 2024, and is stocked by Selfridges, Harrods and Bergdorf Goodman.
Have a look at the sustainable kidswear and the organic cotton collection, or come and read how it all started.
