King Louie

Fair production is of utmost importance to King Louie. That’s why the brand only works with manufacturers that meet their requirements. 30% of production takes place in China and 70% in Turkey. The latter country is home to their main supplier. The owner of this company, Mrs Nur Ger, is strongly committed to equal women’s rights in the world. In 2012, the company was even awarded: Best Social Gender Equality in Work Life. A year later, it was included on the Honorary List by United Nations Women Empowerment Principles and in 2016, Mrs. Nur Ger was appointed their Global Business Advocate. If that’s not a good partnership! Dutch-Turkish company Orimpex supplies the sustainable jersey fabric.

King Louie has been a member of the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) since 2015, in the category ​“good”. The FWF verifies the brand and its factories fulfil certain requirements every year and issues a report to improve working conditions each time.

All of their manufacturers are in Turkey or China, and most of their other suppliers are smaller companies (26−50 employees). 90% of the manufacturers King Louie works with are continuously audited by the FWF or the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI). This allows King Louie to keep (independent) eye on working conditions.

In recent years, King Louie has been making huge efforts to use sustainable materials. For instance, by 2021, 50% of the collection was already made out of eco-friendly fabrics, such as Tencel, Ecovero viscose and organic cotton. By 2021, 75% of all the cotton they used, in their denim products among others, was Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified organic, which you will find in the denim products. A nice bonus is that in addition to environmental standards, the GOTS label also includes working conditions in its certification. The brand recently started using recycled polyester and nylon, Fenc’s Topgreen fibre and Acepora-Eco.

In 2022, for the first time, King Louie will launch products made entirely from post-consumer recycled King Louie items.

King Louie also complies with REACH and POP legislation. These European regulations impose limits which companies must comply with regarding the use of chemicals. The result of this is the Restricted Substances List (RSL). King Louie submits this list to all their manufacturers. The brand also works a lot with Oeko-Tex certified suppliers. This means that no chemicals are used in production and that none remain in the products. The independent agency VERITAS regularly checks their suppliers to see if they’re still meeting the RSL requirements.

King Louie signed the Amsterdam Green Deal Circular Textile agreement in 2021 and participated in the Innovation Lab together with other sustainable fashion pioneers.

In addition, King Louie is also working on its own circular projects such as introducing a collection made out of worn King Louie items. Leftover fabrics from the collections are also reused to make ​‘renewed’ garments. The brand also encourages reuse and clothes swapping or borrowing with care tips, its own swap rack in its shop and collaborates with a clothes rental shop.

Mono material clothes (made out of 100% cotton, for example) are the most recyclable and, in the case of 100% natural fibres, even biodegradable. However, King Louie also uses textile blends for part of its collection, for example cotton mixed with elastane to promote comfort. These pieces are less easy to recycle and not fully biodegradable.

King Louie has a fairly long supply chain in distance due to production being in Turkey and China, but because King Louie works with a limited number of manufacturers from just two countries, the number of intermediaries is limited.

Only a small part of King Louie’s collection features animal materials such as wool, mohair, silk and leather.

The leather used is a by-product of the meat industry and King Louie wants to limit the use of leather in their collections, currently only 0.05% of the SS22 collection is made from this material. The manufacturers who process the hides for leather are all members of the Leather Working Group (LWG), an organisation that aims to improve the environmental impact (in terms of chemicals and energy consumption, for instance) of the leather industry by monitoring and certifying leather manufacturers.

Too little information is known to assess the conditions of the wool and silk production.

The ​‘Re-love’ project offers tips and tricks on how to wash and care for your clothes so you can enjoy them for longer. They also promote borrowing, swapping and reusing clothes and offer tips on how to restyle old clothes.

King Louie does not follow the pace of traditional fashion seasons. On their website, no distinction is made between certain seasons and many items can be worn throughout the seasons and years, making their clothes timeless. Certain pieces are also labelled ​‘timeless choice’ by King Louie. With these classics remaining in the collection permanently, they promote slow fashion that you can enjoy for a long time. Pick a beautiful King Louie piece in the colour or print that suits you and cherish it!

Transparency is important to King Louie. On every product page, you will find information about the manufacturer who made that product. King Louie is also committed to making the earlier steps in production visible.

Since the autumn 2023 collection, the brand has been giving more insight into all subcontractors, suppliers and previous links in the production process. On the product pages of each garment, you can see in which factory it was made for each step in the production process. You can also find this information in-store thanks to a QR code on the label.