I have been planning a post about Aritzia for sometime in the fall, but after the Kent State Sweatshirtgate from Urban Outfitters last week, I thought now would be a good time. My daughters love Urban Outfitters for their moderately-priced, urban-hip styling. I struggle with their politics and too many other things to mention.
The alternatives have been few for high quality, moderately priced, socially responsible clothing. For my daughters and myself, I was happy to find Aritzia.
Aritzia
Aritzia was founded in 1984, by CEO Brian Hill. It is a privately owned company, that started as a single boutique in Vancouver.
“Our proposition is pretty simple,” says Brian. “We offer beautifully designed clothes that are on-trend, high quality, and of good value.”
Aritzia carries multiple brands along with its own line. The most wonderful thing is that one can shop the entire boutique and know that each item is sourced with these values in mind:
From Aritzia:
Social & Environmental Responsibility at Aritzia
Aritzia has a Social & Environmental Responsibility (SER) team whose sole mission is guiding our employees and partners toward socially and environmentally responsible decisions that reflect both our values and those of humankind in general, decisions we hope will benefit everyone in our larger global community.
We Love Our People
We love our people, so we take care to ensure that everyone we work with (from the employees in our office, to our cleaning staff, to the person who sews the button onto your parka) are treated fairly, paid properly, and work in a healthy and safe environment.
We hired a third-party social compliance auditing company, which—along with our own SER manager—conducts annual workplace conditions audits of all our garment factories overseas. In 2012, we began auditing our accessories factories and mills, as well, and, if there are any areas of low performance, our SER team will work with vendors and factories to identify the root causes, analyze the findings, and make the necessary improvements incrementally. We do not believe in severing partnerships; instead, we believe in working to continuously improve the performance and well-being of all our collaborators.
Finally…
Finally, an answer to, “Yeah mom, I hear you! I get it! But where else should I shop?”
SHOP Aritzia.
Enjoy this crazy-cool video of women of all ages, all sizes and all colors, having fun, fully clothed, empowered and empowering! Watch and LOVE!
All photos and video courtesy of Aritzia.
