How to Responsibly use Offshore Manufacturing and Disrupt the Lifecycle of Fast Fashion

In episode 85 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Adila Cokar, founder of The Good Tee and Source My Garment, on how to responsibly use offshore manufacturing and disrupt the lifecycle of fast fashion.

Adila Cokar is the visionary behind Source My Garment, the essential book written on how to responsibly offshore manufacturing, and a media-acclaimed, award-winning serial entrepreneur. She has over a decade of experience working closely with offshore factories, as well as partnering with and building social businesses within the fashion industry. Her expertise includes sustainable product development, offshore manufacturing processes, end-to-end management, and business strategy. She has been featured in Apparel Magazine, Sourcing Journal, The Epoch Times, Just-Style.com, and more.

Written to help her clients fully understand the process of getting from idea to manufacture, Executive manufacturing consultant Adila Cokar wrote the ultimate guide to kickstart your production. She draws on her extensive experience to show you how to plan effectively, lower your costs, avoid potential manufacturing problems, prepare for production, design sustainably and more.

Adila is also founder of The Good Tee, which mission is to make it easier for any size brand to sell responsibly made products. The Good Tee is a collections of sustainable basics which are a blank canvas for brands to print on. Fashion startups can rip out our back neck label and replace it with their own. Established brands can integrate their values of being responsible by purchasing The Good Tee for uniforms or promotional use. We customize any product from start to finish.

The Good Tee’s vision was originally conceived in 2008, when founder Adila Cokar, a responsible apparel manufacturing consultant, was on a sourcing trip in India. She read an article about the ongoing issue of the growing suicide rates among India’s farmers. “Since 1995, more than 270k cotton farmers in India alone have committed suicide. ” –The Guardian. With high levels of illiteracy and limited land holdings, many cotton farmers live in poverty; their sparse livelihoods dependent on middle-men or ‘ginners’ who often buy their cotton at prices well below the cost of production. After learning this, there was no turning back. The Good Tee was born.

“Fast fashion” is known to hurt the planet and the people that produce our goods. That’s why The Good Tee champions responsible manufacturing: slower production schedules, ethical working conditions, and fair deals for all.

After receiving Fairtrade certification, Adila made it her mission to make it easier for consumers and businesses to source the supply chain that supports responsibly manufactured apparel.

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