TRANSPARENCY

Our mantra: Business Innovation and growth must always be in alignment with our responsibility towards the planet and people.

Transcend was born to reimagine the current state of the fashion industry. Today, customers lack joy and connection from their clothes and we believe it's because they don't know what's in their clothes, how their clothes are made, who makes them and under what conditions.

As customers become increasingly aware of the environmental and human impact of their buying choices, there is also an increase in anxiety resulting from ambiguous, misleading and limited information shared by the fashion industry.

At Transcend, we are building a brand that customers can trust. We accomplish this by sharing about our business practices transparently. Since our humble beginnings in 2020, we have published a sustainability report annually where we share our goals and results from each year. This year, we mapped our company's adopted sustainability goals to the universally recognized, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

SDG Goal 12, 13, 14 & 15

Plastic-Free Fabrics & Buttons

From our inception in 2020, we have pledged to avoid using plastic based fabrics in our designs. By choosing natural fabrics, we diverted 4,713 lbs of fossil-fuel based fabrics from our supply chains and landfills between 2021 to 2023.

In 2023 our estimated fabric usage was 4,600 yards:

0% Plastic or Fossil Fuel based fabrics

98% Natural Fabrics e.g. cotton, linen and silk

2% Plant Derived Human Engineered Fabrics e.g. viscose

3% Upcycled Cotton

20% Hand-woven Cotton (No CO2 emissions from fabric weaving)

SDG GOAL 13, 14 & 15

Packaging

As a brand, our responsibility doesn't end with what goes in our products. Unsustainable product packaging has polluted our land and water for decades and at Transcend, we are reimagining how to protect your orders sustainably as they travel to their destinations.

To date, we estimate approximately 100 lbs of greenhouse gas (lbs of CO2 equivalent) has been saved by using packaging elements that are reusable, biodegradable, recyclable and/or recycled. We choose supplies from vendors such as Eco Enclose that are dedicated to sustainable solutions. A full list of supplies are listed below:

100% recycled corrugated cardboard box
100% compostable or recyclable mailers
100% recycled tissue paper
Reusable fabric bags made from upcycled saris
100% recycled paper stickers (zero waste liners)
Recycled shipping labels (zero waste)
100% recycled notecards for our hand-written notes
100% recycled plastic inner packaging
Biodegradable cello tape
Biodegradable natural jute twine

SDG GOAL 1, 2 & 5

Living Wages & Giveback

The fashion industry runs on the backs of skilled garment workers from the global South, who have been traditionally exploited to maximize the profits for giant corporations and their C suite executives.

At Transcend, we are reimagining a supply chain where artisans are compensated and valued for their expertise and craft knowledge which often goes several generations deep. We only work with suppliers who pay living wages and overtime to their employees. We work directly with artisan communities like Mijwan Welfare Society and Saheli Women who give 75 - 80% of all earnings directly to the artisans while keeping the remainder for administrative services. These artisan communities are dedicated to the empowerment of women and we love to support their mission.

To further demonstrate our commitments to the artisans in our supply chain, we share 2% of revenues directly with the artisans who created our products.

To date we have supported three communities of approximately 300 artisans focusing on female empowerment and reduction of poverty.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

While sustainable and ethical business practices are in the DNA of our brand, we acknowledge that there is so much more to be done to preserve the resources of our beautiful planet and people. We are far from perfect and have ambitions to continue making progress in our journey towards a better world as our business grows.

We want to be the example that demonstrates to others in the industry that profit will follow if you lead in the interest of people and planet first.

Our big dreams include onboarding millions of skilled artisans to our supply chain to ensure the preservation of heritage crafts ethically, creating a 100% traceable supply chain through investments in turnkey tech solutions, pursuing B-Corp certification for our brand, invest in innovative materials and achieve true circularity within our product lifecycle.

However, as one woman small business, our mighty ambitions are often constrained due to the realities of working within a corrupt system and the lack of funding for minority and women-led businesses.

OUR ASK

Continue supporting us and telling your network about us. Without big marketing and PR budgets, we rely on you, our community to help us grow so we can prove to the world that putting people and planet first is not just the right thing to do but is also a good business decision. We need your support today and everyday to continue forging a path that is radically different from the current state of an exploitative fashion industry.