Eco-Friendly, Sustainable, Responsible

ECO-FRIENDLY,
SUSTAINABLE & RESPONSIBLE

From 2021, Samahan promises to attempt to reduce its carbon footprint by being more eco-friendly, sustainable, and responsible.

All Samahan's previous store products have been removed from our store to replace it with eco-friendly products. Yes, with this move our prices have also increased. However, we believe that this was an important move given climate change and its effect on our home country -- The Philippines.

For the Planet

Made to Order

Every purchase -- big or small -- has a footprint on our planet. With each purchase you make, you have a choice on how big of a footprint you leave. We at Samahan want to help you choose wisely.

Around 85% of all textiles produced by the fashion industry end up in landfills, making it a major contributor to environmental damage.
Similarly, one in every five garments reaches a landfill without being worn even once.

Samahan works with a reliable, high-quality print-on-demand drop shipper that has locations worldwide. By choosing print-on-demand, you choose apparel that's created only as the order is placed, creating less fabric waste than conventional manufacturing.

Limiting Waste

Although our products are made using the made-to-order production approach, Samahan still has a lot of work to do to make the actual production process sustainable.

One of the ways that we reduce waste is by working with a company that reduces its waste by improving its packaging. All of our DTG single-product orders used to be wrapped in an additional plastic mailer. Now we use a poly mailer bag to package them.

Since our supplier made these changes in February 2020, they saved more that 38,000 lbs (17,000kgs) of plastic. Our supplier now also donates any damaged or returned goods to local charities including: the American Kidney Fund, Goodwill. and the Red Cross.

To handle the fabric waste in our supplier's Mexico and Charlotte facilities, they have formed partnerships with waste management services including Geocycle and Martex for recycling.

Additionally, our drop shipper is currently testing for the best paper tape alternative to switch over from acrylic tape, and they have addedd recycling instructions to the poly mailer bags.

Efficient Shipping

The reliable drop shipper that Samahan works with has fulfilment centres all over the world. This makes it good for business as well as our environment. These strategically located fulfilment centres allow for faster shipping times, lower shipping costs, as well as helping to reduce the CO2 emissions produced when transporting orders.

Our fulfilment facilities are located in:

Toronto, Canada
Los Angeles, California
Tijuana, Mexico
Charlotte, North Carolina
Riga, Latvia
Barcelona, Spain
Amakusa, Japan
Brisbane, Australia
Melbourne, Australia

A majority of our orders are delivered in the same region that they are fulfilled.

For the Products

Eco-Friendly Products

All of Samahan's products consists of items that are made of at least 30% sustainable, recycled, or biodegradable materials. The reason we choose eco-friendly is because our mother country - The Philippines is one of the countries most affected by climate change. We hope to do our part by limiting our carbon footprint.

We hope to help you choose more conscious fashion choices.

Majority of our products are supplied by Stanley/Stella a brand that is dedicated to initiate change in the textile industry by producing apparel in a more humane, ethical, and ecological way.

Reliable Quality

Samahan works with a company that does durability, wash, and wear tests to ensure that the product will stand the test of time, because the better the quality of the product, the longer the product lasts.

By producing long-lasting products, you avoid new purchases. By avoiding new purchases, you also avoid fabric waste.

We work with suppliers that produce high-quality products, all of these products are GOTS and OEKO-TEX certified.

Efficient Printing

Majority of Samahan's products are printed with the direct-to-garment (DTG) technique. With DTG, ink is sprayed directly onto the garment which enables it to soak better into the fabric, thus making it less prone to fading.

Our DTG products are printed using Kornit machines and inks. Kornit uses high-quality, water-based vegan inks that they formulate, test, and produce in their own factories. Kornit inks are non-hazardous, toxin-free, biodegradable, and certified with an OEKO-TEX Eco Passport.

For the People

Who We Work With

We want to be as open and transparent about who we work with. Majority of our products are supplied by Stanley/Stella. At present, they work with only five factories in Bangladesh and one in China. To improve their worker livelihoods, Stanley/Stella is currently supporting factories to open grocery shops inside their walls.

Green Office

Samahan staff works remotely from their own homes. We process all our work and documents electronically to reduce paper use, and we encourage responsible thinking through positive environments.

Green Team

The company that we work with to deliver our quality products have created a "Green Team." This team is dedicated to explore new and environmentally conscious ways of doing things including: continuously working on improving their internal recycling system, and keeping their colleagues informed of best practices.

Giving Back

Samahan ensures to only partner with companies that are dedicated to the same morals and values as Samahan. For our store products, we have partnered with a reliable drop shipping company. This company hosts a free annual programming summer school to mentor people interested in IT and offer job offers to its best students.

They also have a long-term partnership with Junior Achievement Latvia—a non-governmental organization and an expert in business education in Latvian schools.