We don’t chase trends. Our design vision is to create timeless pieces that you reach for day after day because they are so effortless, chic and comfortable.
Our factory is like family. Not only has our factory been known for producing quality products in Los Angeles for over 15 years, they are also committed to the ethical treatment of their employees. This means they provide fair wages, good working conditions and adhere to all labor laws. We don’t have to just take their word for it either, they are regularly audited by an SA8000 certifying body to ensure they are meeting or exceeding Social Accountability 8000 standards.
We are committed to producing in Los Angeles. Parva Studios designs, manufactures and ships everything within a 10 mile radius in Los Angeles. We are able to keep our carbon footprint small and support our local economy.
Parva is Latin for Small. Our Sustainability philosophy is centered around staying small and leaving the smallest footprint. This drives our decisions as a brand from the choice of raw goods to production and packaging.
Materials
- We choose naturally derived fibers. We do this to ensure each piece will find new life through recycling or composting.
- 100% of our fabrics are sustainably sourced. To ensure the highest quality fabrics, we only work with reputable local fabric mills. The mills are required to provide us with certification of fibers for each lot of fabric we purchase. For each fabric, we only accept the following certifications from Internationally recognized certifying bodies:
- Organic Cotton - Organic Content Standard (OCS) 100 or Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification
- Modal - Lenzing certification (which also ensures FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification for responsible cellulose harvesting)
- Deadstock - While there is no certifying body for deadstock fabric, we only use deadstock fabric that came directly from production overruns in our factory so we can trace the fibers and stand by the quality.
- Animal Products - We don’t use any animal products in our collection
Dyes
We only use Low-Impact Dyes. The garment dye process is notoriously harmful for the environment. Our dyes are heavily monitored under California’s strict regulations for safety and toxicity.
Production
Zero Waste Production. After sharing our Sustainability goals with our factory, we were able to develop a truly innovative partnership. By working together, we’re able to reduce the waste that’s involved with apparel production
- Zero fabric waste
- We review every marker to reduce fabric waste or upcycle. In our last production run, we were able to upcycle the remnant fabric by adding scrunchies to our markers
- Sometimes we do run into an issue that deems the product unsellable. However, we will upcycle the product into usable goods and donate or gift the items so they don’t end up in landfills.
- All fabric scraps are recycled and spun into yarns through a facility located in Mexico. This partnership is exciting because most US fabric scraps are recycled in Europe leaving a huge carbon footprint for transport. We’re hoping to incorporate the regenerated fabric into our collection soon!
- Sampling + Production
- We are at the factory several times a week so we can identify issues and find solutions together before they result in unsellable goods.
- Micro-batching
- We produce what we think we can sell, no more. Most factories will require a minimum order to produce. Through our factory partnership, we’re able to lift those minimums and produce limited quantities.
- No Transport = No Carbon.
- Our factory warehouses our goods which eliminates the need for transport
- Packaging
- We’ve eliminated plastic packaging for our product. We use 100% recycled paper bands by Eco-Enclose to wrap each item. And since our products aren't imported, they've never been wrapped in any plastic or bio-plastic.
- 100% Recycled Mailers for Shipping.. We use 100% Recycled Poly-mailers by Eco-Enclose for shipping. We made this choice because we felt it was the best way to keep our products protected during shipping and a more sustainable option to compostable mailers.
- Lifestyle
- It’s the little things. We try to do our part in other ways to keep our footprint small. We use an electric vehicle for deliveries and our office is powered by solar energy.