Kuwaii Design Ethos

Since our first-ever Kuwaii piece in 2008, our vision has been to offer an alternative to throwaway fashion.

Designed in our Brunswick studio, and ethically made, every Kuwaii piece has an important role in our product range. We produce limited runs of each item, and some are so limited that they are hand-numbered like artwork for you to treasure. Deadstock fabrics and our own fabric remnants inform our designs from the start because we believe in minimising waste wherever we can. In all parts of our vision, creativity and process, we aim to be thoughtful with what we bring into existence.

Designing for daily life

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” ― William Morris

At Kuwaii, we feel we’ve been able to produce pieces that are both useful and beautiful. Practicality, elegance, comfort and attention to detail are the foundation of our design philosophy. We want our garments to be timeless, adaptable and versatile, giving you a range of different ways to wear them. This increases the garment’s life and means it can be worn in many different ways for different occasions — there is an intrinsic sense of value to its usefulness and simple beauty.

Designing for bodies

It’s important to us that our collections reflect the beautiful diversity of our customers, and we have always believed that sustainable fashion should be more inclusive.

Our shapes fit and flatter sizes 6 to 24. We tailor our pieces carefully so they’re flattering and comfortable through various stages of life, including pregnancy and breastfeeding, both of which we cater for in our product range.

Slow fashion

We’re passionately opposed to the ‘churn’ model of fast fashion. Our entire approach is set up to be different: smaller, simpler and slower.
We’ve chosen a business model that’s low volume and high quality — we produce our garments in limited edition runs, made to order locally, with a strong focus on designing for longevity.

Our designs and fabrics last the test of time – we know this because you tell us! It’s a testament to Kuwaii’s commitment to quality that our pieces hold their second-hand resale value, and we love to see Kuwaii going to new homes, extending the life of the piece even further — we’ve even created our Re-worn program to facilitate this.

Some fast fashion brands stockpile, burn or throw out billions of dollars worth of unsold garments every year. In contrast, we have a minimal amount of old season stock — something we’re very proud of.

Waste not, want not! Our circular environmental programs

Kuwaii products are designed to stay away from landfill. We believe that timeless, well-made and well cared for clothing and footwear should have a long-lasting, useful life. 
We’ve implemented four programs to reduce waste and lengthen the useful life of our garments and fabrics.

• Our Lifelong Repairs Program
  
• Re-worn: Our Take Back Program
  
• Our Textile Recycling Program
  
• Our Kuwaii Secondhand Marketplace