HOW PROJECT CECE IS BUILDING THE LARGEST ONLINE FAIR FASHION HUB
By: Hillary LeBlanc
The experience of shopping, browsing or just simply just spontaneously falling in love at first sight with a new fashionable piece can be a bit of headache because nowadays consumers are much more aware of the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry. The instant attraction and excitement might be interrupted by one’s moral compass questioning how the products were made and what ethical considerations might be compromised.
Three women have taken the guesswork out of ethical shopping so that consumers can go back to the fun of guilt-free shopping. Project Cece was created by sisters Melissa and Marcella Wijngaarden along with their friend Noor Veenhoven who the sisters met while studying in Amsterdam. The idea came after many conversations that sparked a common realisation of how difficult they found it to find exciting fashion pieces that were making strides in social impact.
Founders of Project Cece, Image Source: https://www.projectcece.com
“We wanted to make it easy, accessible and fun to shop sustainable fashion, and thought there should be a solution to collect the offerings of all those separate stores on one website! We were intrigued by this mission, and we started thinking of ways to make it happen.”
- Captured from the Project Cece website
Project Cece lists unique ranges of more than 200 ethical fashion stores and well over 400 fair trade brands, resulting in more than 40,000 products in one place. Their “Impact Analysis” team is continuously researching brands and vetting new sustainable clothing stores that pass the their sustainability standards to continuously grow in offerings.
Project Cece has listed all sustainable online stores in an organized way. Their website states “each garment is clearly categorised depending on the labels that best describe it (Vegan, Fair Trade, Eco-Friendly, Locally Produced, or Good Cause) as well as the certificates that it has earned. You can directly look for all the products in one, two or more categories in order to find clothes that match your values and what sustainability truly means to you.” Furthermore, shoppers can filter their searches by types of clothing, price range, size, material and even colour. They also have many affordable options so that no one needs to look beyond their budget while shopping ethically. Also displayed is the ethos and missions of each brand so you can understand why they were selected to be a part of the website.
Image Source: https://www.projectcece.com
For a brand to receive the Fair Trade label from Project Cece they must have safe and clean working conditions, living wages, normal working hours and no child labour. Brands must also show proof that they produce fairly by showing certifications or photographic evidence. For a brand to be given the Environmentally Friendly label, they need to use sustainable materials for 70% of their collection such as linen, (certified) organic cotton, econyl, recycled materials, (certified) organic wool, tencel, hemp, vegetable leathers, ecovero, and peace silk. The team at Project Cece will also ask how water is managed at production facilities, if they use toxic chemicals in their production process, if they do anything to actively reduce CO2 emissions and if they use sustainable packaging.
In order to be credited as Locally Produced, the cutting and sewing must occur in Europe for brands featured on the website. To be listed as Vegan and Animal Welfare, brands must only use materials that are free of animal products and their production process must also be free of animals. Project Cece notes that being Vegan is not a criteria to be on the website, but where animal products are used always ask what the conditions are under which the animals are kept. Project Cece does have a strict no fur policy.
The last label Project Cece has is the Supporting Good Causes label, which is accredited to brands who do something extra to make the world a bit better. Ranging from planting trees, donating part of their profit/revenue/products to charity, to supporting local communities, Project Cece will share what extra good the brand does to be given this label.
A large category of websites selected include stores with fair working conditions. Only 1% of all clothing is produced under fair working conditions and 0.6% of the price that consumers pay end up in the pockets of the person who put so much effort into creating that garment. Their website provides educational facts, sharing that fast fashion contributes to enormous amounts of CO2 emissions, water wastage, tonnes of textile waste and pollution of soil, rivers and oceans. They also share that workers are often forced to withstand inhumane shifts in unsafe conditions for a wage that they can barely survive on but all shops featured on Project Cece are actively combating these statistics and issues.
On top of selling Women’s, Men’s, Kid’s, Home and Beauty items, Project Cece also has a blog section. You can read fun articles on ‘How to Dress Like a Main Character (Sustainably)’ or learn about the ‘Psychology of Fast Fashion: Why You Can’t Stop Buying It’. Articles range from academia to tips and tricks so anyone in their community can take away some useful information.
Project Cece claims to be the largest sustainable search engine with no signs of slowing down! It is a modern day online department store that sources, curates and validates the integrity of each brand placing impact and style in parallel to each other.
Cover Image: Thought Catalog / @thoughtcatalog