Environmental and Social Responsibility
J&M Sewing Service was set up by Joyce Davison and Maureen Waterston in 1980 - in a very small way – initially to provide employment for themselves – and as a small firm it had little or no impact on Environmental or Social Issues, apart from providing much needed employment for the two Founders.
As the years have gone by, employment has been provided for more people – and now that the firm is incorporated as J&M Sewing Service Ltd, with individual Customers in many different countries worldwide, and currently employing 18 people on Tyneside, an area of relatively high unemployment, it is felt appropriate to continually consider Environmental and Social issues, with regular questions being raised during reviews of our Royal Appointment that has been in existence since 2007.
The following general factors need to be borne in mind :-
1.
Because we are a small Firm, making bespoke items individually and only to order, there is no “mass-production” – and because the amounts of raw materials we purchase are relatively small, we do not have any meaningful influence on Suppliers, in the way that larger purchasers might.
We basically have to “source what we can, when we can” in terms of fabric supplies, as we do not purchase enough of any particular fabric from manufacturers to have any influence on their methods of production, or on their own sourcing of raw materials.
Having said that, we have adopted a practice of making regular enquiries of our main Suppliers (all reputable firms with whom we’ve worked for many years and who are all in the UK) – to try and obtain information about the sourcing/production of the yarns and other raw materials they use to manufacture the fabrics we buy.
In the past year we have received updated assurances from these Businesses, including copies of their Ethical, Environmental and Sustainability Policies.
Many of the fabrics we use in our business are synthetic – but we do use a certain amount of Wool fabrics (or fabrics that contain a percentage of Wool) for certain garments, some that contain a percentage of Cotton, and some Silk.
2.
We do not use any hazardous chemicals whatsoever.
3.
We do not produce much waste in our business at all – the vast majority of fabric “off-cuts” being utilised for samples.
The waste that we do produce is taken care of, on a weekly bin collection basis, by the Local Authority Trade Waste Department, and over 90% is taken away for recycling.
4.
We operate from a small part of a large building (a Listed Building owned by the Local Authority) where we are tenants of the Local Authority – and we do not have control over utilities (water, electricity and gas).
We do not use any energy in our business except electricity for lighting, our sewing-room machines and office computers – and the only water we use is “domestic” (for our Restrooms and Staff Tea/Coffee).
5.
Our business does not own any Vehicles.
We despatch all completed orders via Royal Mail or Parcelforce Worldwide – apart from those collected by Customers in person.
Apart from Key-Holders, and two other members of staff for whom public transport is impractical, all our Staff use public transport to travel to and from work.
6.
All our Employees earn more than the minimum Living Wage, and are employed on standard Full-Time or Part-Time Contracts, with no Contract involving more than 38 Hours per week.