Why prints?
To celebrate textiles, their relationship with women, and bring people joy. Plus, they hide stains, create conversations, and are delightful. The more prints, the better!
What is “slow fashion”? What’s your commitment to sustainability?
“Slow fashion” is quality-based, not time-based clothing production, as coined by Kate Fletcher. Here at Ernie and Irene, we’re rethinking everything. The fashion industry creates loads of waste. It’s actually the second-largest polluter in the world, second only to oil.(source) Nearly 20% of global wastewater is created by the fashion industry (source), so we have chosen digitally printed fabric which uses less than 1 tbsp of water per 5 yards of fabric with biodegradable, water-based inks. Also, synthetic fibers could take hundreds of years to decompose (source), so we have sourced 100% natural fibers.
We are working with family-run, small-scale manufacturers with commitments to sustainability, eco-friendly materials, and a fair living wage. Our fabrics are printed and sewn in El Salvador by real, kind people.
Why does it take 2-4 weeks to receive my dress?
As mentioned above, we are dedicated to minimizing waste. In 2020, we felt the beauty of slowing down - a silver lining from the pandemic. Our dresses are made to order, so each time we fulfill an order, we’re creating only the exact number of dresses needed, nothing more. Trust us, it will be worth the wait.
We are committed to production transparency. Here is a snapshot of our process:
Holly designs a collection of surface designs by hand and digitizes them in the computer to get them ready to print onto fabric.
Our fabric printers in El Salvador print samples of the surface designs onto fabric using eco-friendly and sustainable inks and dyes.
Holly launches the new collection of prints, making them available for purchase in the Shop.
Our fabric printers (a family-run business) print the surface designs onto the exact amount of fabric needed to fulfill the batch of orders.
Our printer passes the fabric off to our sewing manufacturers, also family-run and also in El Salvador (thus saving on shipping!).
The sewing manufacturers sew and ship the dresses to Holly for final approval and order fulfillment.
Holly ships the dresses to you!
Thus, the 2-4 week wait time. More questions? Email me at hifriend@ernieandirene.com.
What is your Returns/Exchange policy?
We hope that you love your new dress. In the rare case that it may not fit as you expected, it may be returned in its original state and packaging for a full refund, exchange, or credit within 30 days of receipt. Please note that shipping expenses will be paid by the customer at this time. Please email hifriend@ernieandirene.com for any issues.
We have also created a Buy, Sell, Trade group on Facebook to encourage circular design. Our hope is that what doesn’t fit one person, could fit another. This allows for less waste and will hopefully build even more community.