Our commitment to environmental responsibility spans across our entire business. In what has become a critical time for the planet, we acknowledge our duty to be kind and compassionate towards the environment at large, and hold ourselves accountable for the impact our business creates.

We are on a journey to create a more sustainable future by minimising our impact, and are dedicated to realising this commitment through action — we will always prioritise ethics and our planet over profits.

1% FOR THE PLANET:

As a member of 1% for the Planet, we have committed to annually donating 1% of total sales — including online orders, popup events, and wholesale orders — to a range of environmental non-profits working across urgent areas of climate, food, land, pollution, water, and wildlife. An ongoing list of organisations Permanent Vacation is supporting can be found here.

‘This is not philanthropy. This should be a cost of doing business. It’s paying rent for our use of the planet.’
— Yvon Chouinard, Founder of 1% for the Planet

PROCESS:

Permanent Vacation operates in Projects — choosing to reject the traditional fashion calendar enables us to disregard the disposable nature of the industry and to slow down seasonal purchasing behaviours.

Our garments are manufactured in Melbourne in small runs. If there is a need to recut a style, following requests from customers and our stockists and only after careful consideration, we produce additional units based on demand, often extending a preorder option to calculate precisely. Through this model of utilising small runs and demand-based recuts we avoid overproduction, seasonal sales, and unnecessary industry waste.

Each step of our entire production process — research and design, patternmaking, sampling, cutting and sewing, knitting, embroidery, screen-printing, dispatching — takes place either at our studio or within a 15km radius, neutralising our logistical emissions. All makers that produce Permanent Vacation pieces are paid a living wage. 

FABRICS:

We use Melbourne made jerseys where possible and incorporate deadstock fabrics — which have been saved from landfill — into our collections. However, due to limited local options the majority of our fabrics are sourced from knitting and weaving mills in Osaka, Japan who operate within a set of 'Sustainability Development Goals' for responsible fabric production. Yarns for our knitwear pieces are dyed and finished in Italy, using Australian merino wool.

For each new Project we calculate fabric and trim orders meticulously to ensure minimal waste and maximum usage. Any unused sampling fabrics are donated to universities.

CIRCULAR FASHION:

Our garments are Australian made and of the highest quality, made to be worn for a lifetime or longer. In the unlikely event that your piece is damaged through general wear and tear and is in need of mending, please contact us and we will work with our local makers to repair your garment.

We are currently developing a circular fashion initiative which will offer solutions for you to donate or repurpose your Permanent Vacation garments if or when they are no longer in use. We will be working with Textile Recyclers Australia to close this loop, and look forward to updating you once this initiative is ready to launch.

PACKAGING AND SHIPPING:

All Permanent Vacation online and wholesale orders are wrapped using either compostable or recyclable packaging, and our brand communications including swing tags, postcards, posters, and notes are printed on either FSC certified or recycled paper.

We have partnered with CarbonClick to offer customers the option to offset the carbon footprint of each purchase at checkout. Adding a $2 donation to your order assists in the conservation of indigenous Australian forests and enables developing countries to harness clean and renewable energy — you can read more about this initiative here.

Our international wholesale orders are shipped with DHL, and we make additional contributions to provide carbon-neutral transportation when delivering to stores worldwide.

COMMITMENT AND LEARNING:

In our ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility we remain dedicated, accountable, and curious. If you have any resources or suggestions to share that will help us increase the impact of our conscious action we would love to hear from you.