Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development Goals
Read more about how we are working towards
The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals
as part of our official pledge to the Conscious Fashion Campaign
Accelerating change towards a sustainable future for all, the goals address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, gender equality, decent work and our climate.
Electric Bazaar have aimed to integrate the principles associated with these goals from its conception, working towards women empowerment projects as well as valuing people-centred slow fashion processes and the environment.
Worldwide, the poverty rate in rural areas is 17.2%—more than three times higher than in urban areas. More specifically, South Asia makes up almost half of the world's multidimensionally poor people. We work locally to combat poverty through our production processes and community projects. By partnering with small, locally-producing makers from low-income backgrounds to produce our clothing pieces, we directly support the development of these communities by providing fair wages which helps artisans to rise out of poverty.
Many women in Pakistan are often bound by the constraints of living in a patriarchal society and are denied opportunities to go out and earn a living as this is seen as the man’s role in the family and society. We set up a Sewing Machine Project that empowers women to set up their own self-sustaining sewing businesses. We work alongside a hunger project on the ground that supports families with basic necessities for survival. To date, our project has allowed over 50 women from marginalised backgrounds to gain economic independence where they would otherwise not be able to, due to cultural taboos of women not being encouraged to work outside of the home. Through this we create jobs, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation within local communities.
Fast fashion practices promote cheap, unregulated production and dangerous environments for workers. During this process, valuable traditions of handicrafts of skilled artisans have been lost, as the clothes are sold cheaply and are easily disposed of and replaced by consumers. Workers are not paid enough for their skills and so over time these handicrafts are not being produced locally. We work with these artisans to sustain these arts by providing them with jobs in good working environments.
Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, there has been a steep increase in violence against women and girls. With lockdown measures in place, many women are trapped at home with their abusers, struggling to access services that are suffering from cuts and restrictions. Our Domestic Violence campaign amplified women’s experiences, provided advice and collectively raised £600 to support women seeking refuge in shelter houses with basic necessities (such as sanitary products).
We have integrated climate change measures by ensuring all our packaging is eco-friendly - our stylish fabric and paper bags are perfectly reusable. We also source hand-woven and natural-dyed fabrics whilst ensuring zero waste of clothing materials by repurposing and upcycling to produce additional products i.e. tote bags, kids clothing, scrunchies and bandanas (coming soon). Our timeless clothing pieces are high quality to make them long lasting, increasing the garment life-cycle.