Our Approach

Charlie Mae is an independent, small business, who deeply care for our environment and community. We believe in sustainable creation and striving to fully close the loop within our manufacturing process. Our collections pioneer sustainability as we push the boundaries of what is possible within the industry, to bring you thoughtful pieces that are equal parts beauty, love and quality.

As we progress down the path to sustainability, we understand that there is always more to learn. The faster the world moves, the faster we need to adapt, learn and evolve. Each year we adjust our approach towards a more sustainable future, and we see our journey as something we want to share with you. 

Join us on our sustainable journey ~

Our Processes

Swimwear

Our Charlie Mae swimwear pieces are now made from recycled and sustainable fabrics. This includes our textured and printed fabrics and tags. 

For our printed fabrics we use Vita PL, a fabric made from regenerated polyester derived from pre and post industrial waste such as fishing nets and nylon wastes such as carpet fluff, from around the world.

For our textured fabric swimwear, we develop these with our team using pre-consumer waste consisting of waste yarn, waste chips and waste fabrics from the chemical process of Nylon creation. The waste we use comes from the offcuts during the creation process of other brands materials. This fabric is exclusive to Charlie Mae.

The Recycling process

Nylon waste recovery

Includes pre-consumer waste chips & yarns, as well as post consumer waste such as clothes, shoes, fishing nets, and carpet.

Waste is chemically processed

The nylon is gathered, goes through a depolymerization process, reduced to its original form through a refinement and polymerization process.

Regenerated nylon yarn

The nylon is then regenerated into textile yarn and woven into eco friendly fabric. 

Charlie Mae

The end result is premium quality swimwear, beautifully crafted for your body and soul.

Manufacturing

We are working to minimise the negative impacts associated with manufacturing and to ensure a fair and safe environment for everyone involved. 

Our current supplier team are certified and adhere to the global recycled standard. They trade with top standards and are BSCI approved. This is a leading social management system in place to ensure fair pay and work hours with a set break, including pay over the award wage. 

This certification also ensures ethical and fair compliance regarding health and safety, child labor, pension, overtime hours, maternity leave and accident and medical insurance. 

Consistent updates are provided on occupational health and safety, fair remuneration, anti-discrimination, zero child labor, environmental protection and ethical business behaviour.

The Impact

A cleaner ocean

We believe that every choice we make has an impact, and every impact creates a ripple. 

When you choose swimwear created by Charlie mae, rather than swimwear made from new nylon, you are helping to clean up oceans, clear landfills and help us close the loop. Your choice will result in reduced carbon emissions and conserves the earths resources. 

The main ingredient in the making in nylon, named CPL (Caprolactam), has a global demand of approximately 5 million tons per year to create nylon, fiber and plastics. 

Compared with producing 1 ton of virgin CPL, recycled CPL can reduce consumption saving energy up to 12% (600KHW/ton) and reducing carbon dioxide up to 23% (1.4 CO2e/ton)

We are working to quantify the impact we are having on the environment personally and look forward to sharing this information with you in coming months.

Hopes for the future

It’s our goal to become 100% sustainable over the coming years and we couldn’t do it without your help. The more we can raise awareness about environmental sustainability and our impact the better off our beautiful world will be in coming years for our children, grandchildren and future generations to come.