ETHOS
At Tiers of Joy we work hard to live by our core values. We believe in creative practice as a form of resistance against bigotry + fascism. Our work is rooted in an exploration of joy in the everyday and sharing our skills to help keep tangible craft practices and processes alive We provide a safe + supportive environment for our team + our community. Tiers of Joy’s brand practices and the items we represent + produce are all designed to be as sustainable, inclusive and as accessible as possible We always try our best but don’t claim to be perfect on any of these fronts and value constructive feedback from our customers, audience + peers
COMMUNITY + ADVOCACY
We strongly believe that craft + sustainable fashion is for everyone! Every person should feel comfortable, accommodated + able to express themselves freely - whether that be through their art, their environment, their wardrobes (the list is limitless)... AND be able to know that every person that has had a hand in facilitating their creative tools, developing their accessible clothing and sharing their creative content is treated with respect, able to work safely + have their unique identity be celebrated in their place of work
As much of the world descends harrowingly further into fascism we stand in solidarity with all our LGBTQIA+, particularly our trans customers + community, our Black + Brown customers + community and our disabled + fat community as we work together towards shaping a world where everyone is cherished, celebrated + treated equitably. We are proudly and steadfastly anti-war, anti-genocide and anti-fascist
JOY, CRAFT + CREATIVITY
We are dedicated to helping keep tangible craft practices and processes alive We believe in creative practice as a form of resistance against bigotry, rampant capitalism + fascism. These structures are perpetuated by those hoarding wealth and power to terrorise the most marginalised amongst us, numb us into complicity and poison our shared planet
When you engage creatively with your community, environment and inner world you are stepping off the treadmill of compliance and resisting! You are engaging in critical thinking, indulging in whimsy and embracing joy in all its infinite facets
Our work is rooted in an exploration of joy in the everyday and sharing our skills to help our community engage with and experiment with creative dissent and embrace individual and collective creative vision
This can be as small as transforming ‘rubbish’ in your home into artwork in, celebrating a loved one with a handmade gift you’ve made or getting off your phone and trying out a new craft – to as big as learning how to make your own clothes, supporting local artisans instead of mass production and making new friends at one of our online events/in our chat threads
ACCESSIBILITY
We work hard to try to make both our designs + our design process as accessible as possible in every way that we can. As a small brand with many neurodiverse team members + a large neurodiverse community base we know how inaccessible + overwhelming new processes + activities can feel. You can find a (non-exhaustive) list of accommodations we can offer our neurodiverse customers here
We work alongside our customers + community to develop adaptive garment features. When choosing your ‘Make your own’ garment sewing kit or designing your garment with us (during one of our limited drops) you can choose your preferred combination of garment features in order to make sure your clothing is as comfortable, accessible + adaptable to your individual needs as possible Examples of our various adaptive design features can be found here
We are no strangers to mental health struggles. It is hard to exist in the world as it is right now and not struggle mentally. Craft and engaging with creativity have always been and remain so important to supporting balance and emotional regulation for us – our work aims to create a space where others can access the resources, skills + sanctuary to explore this for themselves One of places we delve deepest into this topic is our podcast ‘UNRAVELLED’ – watch / listen here
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Running a business sustainably is at the heart of what we do and that means working in a radical way to minimise our environmental impact
We work with limited amounts of vintage + deadstock fabrics because we are dedicated to using up what already exists rather than adding to new textile production. We are working to make our entire supply chain including craft materials, haberdashery + packaging materials as transparent as possible, sourcing from local manufacturers wherever we can to lessen the overall carbon footprint of all our products
PACKAGING + ZERO WASTE POLICY
All of our product designs and working practices are designed with zero waste in mind
All our ‘Make your own’ garment sewing kits and bespoke garments are made from end of roll fabrics, the remnants created during the cutting of our garments go to making our accessories and the tiny leftover scraps are either donated to local craft projects, textile recycled or made into craft kits / used within our Letterbox Joy packages so you can take part in the handmade joy and get crafty at home
Similarly our craft kits are designed to use up existing craft materials, sourced either from our own collection built up over the last decade or second-hand wherever possible
When shipping our products we predominantly use recyclable paper and cardboard packaging wherever possible. Any soft plastic packaging is sourced from local manufacturers and made with 100% recyclable materials + biodegradable additive
