Akka Denim has teamed up with the guys over at the Denim Daily to auction of some unique denim pieces with 100% of the proceeds going to charity.
At its core, Corporate Social Responsibility is the idea that a business takes responsibility for its impact on the world. It should endeavour to make contributions to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits. This can take many forms from human rights and corporate governance to health and safety, environmental effects, working conditions and contribute to economic development. Basically, it is the company’s conscience.
It is an honourable concept. But like many honourable concepts, it tends to be corrupted by big business to increase profit. The trouble comes when CSR is seen as no more than a box ticking exercise, an afterthought or worse still, is ignored altogether.
Not good enough!
A driving force that allows this to happen is consumer apathy. Big businesses, like the fast fashion businesses, exploit this on a daily basis. Akka has decided that this is just not good enough!
As well as raising money by auctioning off unique denim garments, Akka wants to tell the stories of the charities they are supporting.
The working mothers of Dara
Since 2009, the Dara Children’s Trust has been supporting poverty-stricken families in Andong, a displaced community about an hour from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They focus on practical projects that provide long-term, sustainable solutions in education, family support and income generation. Making up a crucial part of this are the “Dara Children’s sewing mothers from Cambodia”.
These amazing ladies collect discarded industrial haulage sacks and upcycle them into everyday accessories. These are then sold and all the income goes toward providing education for the communities children. They hope that this will eventually end the poverty cycle.
From the community of Andong, Cambodia to the streets of Bangalore, India
Sahasra Deepika is a non-profit foundation that houses and educates underprivileged children in Bangalore, India. The students are encouraged to develop their intellectual, social, and academic potential so that they can feel self-empowered and give back to their community.
The ethics are literally woven into the fabric
Akka has taken the unwanted factory cotton from the fast fashion industry and woven them into the world’s first 100% recycle upcycle selvedge denim. They have then honoured these ladies and their craft by creating a range of denim garments that pay homage to the accessories they create. The industrial sacks are combined with the denim to create unique, fun pieces.
Whats on offer
We have a what I guess could be described as a modified Type III, or is it a modified Type II? Ok, imagine a Type II and a Type III loved each other very much and had a baby. This is what it would look like. We have the triple pleats of the Type II and the pointed pockets of the Type III. All with a contemporary fit. The denim is their 2nd generation recycle upcycle 15oz LHT colourised weft fabric. Cheerfully combined with the aforementioned haulage sacks using both the “inside” and “outside” of the fabric.
These combine with jeans cut from the same colourful weft denim and again combined with the haulage sacks.
Up a notch
Taking it up a notch to 16oz, we have a chore coat made from the 3rd generation recycle upcycle 16oz hyper slub RHT & LHT combined selvedge. Again the ladies of Dara are honoured with the combination of the haulage sacks within this garment.
Last but certainly not least are the jeans made from this 16oz denim. These heavily patched beauties use the haulage sacks, the colourful weft denim and what looks like some vintage faded denim.
Delve into the details
The finer details would take too long to go into, head over to the akka x The Denim Daily Auction site for a full rundown of the details.
The auction runs till the 31st of August so you still have a couple of days to delve into the details and decided which item you are going to bid on. Myself, I am thinking those 16oz jeans! Good luck, bid big. After all, it is for a good cause!
