Here at Kathryn Wilson, we are on a journey to incorporate sustainability into many areas of our business. It is a priority to our staff and our customers that we keep researching and implementing these changes, as it becomes increasingly important to keep sustainability front of mind in everything we do. We have been working on the following developments to offer our customers more environmentally friendly options, which are to be reviewed and improved regularly.

  • Offering an eco-friendly packaging option for our online orders. 
  • Recyclable packing paper and stuffing only in our packaging from all manufacturers.
  • Reusing our shoe boxes / donating them to local schools and kindergartens for art projects. 

With these small changes happening throughout Kathryn Wilson Footwear, we hope to continue to grow and learn through our sustainability journey and do the best we can for the future of our planet and its people.

Kathryn Wilson Footwear takes its ethical and social responsibilities of our suppliers, our clients and the environment seriously. We are committed to upholding enjoyable and fair working conditions as a wholesaler, retailer and employer and ensure that our supply chain adheres to our legal, moral and ethical standards. As a brand we do not tolerate any form of racial discrimination or unjust treatment of our suppliers, customers or staff.

 

A team of 40 craftsmen create the majority of our shoes in a family operated business in GuangZhou, and we ensure the highest safety and employment standards are met. We have grown this supplier relationship over the last 12 years with Mr Liu and Mr Win producing our beautiful shoes for us with pride. We also work with Mr Zhou and his technician Bony who are also based in Guangzhou to produce several styles under our ‘Miss Wilson’ brand, along with three Italian manufacturers who are managed by an Italian based agent Nino, who is married to a ‘Kiwi’. Our suppliers are constantly striving to better their workplace and their processes, whether they are operating in China, Italy or Europe All employees of Kathryn Wilson footwear, or agents working for us locally and internationally must comply with our guidelines for ethical practice at all times. 

Work conducted for Kathryn Wilson footwear cannot be subcontracted to another supplier. To ensure this, every production run is checked both during manufacturing and at the time of shipping to ensure compliance as part of our quality assurance process. Kathryn and Julia in the design team conduct annual visits and inspections of the facilities and working conditions for all suppliers. 

We are proud to work with Vanessa from Unravelled Consultants who is teaching us better habits around sustainability including our company policies on recycling, on-going considerations with our packaging materials, component sourcing from suppliers and ways we can reduce our carbon footprint. ECO paper packaging option is now available for all online orders...we offer free shipping nationwide for this service. We have moved from polystyrene fillers in our packing to cardboard and recycled paper stuffers and we donate all empty shoe boxes to local kindergartens and schools to minimise waste, and encourage creativity from the next generation.

We've partnered with CarbonClick, a kiwi company making it easy for people and businesses to help climate change. Click on the green button at checkout to add a small contribution to your transaction, to purchase carbon offsets. CarbonClick funds forest restoration, tree planting, and renewable energy projects in NZ and around the world.We're proud to be involved and will be changing our practices to reduce our carbon footprint across all parts of the business.

For information on our supply chain and business values, please email us at info@kathrynwilson.com