Who Made My Clothes

At BonBon Equestrian we know exactly who made your clothes. We know their names, we even know their families because we have built strong and sustainable relationships. The only reason we can do this is because we are proudly local. Super local, in fact. Our shirts and socks are manufactured in Cape Town. We personally meet with our suppliers every time we create a new collection and they are as invested in the quality and beauty of our products as we are. Emily and I are proud to be part of the growth and success of our suppliers and it is heartwarming to be part of local job creation. 

Our customers and our brand ambassadors love that we are local. Local upholds a sense of community, a supportive culture, a feeling of interconnectedness and a preservation of local knowledge and skills.

Many brands want to tap into all those good feels and as a result local-washing is a rising trend. Local-washing is the tendency to subtly misrepresent the origins of a product. Have you noticed that “Designed in Cape, Designed in South Africa” is extensively overused across a myriad of local brands? This marketing tool is aiming to get the consumer to feel good about supporting local however the actual origin of manufacture is not disclosed. 

Genuine local practices mean that the products are designed, manufactured and assembled locally with a substantial local workforce’s involvement. The business owners are defined by fairness and integrity. 

Local-washing is where the products are designed locally but manufactured off-shore with minimal local staff who are mainly doing admin and marketing. The goal is exclusively profit and maximised margin.  

Trying to discern authentic local products from locally-washed products can be an exhausting amount of detective work and transferring this burden to the customer is wrong. Transparency is what we need.  

We are proud to know who made your clothes.