OUR JOURNEY
Established in 2007, we are a responsible fashion brand who continues to lead
the way in sustainable and ethical fashion putting people and our planet first.
We partner with artisans and suppliers primarily in India and Nepal
to create contemporary and stylish clothing for women using natural,
organic and sustainable materials.
2007 - HOW IT STARTED
Snow (Nieves) quits designing for leading high street retailers. Believes there can be a better way. Believes in the importance of treating suppliers with respect and fairness. Strongly believes in working with natural fibres and not cheap, synthetic fabrics. There’s a better, fairer way of doing this. That’s what Snow believed when she left her role as a designer for a leading high street fashion chain. Fed up with the relentless churning out of new designs for clothes made from cheap, synthetic fabrics and sourced from questionable factories, Snow decided to make a change.
2008 - AN IDEA BECOMES A REALITY
Travels around India to find suppliers. Difficult to find authentic suppliers that could produce quality goods and keep consistency. Hears about a wonderful women's cooperative in Mumbai who is working with women from the slums. Visits, realises the possibility of utilising her high street commercial design skills whilst supporting an organisation that empowers women from a disadvantaged community.
We wanted to change the tide of fast fashion and focus on creating clothes that were timeless, that would last, were made from natural fabrics, and were kinder to the environment and most importantly were produced ethically. We travelled around India to search for suppliers but it was difficult to find suppliers where we could guarantee that the workers were being treated fairly. Then one day we discovered a cooperative in Mumbai who worked with women from the slums. Their handicraft skills were exceptional and we soon realised that by working with them we would be able to produce the clothes we wanted and not only work with an ethical producer but go one step further and work with a social enterprise who were helping disadvantaged communities. BIBICO was born.
2009 - Knitwear for Good
Having spent years designing knitwear we wanted to add knitwear to the collections but we wanted to work with an ethical ideally fair trade supplier. We heard about an organisation in Kathmandu, Nepal who worked with women from rural areas around the Kathmandu basin who knitted jumpers and accessories. The cooperative supported women from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds. With their amazing handicraft skills passed from generation to generation, and Snow’s eye for commercial products we developed our first knitwear collection.
2010 - On a roll
BIBICO wins best ethical fashion brand in Paris at the ethical fashion show and developed a collection for French retailer LA REDOUTE.
2013 - New partners
Our hand knits were getting very popular and our ladies in Nepal could not knit any faster so in addition to our hand knit collection in Nepal, we started working with a small family-run knitwear supplier in Europe focused on using 100% wool & other natural yarns.
2015 - Going organic
Concerned about the negative environmental footprint fashion was leaving we introduced organic cotton to our collections. We developed an organic jersey range and knitwear collection.
2016 – Treading lighter
Changed to sustainable packaging, we started sending our orders out in paper mailers and used recycled paper stationary. Our main producer in India installed solar panels that provided enough energy to power the entire factory.
2017 – Our new home
Opened our shop in our home town of Bath. Tucked away in one of the most beautiful parts of our city, full of independent shops and cafes. We also started adding new sustainable fabrics to our collections such as Tencel.
2020 – Giving back
Started to sponsor a children's school charity in the Mumbai slums. This school was established by the ladies who work in the cooperative to provide education and food to their kids and other children in the area. In India state schools are not free so access to education is not possible for all, especially children who come from slum communities. We believe a good education is the only way to overcome poverty. It’s early days but we’ve already sponsored 60 children to go to school.
2024 – Nurturing our existing partnerships and exciting new ones…
Despite a major recession in 2016, Brexit and a global pandemic in 2020,thanks to our amazing customers, BIBICO is stronger than ever and constantly moving forward with design ideas, new sustainable materials,suppliers and solutions to improve our business practices.
We very proudly work with the same two women’s co-operatives we started with at the beginning of our journey. Our relationship with them is stronger than ever and by supporting one another we survive the tough times. At the heart of our business are our customers but also our producers. So we are delighted to be forging an exciting new relationship with a fantastic knit-wear supplier in Bulgaria.
We have also just begun a partnership with a UK charity called Newlife.
By donating surplus stock that we can’t sell to Newlife, we fulfil another of our key ambitions,
which is to prevent our waste from ending up incinerated or in landfill. Newlife resells or recycles our garments and uses the funds generated to support and help children with disabilities and their families.
What does the future look like?
For us, it is important to look ahead, and to have each collection ready for launch certainly keeps us on our toes. We can’t wait to share the future of BIBICO with you and we are so happy to have you with us on our Slow Fashion journey…