Founded in 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden, ASKET was born “to create the perfect essential wardrobe.” Dedicated to restoring the value and appreciation of clothing, ASKET helps people live more fulfilled lives with fewer, better items—embodying their philosophy of The Pursuit Of Less®.
While we generally start by asking how sustainable a brand is, ASKET refuses to use the “S-word,” as it considers the term too vast, hazy, and difficult to define. Instead, the brand prefers “Responsibility,” believing it better captures the accountability required in every decision and action. Let’s find out how “responsible” ASKET is!
Key takeaways
- Transparency: ASKET is dedicated to transparency, achieving an average traceability score of 89% for their garments. The brand provides detailed information on material sources and production processes.
- Workers: ASKET adheres to ethical labor practices, working with European manufacturers who follow strict labor laws and ILO principles, ensuring fair wages and safe working conditions.
- Environment: ASKET follows a Lifecycle Responsibility approach, focusing on durable, circular designs and using mostly plant-based or natural fibers, with minimal synthetic materials.
- Quality and Craftsmanship: ASKET creates a permanent collection of timeless pieces with high-quality materials, impeccable craftsmanship, and a multi-dimensional sizing system for better fit.
Transparency
In 2020 ASKET introduced The ASKET Principles, a playbook defining their responsibilities and obligations as a company in the apparel industry. One of those is transparency, a key component of their approach which manifests in several key areas:
Cost Transparency
ASKET believes that to understand the value of our clothing, we need to first understand its costs. This is why it provides a detailed cost breakdown for every garment. See for example The Shirt’s breakdown:
Origin and traceability
ASKET’s Full Traceability standard, launched in 2018, ensures customers know exactly what components make up a garment and where these components and processes take place. The brand tracks progress with a traceability score grouping every garment into the three major tiers of creation (manufacturing, milling, and raw materials) and their minor components (trims). Although ASKET is logistically unable to visit every single factory downstream, they always visit and document their 1st and 2nd tier factories.
ASKET aims for a 100% traceability across their permanent collection and currently has an outstanding overall product traceability of 89%, with some items achieving 100%! (like The Heavy Wool Sweater, The Mock Neck Sweater and The Oversized Cashmere Wool Scarf). The brand has committed not to develop new products unless it achieves at least 95% traceability.
Impact
ASKET is working towards providing scientific lifecycle impact assessments (LCIAs) for every garment, disclosing the environmental resources consumed at every step. Additionally, alongside the traditional monetary receipt, ASKET introduced the “Impact Receipt” in November 2023, which details the environmental footprint of each purchase in terms of CO2 emissions, water usage, and energy consumption.
Workers
Adherence to Labor Standards
ASKET takes great pride in its commitment to ethical labor practices. For cutting, sewing, washing and finishing their garments, the brand works exclusively with specialized European manufacturers, primarily in Portugal and Italy, ensuring high standards of working conditions and adherence to strict labor laws. Regarding mills, the vast majority are Portuguese and Italian, with a few exceptions of specialist mills in Turkey, Japan and South Korea. These regions are known for their expertise in textile production, which allows ASKET to maintain high-quality standards while ensuring fair labor practices.
Adherence to Social Responsibility Standards
Aside from following the strict labor laws of the European Union, manufacturers have to:
- meet or exceed legal minimum wage as well as constitute a proper living wage, and
- adhere to multiple social responsibility standards outlined in the manufacturing agreements entered into with ASKET. In particular, they are bound to comply with all ILO principles: freedom of association and collective bargaining, elimination of forced labour, abolition of child labor, elimination of discrimination and the provision of a safe and healthy working environment.
Other activities
Onboarding and Education: ASKET ensures new team members align with their values through thorough onboarding and education programs. These programs cover the brand’s history, values, and social responsibility, ensuring employees understand ASKET’s ethical and sustainable practices.
Climate Leave: To incentivize environmentally friendly travel, ASKET offers “Climate Leave,” providing additional vacation days for employees who choose train travel over air travel.
Office and Catering Practices: ASKET’s office and store are powered by 100% renewable energy. They follow strict recycling practices, breaking down metals, plastics, food waste, paper, cartons, and PET separately. All snacks, tea, and coffee in the office are organic and Fairtrade, and catering for any ASKET event is exclusively vegetarian.
Environment
ASKET understands that even the smallest decisions can have lasting effects on the environment and that is why it operates under the principle of Lifecycle Responsibility, a holistic approach that considers from purposeful design all the way to end of life of a garment.
Design
Unlike most fashion brands, ASKET’s guiding principle is to create only what we truly need, rather than create a need The brand’s permanent collection is designed for timeless relevance and circularity, meaning that it is durable and suitable for deconstruction, recycling, or biodegradability. ASKET has committed to never develop a product they do not believe is permanently relevant and able to stay within the permanent collection forever.
Material selection
The majority of ASKET’s garments are made from plant based or natural fibers that are the products of skilled and responsible agriculture, land and animal management. The brand does not use blends, but opt for mono-material fabrics, and when it comes to synthetics, they make up for just 1% of their material production, half of which is GRS certified recycled nylon or PET. ASKET has created a matrix for evaluating the environmental impact of fabrics aiming for high percentages of A and B-rated fibers (see the below table). By the end of 2023, ASKET’s garments were made up of 79% A and B fibers, 16% C fibers, 5% D fibers (conventional cotton) and 0% E fibers.
Sampling
Where possible, ASKET uses 3D prototyping to eliminate waste. The brand also prototypes in-house with existing materials to avoid waste and unnecessary shipping where possible.
Production
ASKET works with suppliers whose processes have as little impact on the planet and people as possible, working to implement strict environmental standards and ensure safe, healthy, and fair working conditions. ASKET partners with EU-based manufacturers, ensuring strict environmental and labor standards and prioritizes certifications like WRAP, SA8000, OEKO-TEX, and GOTS.
Marketing
ASKET pays great attention to how they communicate and market their garments to customers. The brand deploys their products, practices and brand to educate, enable and motivate customers to be part of changing the industry. Their goal is to restore the appreciation of garments and the resources it took to create them.
Distribution
ASKET is predominantly an e-commerce business so packaging and transport are a must in their equation. The brand currently has one central warehouse in Germany which supports their global sales, and since all their final tier factories are based in Europe, inbound logistics to warehouses are efficient. When it comes to order shipments, return shipments and exchange shipments to and from customers, ASKET is continuously working to reduce distribution related impact. For instance, the US return hub bulks and ships returned garments via sea on a monthly basis instead of having individual air shipments from customers. In 2020, ASKET also eliminated all plastic from their packaging – from the factory to customers’ doorstep.
Use, Maintenance and End-of-Life
ASKET’s website has a vast Garment Care portal which includes care guides, stain removal guides, repair guides and forms to order spare parts. When it comes to end-of-life, ASKET introduced in 2021 their Revival Program: a take-back system that allows the brand to buy back unwanted ASKET garments from around the world for resale, remake or recycling. The brand has committed to make all garments in the permanent collection to be circular ready and never send any ASKET garments to incineration or landfill.
Quality and Craftsmanship
ASKET’s first principle is to only create one, permanent collection. Instead of designing for seasons, the brand creates timeless pieces meant to last. To achieve this, the quality and craftmanship must be impeccable and ASKET nails this! The brand is filled with high-quality items that stand the test of time in both craftsmanship and design. So, without trends, drops and collections, what do we end up with? With what truly matters: Fibers, Factories and Fit.
We have already discussed fibers and factories, noting that ASKET uses with top-notch materials and works with renowned manufacturers. When it comes to fit, the brand does not fall behind! Having fewer garments allows ASKET to perfect each piece. If a garment falls short of perfection, ASKET improves it. If it breaks, ASKET repairs it. This limited inventory also enables the brand to delve deeply into sizing. ASKET has developed a multi-dimensional sizing system, that allow more people to find a better fit. Their inclusive sizing ranges from XXS to XXL, which is uncommon in the industry, ensuring that more people can find the perfect fit.
Final thoughts: The Pomelade’s Favorite
ASKET envisions a world free from the grips of fast fashion, a world with less clutter, less waste, and fewer illusions. And let us tell you, they are onto something! We were skeptical we would see the day when a brand would achieve the highest rating in our system, but here we are. For The Pomelade, ASKET is a favorite!
What truly sets ASKET apart is their attention to detail—not just in the design and execution of their garments (which are exceptional) but also in every aspect behind the scenes. From their materials and manufacturing processes to the afterlife of their products, ASKET excels. The brand has made its mark through its commitment to improving the world with simple yet high-quality fashion staples. We highly recommend!
ASKET is “THE POMELADE’S FAVORITE” *
*Here is more information on how The Pomelade rates.
What do you think about ASKET? Have you ever shopped anything from them? If not, would you? Let us know in the comments below!
