So expensive, maybe. But have you seen what goes into making them?
Every now and then, someone looks at the price of a Renew piece and thinks, Wow. That's expensive.
And honestly? We understand why you might feel that way.
Today we want to break it down and explain exactly where those dollars go, because it turns out, doing things well costs money.
Women in Bengali villages stitching Kantha blankets
So expensive because we support women.
We choose to work with women-owned and women-run businesses in India (not to mention Renew itself is owned and run by women).
These businesses employ skilled people, create opportunities in their communities, contribute to upskilling and further training for many women, and help keep traditional textile traditions alive.
Across many industries, we are still seeing a gender pay gap and differences in employment opportunities. We want to make sure that all women, including mothers, receive equal opportunity and equal pay.
As we've mentioned before, it's been shown that money in the hands of women is significantly more likely to be reinvested in their families and communities, which we believe is important and necessary for all people to thrive!
A pic from our How To Guide on patching your Kantha
So expensive because recycled fabrics actually take more work and care.
Our clothes don't magically appear after we've chosen a pretty fabric. People source, hand-cut, sew, repair and finish them.
When you're working with reclaimed textiles, there's often a little more detective work involved. Old seams, patching, embroidery, fading and different textures; fabrics that have clearly lived a very full life.
Our makers work with all of it!
Because the whole point is to turn something that already exists into something you'll want to wear for years. And if something slips through during the initial making process and doesn't meet our standards, we repair it in-house ourselves.
One of our greatest passions lies in not only limiting our individual impact on the planet, but also, by working with recycled textiles, we take it even further and produce something beautiful and useful from items that may have ended up in a landfill.
Lounge Pants from our Pashmina collection
So expensive because different fabrics have different needs.
Take our upcycled pashmina.
It is ridiculously soft and silky, with a beautiful delicate woven texture. It is also absolutely not interested in being thrown into the same cutting process as our cotton and silk saris.
Our usual cutting tool can cut multiple layers of cotton kantha at once. Pashmina? Nope.
Each piece has to be carefully cut one by one. More time and patience is needed per piece, which has to be reflected in the price because we insist on paying our teams a fair wage.
Very beautiful, and slightly inconvenient. Worth it? We think so.
Brooke sorting some kantha blankets in India
So expensive because our textiles have already been on an adventure.
Our recycled fabrics don't arrive at the workshop on an endless roll with everything neatly matched and ready to go, as happens with fast-fashion textiles.
Our Indian saris are collected from people's homes and pass through sari merchants and our supply partners before they reach our actual workshops.
They are sorted, inspected, repaired, paired, sometimes sent to become Kantha blankets, then cut and transformed. That's a lot of hands involved before a piece of fabric even becomes a sleeve!
We could make things cheaper by buying brand-new fabric in huge quantities, but then we wouldn't be Renew.
A Kantha blanket being stitched
So expensive because kantha is an actual craft.
Our kantha isn't printed to look handmade.
It is made from reclaimed Indian textiles and stitched by hand using traditional running-stitch techniques, a stitch which carries generations of textile knowledge with it.
We work with craftspeople who know how to handle these fabrics, preserve their character and turn them into clothing. Not to mention, Kantha is a huge part of how we are able to generate work for around 5,000 women every year. On average, a single kantha blanket can take anywhere from a week to a month to complete within the time they have to spare each day, depending on experience level, with some of the more detailed blankets taking up to a year to complete.
Kantha truly is a labour of love! You're not just buying a colourful piece of fabric; you're wearing a little bit of textile history and supporting families at the same time.
So expensive because we make one-of-a-kind pieces.
When every piece is different, it creates a lot of extra jobs.
Every garment has to be dealt with individually. That means unfolding, hanging, photographing and editing, refolding, coordinating codes and tags, and individually uploading each piece into the website. We also have organise our inventory precisely, finding its exact spot on the shelf and then picking that precise piece out again when you place your order.
And that's just the part that happens at Renew!
Before it reaches us, your garment has already passed through the hands of sari merchants, textile sorters, kantha stitchers, cutters, sewers, quality checkers, packers and plenty more along the way.
One-of-a-kind also means we naturally make smaller batches than big box brands. And honestly? Hello, we hate waste.
We'd much rather make less, make it well and wait for the right person to find it.
A shot from the Unicorn Shoot put together entirely by our team, which was captured at Grail Haven, a beautiful local property owned by our friends Gerry & Richard
So expensive because we employ real humans.
Our customer service team is made up of actual humans. We answer your questions, help with sizing, take measurements and talk you through colours and fabrics.
We also spend a lot of time creating styling content, answering comments and hanging out with our community, both online and in person. We don't just want to sell you something. We want you to love wearing it, and we want you to feel cared for and valued. Because you are.
Your kind messages about how our clothes have changed your life for the better bring a smile to our faces every single time. We all run over to someone's desk and read them together, because you matter to us.
And it's not just customer service. We hire real photographers and real models for our shoots, rope in friends and team members when the vibe is right, do our own graphic design in-house and generally believe in paying people for their creative magic.
Real people have ideas, personalities, talents and passions. We think they're worth paying for.
Brooke & her husband Neil - peep the folded pattern on the edge of the desk!
So expensive because we design it here in Australia.
Every Renew piece starts with an idea from Brooke, right here in Australia.
Our patterns are also created here, which means there's a whole lot of sketching, tweaking, sampling and problem-solving before a garment ever reaches our makers in India, and when you're designing around reclaimed textiles, you can't always just follow a standard pattern.
We don't cut corners, either. For example, every reversible style is made with French seams, we try our samples on real bodies, and we listen to customer feedback.
It might look like a dress. But there was a whole lot of work and thought behind it before it became one.
So expensive because cheap clothes have a cost.
Ever wonder how a brand can constantly sell items for 50% off, then 70% off, then another 20% off the sale price? We do too.
We're not saying a big discount automatically means someone is being underpaid. But when clothing can be produced, marked up and then heavily discounted while still making money, it's worth asking a few questions.
What did the person who made it get paid?
What did the fabric cost?
How was it produced?
What happens when the price is so low that something, somewhere, has to absorb the difference?
At Renew, we build the real cost of making a garment into the price from the beginning, because we'd rather tell you why something costs more than pretend it doesn't.
So maybe the question isn't why are we so expensive?
Maybe the better question is: How are some clothes so cheap?
When you know how many people, skills, decisions and hours can go into making a garment, a very low price starts to look a little different. We don't pretend Renew is the cheapest way to get dressed, and we're not trying to be.
We're trying to make beautiful clothes in a way that feels good to us. Working with women-owned businesses. Paying skilled craftspeople for their time. Giving reclaimed textiles another life. Designing here in Australia. Making smaller batches. Keeping a traditional craft alive. Keeping real humans involved in the creative process, and building a community around it all.
There are plenty of ways we could cut costs; we just don't want to. So the next time you see a piece of clothing with a surprisingly low price tag, maybe pause for a second and wonder what's behind it.
And when you choose Renew, know that your money is helping support a whole chain of people and skills that you might never see. That's what you're really buying. A piece of clothing, yes, but also the people, time, creativity, craftsmanship and stories woven into it.
And if you'd like to see more of what happens behind the scenes, come hang out with us! Join our community group on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, or sign up for our newsletter to see new pieces, meet the people behind the brand, get styling inspiration and follow along with all the colourful chaos.
Because there's a lot more to Renew than the price tag.
