Kuyichi`s answer in regard to the published report `Stiftung Warentest` - 22nd. of September

We would like to state that Kuyichi did not decline to participate in said survey. Clearly there has been an unfortunate communication between Kuyichi HQ and Stiftung Warentest. The moment we have been informed about the survey, it was too late for us to participate. We apologize if any lack of communication occurred from our side and for the future, please contact our HQ directly (monique@kuyichi.com), in order to avoid any misunderstandings.

Track & Trace; Kuyichi used the Made-by track & trace system, which requires that each supplier on each production stage has to enter data and upload certificates, but we could only get the CMT part for denim to participate, which means our customers could trace our denims at the last production stage. End of 2010 Kuyichi made a decision to stop track & trace, as because of the fact it did not report further than the denim supplier, it was not serving our aim of being transparent at full length.

Therefore, on the 14th of February 2011, as a result of our decision, we took out the track & trace part from our website as we did not want to misinform our customers. Unfortunately, spring collection was already sent. In the meanwhile, we started working with two denim suppliers, one in Turkey and one in Tunisia. For autumn 2011 production, we informed our suppliers to delete the track & trace labels on our denims. While our Turkish supplier changed the labels accordingly (as of today there is no track and trace labelling on them) Tunisia failed to do so, and we have received our autumn denim production with track & trace labels on.

Perhaps we have made a mistake, first by not communicating on time and after relying on our supplier and not checking it thoroughly, but at the same time, all of our production is verified every year by Made-By, the results of which are published via Made-by score card.

As the scorecard for 2011 will be published in 2012, we would like clarify the situation now, by from next week onwards, having all the information in our website available, for the items that have traceability labels by mistake but are not traceable. Constantly we will update this information in our website and hope that this way we can be as transparent as possible.

Where are we today? Kuyichi strives to be GOTS certified on a yarn level, and in assessment of our midyear review (2011), our organic cotton usage went up to 97.7% in our entire line. Although for the past years the cotton prices have increased enormously, we have still managed to reach this outstanding figure.

We are also firm believers of cotton in conversion, which is supporting farmers in their move away from conventional cotton into organic. We strive to incorporate this in the line, despite the difficulty in sourcing, as it is not readily available. Looking into the future, the design and sourcing team are focusing on recycled fabrics and alternative fibbers, as we believe this is the future of sustainability and are excited about our future growth in that area.

In terms of social compliance and conditions, we have strong ambitions to produce our garments in the best social circumstances. We are aiming to work with suppliers that are compliant with SA8000 or standards of comparable level. On the other side, if needed, we are taking a practical approach and working together with our suppliers to first become BSCI certified as a stepping stone.

From our midyear (2011) report, which is verified by Made-by, we have increased our social compliance status for BSCI and SA 8000 from 17.7 % to 29.3 %, for our total production. For the year of 2012, we will continue on working for better results.

In conclusion, we are still a small company with big ambitions, which is not always easy to realise our targets based on our volumes of production.

Leo Cantagalli


CEO - Kuyichi Europe