Our RESPONSIBILITY VOYAGE
Being an apparel brand today comes with a wide range of responsibilities. Not only are we responsible for designing innovative, quality, and affordable products for our loyal customers, we are also responsible for our social & environmental impact on the world.
Every component of running a clothing business influences all of these issues. As J.A.F continues to grow, we strive towards becoming a more ethical business by continuing to make a positive change on our environment, community, and workplace.
HERE YOU CAN FIND A breakdown of OUR RESPONSIBILITY VOYAGE.
What we are doing, what we are working on, and where we want to be in the future. Hopefully this gives you an insight into our products, brand ethos, and future planning, to become more responsible and give back where we can.
HERE YOU CAN FIND A breakdown of OUR RESPONSIBILITY VOYAGE.
What we are doing, what we are working on, and where we want to be in the future. Hopefully this gives you an insight into our products, brand ethos, and future planning, to become more responsible and give back where we can.
WHAT WE ARE DOING*
PACKAGING.
Online Packaging. All our online orders are sent out in custom craft card courier envelopes, these are then able to be recycled by our customers after orders are received.
Retail Bags. In our retail stores you will receive a custom natural calico bag with your purchase, these can then be reused for a wide range of purposes such as laundry bags, shopping bags or to store you favourite fishing reel.
Garment packaging. All J.A.F garments are packaged in eco biodegradable poly bags. All our accessories and headwear come with minimal packaging, either craft cards or wrapped in tissue. The goal is to have packaging that best protects our products for shipping and retail experience while having the least amount of impact on our environment.
FABRIC.
Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) The RWS is a tool used to recognise the best practices of sheep farmers, addressing the welfare of the sheep and the land they graze on. All farms are required to be certified to ensure the sheep are treated with respect to their five freedoms of animal welfare as well as best practices in the management of the land. This ensures that the garments are traceable as they move through the supply chain.
Better Cotton (BCI) Better Cotton is the world’s leading sustainability initiative for cotton. Their mission is to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment. Cotton is one of the world’s most important renewable natural resources. Safeguarding the growing and production of it is essential. In 2005, as part of a round-table initiative convened by WWF, a group of visionary organisations came together to make sure cotton had a sustainable future.
Recycled Polyester, Cotton, Spandex. Every time fabrics are produced, there is a percentage of yarn leftover which is deemed as wastage, our suppliers have been able to reuse this polyester wastage yarn and create a recycled stretch material fit for a quality J.A.F product.
MENTAL HEALTH & COMMUNITY.
Anglers Escape. “Fishing For Mental Health”
Anglers Escape is an annual social fishing gathering and measurement competition created to bring like-minded anglers from all around New Zealand to fish for mental health. Not just for their own mental health but for the great charity Gumboot Friday by I AM HOPE which helps people get counselling for mental health issues and prevent tragedies like suicide. Males make up 60-65% of New Zealand suicides every year, and being a menswear brand, it hits close to home with a lot of our customers and friends being affected.
To give back we have a lot of great sponsors that put up great prizes, which are raffled and auctioned off at a prize-giving, with all money being raised going to Gumboot Friday and I AM HOPE. For the last two years the prize-giving has been hosted by Bryce Casey from THE ROCK FM, a massive influence and voice in men’s mental health, especially in the farming and trade sector. It’s very empowering having someone like Bryce speak at this event, he is able to relate so well to the anglers involved. 2023 will be our third year running Anglers Escape, with a goal to continue to raise money for a charity we are passionate about.
Another positive from our Anglers Escape event that we have noticed is the new friendships the anglers have created with each other, these have developed into new fishing buddies sharing information and planning trips together. These trips in return have built trust and the ability to discuss what is going on in our lives. Forming new bonds and being able to check up on one another is a human interaction we should all have.
STAFF WELLNESS ROOM.
Just Another Fisherman is owned by parent company, Mr & Mrs Styles Ltd. MMS was founded by Penny and Aaron Styles in 2011 and is an Apparel Design & Production house based in Auckland, New Zealand. Aaron Styles founded Just Another Fisherman in 2012. Both Penny and Aaron have a big belief in mental wellbeing and after the stressful period of Covid, decided to create a wellness room at MMS for their team to use, to help with issues like stress and mental wellbeing.
The room has an Infrared Sauna and Reformer Pilates Machine, both the Sauna and Reformer come with huge health benefits, and we believe this can help with our teams stress levels and mental health. It also helps them in personal expenses as Sauna and Reformer sessions are not cheap.
J.A.F X CHAINED DOG.
For as long as Just Another Fisherman has been going, we have always had an office dog. Currently, we have a snoring slug bulldog named Gordon. Gordon takes after his name; he is a bully most mornings, he will torment the staff and destroy boxes and chairs in his way. Afternoons are for sleeping with the odd waddle to see how the team is going.
August 26th is international dog day, and to celebrate our furry friends, we annually partner with Chained Dog. They are an Auckland-based organisation that helps re-home dogs and place them in loving homes. The Chained Dog organisation sits very close to our heart as our directors, Penny & Aaron Styles, have previously worked with them to adopt Hayley. Hayley was a ten-year-old boxer with a very rough life as a breeding dog in deplorable conditions; Penny and Aaron got to enjoy seven incredible months with Hayley, and she opened them up to adopting Gordon.
"As J.A.F continues to grow, we strive towards becoming a more ethical business by continuing to make a positive change on our environment, community, and workplace."
"As J.A.F continues to grow, we strive towards becoming a more ethical business by continuing to make a positive change on our environment, community, and workplace."
WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON*
RECYCLED UPF40 POLYESTER FABRIC.
Fishing is such a big part of our lifestyle, and we spend a lot of time on the water, so it’s only fitting we focus to improve fabrics that we use on the water and try to reuse waste that effects our oceans. In 2023 we are working with our suppliers to develop and certify our Birdseye UPF40 fabric to be made from recycled bottles. Once we get this into production, we will be able to calculate how many bottles are recycled and get certification for this.
J.A.F X MENTAL HEALTH PRODUCTS.
We are working on a range of product this year in relation with Gumboot Friday in November, these products will be sold with a percent of sales being donated to Gumboot Friday and I AM HOPE.
SUSTAINABLE GARMENT DYING.
J.A.F really likes the look and feel of overdyed garments, The dyeing process gives a real heritage effect. The issue with this wash application, is that it uses a lot of water which creates wastage. We have been working with our factories to bring a more sustainable option so we can minimise wastage. We are very close to be able to offer an overdyed garment where less water is used, and the water can be filtered and cleaned to be reused for the next dye process. This would be 100% sustainable in the way of water usage, and we would then be able to look at other dye alternatives.
FACTORY PROFILES.
We are working on bringing you profiles on all our major factories, stating working conditions, working hours, environment and any other info that creates transparency around where and how our products are made.
WHERE WE WANT TO BE*
OUR VOYAGE.
We want to be a brand that’s always putting one foot in front of the other, learning and taking the time to look at our business and it’s place in our community. We don’t think we will ever learn it all, but we believe that every chapter of a business is important and the journey is what makes the brand. We are very grateful to be here and very lucky to share our brand with you.