Fashion, Sustainability: Tonlé

Tonlé is a fair trade fashion house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Founded by an American woman in 2008, it began as a Fulbright research project: what exactly did it take to make fashionable, fair trade, sustainable clothing? Seven years later, the company is thriving with a large local staff, beautiful boutiques throughout Cambodia, and an online store. 

Perhaps even more attractive than stylish clothes and strong ethics is their commitment to zero-waste. Buying scrap fabric from the many textile factories in Cambodia (where huge amounts of H&M products are produced), creativity is used to to weave remnants and misshapen pieces into original designs. Small scraps are rewoven into yarns, and even the tiniest pieces are are made into a paper that is resold as journals. 

For more information and to shop Tonlé, visit www.tonledesign.com