Behind the Brand
As a brand we are Awake. Aware. Enlightened. Elevated. Cool. Caring. Conscious.
And we know you are, too. We make luxe look and feel handbags for the conscious consumer. We believe that elevating your look and your life do not need to be mutually exclusive. Our raison d'etre is to give you a luxury purchasing experience that celebrates your style and your values, in the perfect expression of your highest self. We aim to be completely transparent about our product and processes so that you can shop mindfully and know that when you purchase from KYN, you are purchasing with love, integrity, and no harm done.
For your peace of mind, we have provided a detailed look behind our brand; our ethos, materials, philosophy, sustainability and manufacturing processes, below.
KYN's entire product offering is proudly 100% vegan and cruelty-free as our highest priority. Our bags are produced by one of the first PETA approved handbag factories, requiring high levels of verifiable proof across the manufacturer's entire raw material supply chain - from fabrics through to glue.
Currently, our signature fabric is a high quality vegan PU (polyurethane) and all of our linings, zippers and hardware are made from recycled materials. The inner linings of our vegan leather collection handbags are made from recycled polyester (rPet), a material derived from recycled plastic bottles.
While we understand the desire to be "on trend", we also recognise that PU (vegan leather) is a synthetic polymer, and that neither plastic waste in landfill nor greenwashing is trendy.
Despite what many think, there is nothing natural, organic or eco-friendly about the process by which leather is procured. Leather is not merely a food or fashion industry by-product (with many animals tragically raised purely for their hides) and tannins are environmentally destructive and carcinogenic. We have shared more about our stance against leather, and have given a transparent account of how vegan leathers compare, via our social media and strive to continue to educate and raise awareness around animal rights issues.
Our path to full sustainability is a journey, and is one that we are proud to be on as part of our corporate responsibility.
Bio-PU fabrics (such as apple, cactus and pineapple leathers), and recycled, non-solvent and water-based PUs are the gold (A) standard in terms of sustainable fabrics, and we are working to establish ourselves as a brand so that we can move our entire product line over to these wholly recycled and sustainable options. Our factory upholds stringent fibre standards, and fabrics used by our manufacturer are all certified under the Global Recycled Standard. As an entity, their brand is also certified under the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. This certification requires that manufacturers meet the Higg Index - a core set of five tools that assess the social and environmental performance of their value chain.
We aim to make timeless pieces for you to have a long love affair with, and hope that they will land in the hands of those who are aligned with our core values and with whom they can live a long life - and not in landfill. Part of our way forward as a heart-led brand is embracing the slow fashion ideology. We are quality focused rather than time focused. We are a small start up, and can't and won't produce endless seasonal, trend reactive collections - we make and release our bags in small, limited edition runs to minimise deadstock and wasted materials. Our bags come with a product warranty to ensure that we are, as much as possible, part of a circular fashion economy.
Our approach to logistics is as zero waste as practicable. Our manufacturer uses 100% recycled packaging materials, and ships product to us in biodegradable poly bags. These are recycled, and we then deliver our bags to you in sustainable and biodegradable hemp KYN duster bags (for you to keep and reuse), using compostable mailers, stickers and shipping labels, to eliminate as much unnecessary and disposable plastic waste from our shipping processes - and your home at the other end - as possible.
We love animals and we love people, too, and these stringent standards mean that our products are also proudly ethically manufactured. KYN understands that someone, somewhere is paying when products are cheap. We and the manufacturer we work with care deeply about the people who make your bags, and are accredited under several global fair work standards (including both the Higg Index and BSCI). The BSCI code of conduct adopted by our factory consistently sets the bar high for safe, respectful workplaces. They provide fair working hours, regular education around employees' fair work rights, and a working environment free from discrimination. For their labour of love bringing our bags to life, all workers are employed on a full time (never casual) basis to ensure a regular and more than liveable wage.
All KYN's vegan leather handbags are designed in Australia and manufactured in China. We currently are working to broaden our fabric offering and our supply chain.
