Ethics

Mission Statement

Huntd strives to be three things.

Kind: Huntd strives first and foremost to defend the animals. All animals deserve to live a peaceful life, free from pain and torture. Unfortunately millions of animals live miserable, torturous lives, brought into this world by the same hand that will ultimately kill them in the most horrible ways for the sake of fashion. Huntd vows to never use leather, fur, silk, wool or any other animal made product. Huntd also strives to be kind towards the people that make the shoes, going to efforts to ensure that the people who are involved in the brand are treated fairly. 5% of the profit of shoes sold each month will go towards a charity (both animal and human based).

Ethical: Huntd strives to use resources that are ethical and as environmentally friendly as possible. The factory that we use has been externally audited to ensure that workers are paid and treated fairly and we will continue to keep looking into other avenues to further improve and develop the ethical aspects of our business. The main component of our shoe is a polyurethane that only emits water vapour into the atmosphere. Huntd will continue to however look into non plastics and even more environmentally friendly materials as we develop our brand into the future.

Fashionable: There is a common misconception that vegan or ethical fashion has to be boring! We agree to some extent, but as a whole, this is just not the truth! Huntd strives to change the way people look at vegan and ethical fashion. Vegan fashion can be on trend, in style and considered designer and luxurious. Vegan fashion can be timeless and high quality - pieces you can keep for a lifetime. Huntd aims to design well made, luxurious shoes that one day may parallel Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Christian Dior, Sophia Webster or Aquazzura.

Our Materials

We have tried our best to make as many elements of our shoes as environmentally friendly as possible. Our upper material, lining and insole are made from a water based polyurethane. Water Based Polyurethane is a relatively new type of polyurethane which uses water as a dispersion medium instead of an organic solvent which is typically used.

The environmental benefits of using water vs the use of traditional solvents are:

water is pollution free i.e only water vapour is emitted into the atmosphere during the process
traditional solvents contain DMFA (N,N-dimetylformamide) - DMFAs are considered carcinogenic, mutagenic and are toxic to the human reproduction system and fetuses
traditional solvents contain organotins - organotin compounds or stannanes are chemical compounds based on tin with hydrocarbon substituents, containing heavy metals which are harmful to humans
traditional solvents contain APEOs - APEOs are used in detergents, cleaning agents, or chemicals used for textile or leather production. They have hormone disruptive properties and are toxic to aquatic organisms. APEOs have difficulty deteriorating in nature.
traditional solvents contain Phthalates - a family of industrial chemicals used to soften PVC plastic. Phthlates can potentially damage the liver, kidneys, lungs, and reproductive system

Huntd will of course continue to strive to find even better materials in the future as we develop.

Our Factory and Emplyees

Our factory is located in Chengdu, China. Our factory has 9 office workers and 21 factory workers. It was important for us to work with an ethical factory so we conducted a 2 day third party audit to ensure the ethical practices of this factory.

Some cool facts about our factory:

The minimum wage in Chengdu city is RMB1500. Our factory workers are paid between 3 - 6 times more than the minimum wage. Along with a base salary, they are also paid commision depending on how much work they do and how well they work. This generally makes for a motivated, enthusiastic work environment, but it also means that workers get paid even if there aren't many projects to work on.
The Chinese government offers either Rural Insurance or Urban Insurance to workers depending on where they live or work. Some have both but some choose to only have one as they pay 20% of the insurance costs out of pocket whilst the company pays for 80%. Depending on what insurance our workers have, this covers their social security, health insurance, unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance, maternity insurance and their pension. If a worker chooses to not have an extra insurance policy covered for by the factory (because they already have a policy) the factory gives the amount straight to the worker as an extra.
Factory workers work from 8:30am - 12pm, have a 2 hour break then continue to work from 2pm - 6pm
Local workers go home after work whilst rural workers rent a house and are given allowances for renting and transportation
The company organises a work dinner every month for workers