What sustainability means to Wilhelmina Garcia
For us, sustainability is about being conscious of the decisions we make regarding the internal aspects of our business (our producers, craft & material selection) but also in the way we present our brand to you. Our products are designed for durability & timelessness to make sure you wear, and appreciate them for as long as possible.
We produce on-demand, with a delivery time of approximately 20 days. By doing so, we reduce our environmental impact, producing smaller scales than larger jewellery companies, reducing waste within the production process as well as final stock, and using recycled gold & silver materials.
We wanted to provide more transparency & resources when it comes to our key sustainability pillars: material sourcing, working conditions, packaging, and responsible manufacturing. You can also learn about our sustainability journey, allowing you to do your own research, and better understand the inside of our business.
Material Sourcing
Material sourcing consists of helping you understand where our product components originate from, what they are made up of, and how they help us create a traceable source.
More than half of our gold is sourced from a Fairtrade standard, Fairmined, and IRMA certified producers: The Fairtrade Standard Certified supplier, reflects the working conditions, meaning that our producer respects; environmental management laws, child protection against labour, and accepts regular audits to approve of their conditions. Learn more about Fairtrade standard here.
Whereas the Fairmined certified producer is material specific, certifying that our gold corresponds to traceability requirements, coming from responsible, artisanal, and small-scale mining organizations that focus on making a social impact. We are proud to be one of the few brands in Spain working with a fairmined certified producer. Learn more about fairmined certified here.
IRMA is an external certification that supervises industrial scale mining sites (some of which our gold is sourced) to ensure they are ethical for the communities. Learn more here.
Sterling silver made of 100% recycled material.
As you probably know we mostly work with silver when it comes to our jewellery collection, we focus on 925 sterling silver, coming from recyclable origins.
Responsible Jewellery Council
Our silver supplier (responsible for melting & crafting), our new collection supplier for “cosmic wonderland,” and our plating producer, are members of the Responsible Jewellery Council. Their production is traceable, reliable, and correspond to their standards. Learn more about RJC here.
WG Working Community
Wilhelmina Garcia works with producers that go beyond the material they provide, also valuing the ethical responsibilities concerning how they treat their workers, and embedding human value. As a brand we also integrate the human value at our core by valuing fair working conditions and assuring our team has the best working conditions possible.
Own brand fair working conditions
We make sure to create a working environment with no discrimination, fair working hours, fair payments, no child labour, environmental protection, as well as the human rights of every worker.
AMFORI code of conduct
Our producers work under these conditions which certifies ethical values consisting of: fair payment, security at work, ethically responsible conduct, no discrimination, fair working hours, and no child labour.
Packaging
We understand the importance our packaging choices have for the environment. Our aim is to reduce plastic as much as possible, use reusable and ecological packaging for customers to keep and re-use.
Biodegradable & recyclable material
The cloth pouch that comes with our jewellery is made up of a biodegradable textile. Our postcards and care labels are also completely biodegradable and recyclable, made up of 100% recycled paper. We use cardboard boxes, instead of plastic, being easier to recycle and having a longer lifespan than disposable plastic.
Reusable packaging
We are aware how much packaging may contribute to waste. This is why we aim to select durable packaging, by presenting each of our jewelry pieces inside a cloth pouch. This pouch is meant for you to use and keep, and it can be used not only to store any jewelry piece when you travel or are on the go, but also to clean and shine your jewelry with it.
Locally Made
Local production for us means not only supporting our local economy, but also reducing environmental impact through shipping and facilitating our partners communication, control and supervision to ensure we are working with those producers with similar values as us.
Made in Spain: Everything in Wilhelmina Garcia is designed and crafted in Spain. Ensuring part of our production takes place in our home country of Spain, this allows us to create higher quality pieces, reduce our carbon footprint, and have a better awareness of the conditions our partners are working with.
If you have any other questions regarding our sustainability initiatives we encourage you to email us for more info to answer your questions.