RubyMoon: the world’s only not-for-profit sustainable swimwear and activewear brand

Jo-Anne Godden is an ethical swimwear and activewear specialist, mother and activist. 

After working 25 years in the unsustainable fashion industry, Jo decided to be part of the solution and founded RubyMoon in 2010 – The world’s only not-for-profit sustainable swimwear and activewear brand. 

“Once you understand the catastrophic impact that the textile and clothing industry has on people and the planet you can never go back.” says Jo.

RubyMoon combines the industry’s substantial potential to positively impact the social and environmental state of our planet with the  knowledge that women and innovation are the key to a better future. Jo is committed to lowering environmental impact, raising awareness around issues of social justice and activating women’s potential. 

“Our values are really about creating an equitable society where people have meaningful, fairly paid work and can create clothing with value- to be enjoyed by everyone. We need to stop this culture of disposability- whether that’s people or products” says Jo.

Social Impact:

RubyMoon is a social enterprise powered by women for women. We donate 100% of our net profits to women entrepreneurs in developing countries to help start and support their businesses. Through our partners lendwithcare, we have invested in over 2,200 women and their families helping them break free of generational cycles of poverty. These loans are then returned and then re-invested, therefore the money goes ‘round and round’ empowering ever increasing numbers of women. Investing in microfinance enables women to drive development and progress in communities where they often don’t have a voice. Gender inequality promotes poverty and 60% of chronically hungry people are women and girls. According to the United Nations, when women are able to gain income, money is more likely to be spent on nutrition, housing and education, consequently, children and communities thrive. 

Jo said: “We are lucky enough to select the women we invest in through lendwithcare.org. Typically it is small-scale farming, a shop of sewing business. These businesses, however small, have a huge positive impact on the family, housing, children and nutrition and most of all empower women to have a voice in their own community.”

All our garments are named after these inspiring women and every time we make a sale, our customer creates a positive impact for another women and they both become our ‘Impact Women’. 

Quote from one of our female entrepreneurs:

“I just want to grow, but not too much, just enough to cater for my family’s needs and if possible, help my community grow too.” – Mavis Soko, female entrepreneur 

Was it difficult setting up your own sustainable fashion business? And if so, what kind of problems were you faced with?

“Just like our women entrepreneurs the issues are always the same- finance and time. For us- we were before our time. We spent a lot of time explaining why we need to preserve our marine life, reduce carbon, pay a living wage and ensure a safe and transparent supply chain and ultimately why the textiles and clothing industry  needs to change to flip from being destructive to constructive through circular economy principles. 

“My advice is always to re-evaluate any plan by thinking ‘what would a man do here? Be bold!” 

Environmental impact

RubyMoon transforms ocean waste into beautiful ‘Gym To Swim’ garments which help empower women to feel good and do good through ecological and ethical high quality active wear. All the fabric used in our garments is made from Econyl, regenerated nylon from waste, such as fishing nets. These nets would otherwise be polluting our oceans, killing over 100,000 sea animals per year, so every purchase with us helps to save marine animals. 

Jo says: “We use Nylon 6, made from fishing nets and carpets- it’s already a regenerated material- but we want to keep that material in the system because it’s really strong and completely fit for purpose.” 

In fact polyamide yarn is certified to be twice as strong, prolonging the life of your clothing is the greatest environmental impact that you can make with regards to your clothing. 

All of RubyMoons designs are manufactured according to circular, regenerative and slow fashion principles. Our ‘Gym To Swim’ capsule collection can be worn in and out of water allowing us to do ‘more with less’ and in turn, reduces waste and consumption. 

With a transparent supply chain, manufactured ethically and safely the distribution is managed by bagsofsupport.co.uk a charity employing working mothers. 

RubyMoon are now working on an exciting project to completely ‘close the loop’ on our garments. By working with two leading universities on research and development to facilitate a new ‘superfibre’ textile. Our blog is the best place to keep updated on our process. 

www.rubymoon.org.uk

Photographs courtsey of Chris Parkes