l Lil’ Atelier has launched an Australian e-commerce site and entered a number of Australian retailers, including The Iconic and David Jones. “We thought the brand really spoke to the Australian lifestyle and we really believed that it would resonate with the Australian consumer,” Lil’ Atelier’s designer Randi Kjær Pedersen told Inside Retail. The data backs this up. According to a 2019 report from Euromonitor International, demand for sustainably and ethically produced and created products in Australia has grown, with 46 per cent of Australians saying they try to make ethical purchasing decisions focused on having a positive impact on the environment.  The report indicated that the ethical Australian consumer focuses on four elements: eco-production, animal welfare, people and values and the circular economy. This ties in with Lil’ Atelier, which uses low-impact materials like organic cotton, recyclable materials and natural dyes for its clothing aimed at kids between the ages of two and seven. “Quality is at the heart of the brand to make sure styles are long-lasting and customers get the utmost out of every piece,” Pedersen said. “Lil’ Atelier aims to be disruptors in the fast moving fashion industry and take a more conscious approach towards producing a small and perfectly matched collection fewer times per year.” Ambitious sustainable strategy Lil’ Atelier is one of several brands owned by Danish sustainable clothing chain Bestseller, which has 2,700 stores across 38 markets. In late 2018, Bestseller introduced its Fashion FWD strategy to operate more sustainably, from working with innovative and eco-friendly fibers, to improving its environmental footprint and addressing human rights in the fashion industry. As part of this strategy, Bestseller is working towards responsibly sourcing 100 per cent of its man-made cellulosic fibres in line with industry best practice, such as the Forest Stewardship Council, by 2022. It also aims to source 30 per cent of its cotton from organic cotton suppliers and 50 per cent of its polyester from recycled polyester, or other more sustainable alternatives, by 2025. “We also aim for transparency for our customers and make it easy to find out which products are more sustainable,” Pedersen said. “This includes stores where we use recycled hang tags communicating a style’s sustainability elements.” Like its parent company, Lil’ Atelier takes a holistic approach to sustainability. “For Lil’ Atelier, this begins in the factories where we use our own cotton scraps to limit production waste, to the use of sustainable materials and natural dyes in production, to the showroom where we aim to use fewer collection samples,” Pedersen said. Long ties with Australia Lil’ Atelier may only have recently been introduced in Australia but it’s had a long-standing partnership with Australian not-for-profit organisation Thread Together already. Thread Together, founded in 2012, sources new and excess clothing from fashion retailers and redistributes items to those communities that need clothing the most. The non-profit has since grown to over 200 fashion partners and has saved more than 2.5 million pieces from landfill, clothing over 350,000. “Sustainability is no longer just a choice, it is a requirement,” Pedersen said.