Our Process.
We believe that you will love Sak Saum’s products and knowing that your purchase directly helps to continue our work of prevention and restoration.
Sak Saum believes in giving life to things that would have been discarded. We utilize secondhand, reclaimed and repurposed fabrics and materials. Our products are not mass producted, which means each item is as unique as you! Each Sak Saum product is a tangible piece of someone’s changed life! All aspects of our production bring empowerment and dignity to our artisans!
Our skills training includes all components from design, sewing, and quality check to the business skills needed for successful entrepreneurship. These skills not only bring change, but it brings choice to the lives of our artisans and their future generations!
1. Design: People with backgrounds of exploitation have often shut down creative areas of their mind. The freedom to be creative is transformative! We have a team of designers who work with our artisans on style, design, and fabric selection. We develop prototypes, explore colors and fabrics, and we tweak until it's just right.
2. Source: We are committed to sourcing locally wherever possible. Instead of buying from unknown suppliers we primarily purchase from local markets to support men and women in our community. We faithfully patron these places and have seen lives change in these very markets as a result!
3. Repurpose: From overstock & second-hand fabric to buttons made from coconut shells, and wallets & purses made of repurposed tire & cement bags, we love taking something discarded and making it beautiful. Using repurposed material is a very teachable moment within Sak Saum. As we use these materials, we remind our artisans that there is nothing God can't redeem. He takes the very things we thought disqualified us and uses them to display His love, power, and redemption to the world.
4. Production: Production begins when designs are perfected and ready to make for sale. Our patterns are very careful drawn and cut by hand. Each color of fabric is then hand selected and matched. Then the sewing begins!
5. Quality: The beauty of handmade is the amount of skill and detail that goes into even the smallest of items. After each product is completed they are inspected to ensure you are getting an excellent product. Once they pass inspection, they are shipped from Cambodia to all over the world... including to you!
6. Living Wages: In Cambodia, we see firsthand the power of the fashion industry to either empower or rob people of dignity. We are committed to providing our staff with living wages while providing you with ethical products at a great price. In a world of cheap consumer goods, we recognize you might be able to find lower prices out there, but the cheaper the price the less likely the product was ethically produced. We are committed to not re-exploiting our staff with below standard wages or extended work hours for greater profit margins.
