Established in 1995 and still run as a family business by Josie and Sophie Bidwill, Thunderpants has always maintained the ethos that our work place is an extension of the way we choose to live our lives…… ethically and with a commitment to using best practice in everything we do.
People
Our father B.C, always said that ‘a family is only as strong as the lamest duck’ and for us that cemented the importance of creating an environment and a business culture that treats people with respect, dignity and fairness and of being supportive, whether that be in the workplace, with our customers or when engaging with our wider community.
Members of our team have been here so long that even they can’t remember exactly when they started but for some it is 20 + years. We strive to provide an inclusive, safe and nurturing workplace where dogs are welcome, lunches are shared and life’s problems are discussed. We are Living Wage accredited but have always paid well above the going rate and we are committed to continuing that, accredited or otherwise.
Our customers are key to all that we do and we are fortunate to have loyal, engaged and well informed followers. We aim to communicate with them in kind and to offer transparency, integrity and of course to provide them with good value, comfortable clothing.
We hope we convey an invitation to come along for the ride as the way we do business evolves and we adopt new technologies. We champion the ideals behind conscious consumerism, and celebrate inclusivity and diversity. We put people before profit.
We believe strongly in giving back to the community, either with our Philanthropants prints, by providing product to local schools and charity organisations and by aiding like-minded initiatives such as Boomerang Bags Martinborough. You can read more about the various causes we have supported here –
Baby Charlotte (severely affected by meningitis as a baby) -Thunderpants is providing an ongoing annual supply of undies. http://www.babycharlotte.co.nz/
Project Crimson https://projectcrimson.org.nz/
Fairtrade Fortnight
Project Jonah
SAFE
Pakaraka Permaculture
Pukaha Mt Bruce National Wildlife Centre
Helicopter Rescue Trust
100% OK
All Good Organics and Kaibosh Food Rescue - helping to raise
awareness through these campaigns has a significant positive effect on
the banana growers in Equador and Cola nut growers in Sierra
Leone.
http://allgoodorganics.co.nz/newsread/banana-thunderpants-
fight-food-poverty/
Undies sent to Samoan tsunami victims https://www.thunderpants.co.nz/blogs/philanthropants/17365153-
thunderpants-to-samoa
Freight costs to Cambodia for books and medical supplies for children
through Project Sunshine
Sausage Sizzle - https://goodmagazine.co.nz/whats-september-classic-kiwi-sausage-sizzle/
Kokomai Creative Festival http://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-dominion-post/20151014/282342563676755
WWF Whale Tales
House of Science - ongoing annual support of the Dem Bones kit for primary schools https://houseofscience.nz/
NZ made
From the outset, where possible Thunderpants has chosen to use local manufacturers. The textile industry in New Zealand has been decimated over the years so it is important to us to preserve the skills that are left and to support smaller operators.
The Planet
The effects of Covid 19 and the devastating impacts of climate change on everyone from crop producers to urban dwellers has been severe so we believe it is more important, now than ever to operate in a sustainable way.
For us that means careful consideration of how the fibres for are fabrics are grown, who produces our fabrics and how, down to who makes the end product.
There have been years when our entire supply chain was in danger of failing so we became acutely aware of how quickly it can all go awry. Our comparatively small size has allowed us to adapt quickly to changing circumstances.
Traditional cotton production is one of the most harmful industries as far as water use, pesticides, erosion etc so we began using organic cotton fairly early on. There was some push back from our customers but we persevered as it was the best option available at that time and now of course organic cotton has become more mainstream.
As science evolves and new growing techniques appear it is important to us to be able to adopt the best products and practices available to us.
We are excited now by the trend towards regenerative farming, specifically of cotton and we will eventually be using either organically or regeneratively farmed cotton fibre.
We believe it is important to raise awareness of the choices we have as conscious consumers so here is a link explaining the value of each option.
Organic https://www.unsustainablemagazine.com/organic-cotton-production/
Regenerative https://bettercotton.org/better-cotton-and-regenerative-agriculture-our-approach/
We engaged the services of Thinkstep to calculate the carbon footprint of a pair of Thunderpants
https://www.thinkstep.com/
Their report was independently verified by Catalyst
http://catalyst.co.nz/
Thunderpants customers can help offset carbon emissions through Carbon Click at the check out.
https://www.carbonclick.com/