Most clothing sold in Europe is not made in Europe. We decided to work the other way round, and this page explains what that choice involves — including what it costs.
Where are SIWF products made?
Our textiles are produced in Portugal and our silver jewellery in Italy. Both have long industrial traditions in their field: Portugal has been a centre of European textile manufacturing for over a century, and Italian silversmithing goes back considerably further. These are not low-cost destinations. They are places where the skills still exist.
What does "made in Europe" actually guarantee?
It guarantees a legal framework, not a marketing claim. Factories operating within the European Union are bound by EU labour law: maximum working hours, minimum wage in the country of production, workplace safety standards, the right to unionise, and restrictions on chemical use under REACH. None of these depend on a brand choosing to behave well. They are enforced by law and subject to inspection.
That is the practical difference. An ethical charter signed by a brand is a promise. European production is a jurisdiction.
Why does it cost more?
Because labour is paid differently. A garment worker in Portugal earns several times what the same work pays in the main Asian manufacturing countries, and that gap is the single largest factor in the final price. Shorter supply chains also mean smaller production runs, which removes the economies of scale that make very cheap clothing possible.
We would rather state this plainly than pretend the difference comes from something else.
Does European production mean better quality?
Not automatically, and anyone claiming otherwise is overselling. Excellent work is done outside Europe, and poor work is done within it. What proximity does change is oversight: a factory a two-hour flight away can be visited, audited and corrected in a way that a supplier on another continent cannot. Problems are found earlier and fixed faster.
What about the environmental side?
The main gain is distance. A product made in Portugal and sold in Europe travels a fraction of the distance of the same product made in Asia, and it travels by road rather than by container ship or air freight. European chemical regulation under REACH also restricts substances still permitted in other jurisdictions, which matters for dyeing and finishing in particular.
This does not make any garment environmentally neutral. The most sustainable item remains the one already in your wardrobe.
How can a buyer verify any of this?
Ask where, and ask for the name. Any brand that genuinely controls its production can say which country a product was made in, and usually which factory. Vagueness — "ethically sourced", "responsibly made", "European design" — is often the tell. Note that "designed in Europe" and "made in Europe" are different statements, and only one of them is about manufacturing.
Every product on this site lists its country of manufacture on its own page.