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Our Story

 Silk Heritage

Lily, founder at Ethical Kind with her grandparents in Hong Kong

Image: Lily with her maternal grandparents in Hong Kong.

Ethical Kind is your everyday luxury inspired by a personal journey to promote an equitable and regenerative future.

Our founder, Lily Chong, was born in the UK. When she was five, she moved to Hong Kong to live with her single mother and grandparents in their village home in the New Territories, Hong Kong.

It was at her grandparent's home, she first experienced Silk's nurturing and comfort. She later uncovered her family lineage; her great-grandparents were silk farmers in South China. It explained the many silk duvets and garments she saw at her grandparents' home. They were marital gifts to them. 

 Garment Maker

Founder, Lily's Mother at the Design Museum

Image: Lily's mother, Ye Lui (Aka second daughter), at the London design museum.

 During the years, Lily saw her mother work hard as a seamstress and garment maker as a child. She would help her mother count the clothing tokens from her day's work to make her paycheque at night. When her mother had free time, she would lovingly make clothes for her and her sister.

To this day, Lily appreciates the care and attention that goes into clothesmaking. Because of the hardship she saw, she did not consider a career in fashion. Lily's interest in health & disease earned her an undergraduate in Biomedical Science, where she progressed through a commercial career in the life science and renewable event's industry. While the corporate world had been kind to her, there was an underlying desire for change.

Social Entrepreneurship

Lily chong hosting the social enterprise conference in 2016

Image: Lily hosting her second conference national on Social Enterprise

Lily volunteered at an International Development Charity to find more fulfilling work. She was introduce to the term "Social Enterprise". This concept of business doing social good fuelled an unexpected passion in her. Lily wanted to learn more about the sector and formed a social enterprise meet-up group that quickly grew. She combined her commercial experience and insights and started The Fourth Sector - a service & event platform supporting social entrepreneurs in starting and furthering their business and impact.  

 Sustainable Luxury 

Through her newfound work and humble upbringing, she became increasingly aware that the fashion industry's impact was not just about the scale of our consumption habits but also about the harmful production process it has on people and the planet. 

As seen with her mother, Lily noticed how rural communities continue to face education and social barriers caused by poverty, cultural norms, and practices, particularly as girls - she decided to use business as a force for good. 
Inspired by a documentary on the Silk Road, Lily travelled to China and India to learn about Silk. She found a small community of silk farmers in India making organic peace silk.
 

A New Silk Revolution

Founder, Lily at the peace silk farm with silkworm in palm of hand, India

Image: Lily at the Organic Peace Silk farm, Jharkhand, India

Organic Peace Silk is the production of silk designed to sustain the health of soils, ecosystems and people. While traditional silk manufacturing methods involve boiling the cocoons while the silkworm is still inside, Peace silk allows the completion of the silkworm's metamorphosis to the butterfly, so no animal suffers for fashion.  

Organic peace silk production can slow production, but it is fundamental to Ethical Kind's philosophy and ethics. Once the butterflies have left their cocoons, the cocoons are degummed and processed without using any harmful chemicals. The fibres extracted are spun and woven using solar-powered enabled machinery.

Ethical Kind is proud to introduce an honourable and kind production of Silk that helps preserve the heritage, protect biodiversity and empower marginalized communities, including women and children, so that future generations can thrive.