Learn Our Heartbeat

Art is a dying trade, and we are nothing without the artisanship of those who came before us.  Many of the world’s most beautiful textiles are found in remote, hard to reach areas home to minority ethnic peoples. For so long, fashion has been exploitative, violent, and harmful to our planet and those who call it home. We envision the new wave of fashion to be radically different. 

SOUR GONGZHU is an Asian American, femme owned independent brand born in Shanghai and raised in Los Angeles. At SOUR, we are working to build a world where fashion is life giving, inclusive, and restorative. For us, the key to achieving our mission is through our Village Ladies Project which establishes living wages for the artisans that we employ to make our fabrics.

Each collection starts with a sourcing journey to Southwest China to find culturally significant and at-risk textiles made by ethnic minorities in that region. The patterns, colors, and materials of the textiles we find are never altered, changed, or reproduced by us. We are not here to rip off artisans or claim their intangible cultural heritage as our own. Instead, we pay artisans for their craftsmanship and try to sustainably scale their textile production for our production purposes.

Each piece is designed in our Los Angeles studio and then assembled in Shanghai, China.

SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE
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    • We reject the status quo of prioritizing speed and profit over people and planet. We believe in taking the time to create garments that are thoughtfully designed, beautifully crafted, and made to last.
    • We work with a small number of skilled artisans who share our commitment to quality and sustainability. We know the exact name and face of everyone we work with. They're family to us.
    • Our collections are made in small batches of under 100 SKUs to avoid waste and unsold inventory.
    • We keep our supply chain as simple and straightforward as possible, so that we can consistently audit frequently to make sure our pieces are made ethically and sustainably.

  • We work directly with minority indigenous communities in China to source our fabrics, promoting their intangible cultural heritage and providing living wages for their skilled craftsmanship. We believe in empowering communities and supporting local economies.

    At every point of our supply chain, we source materials that are gentle on the planet and made for circular design.

    • Organic Cotton and Silk
    • Plant Based Dyes
    • Low emission - By hand production

  • We believe in transparency and are committed to sharing our sustainability journey with our customers. We provide detailed information about our materials, vendors and suppliers, and production processes, as well as our sustainability goals and progress. We believe in educating our customers about the importance of slow fashion and indigenous practices.

  • We believe in minimizing waste at every stage of our supply chain. This includes reducing fabric waste during production, using sustainable packaging materials, and pursuing circularity whenever we can in design.

  • All of the photos on our website are taken by us whether its in China or in Los Angeles. We don’t retouch any of our photographed models and we use models of all sizes, shapes, genders, and tones.