We chose to work with cotton because in the end, nothing compares to the feel of cotton. However, conventional cotton is an extremely dirty industry and demands significant resources. In order to keep cotton in our lives, we decided to only work with organic cotton. On average, organic cotton reduces blue water (non-rainfall) consumption by 91%, reduces CO2 emissions by 46%, acidification by 70%, eutrophication by 26% and non-renewable energy by 62% compared to conventional cotton. Organic cotton also eliminates the use of toxic chemicals and improves plant biodiversity. All of our organic cotton is grown in the same region as our weaving and production facilities. This adds a bonus reduction in CO2 emissions from transportation. Lastly, all cotton ginners and mills are GOTS certified.

We have a deep appreciation for wool! There is nothing more satisfying than slipping a wool sweater on during a cold, blistery winter day. However, not all wool has the same sustainable footprint. For us, Alpaca from Peru is one of our favorites in terms of comfort and the environment! The environmental benefits are derived from alpaca’s padded feet and grazing habits. Rather than hooves on sheep that often degrade usable land, alpaca have padded feet which are softer on the Earth. This allows plants to continue growing even after being stepped on by the Alpaca. The same applies to the grazing habits of an alpaca - they only eat the top of the plant in a way that doesn’t damage the root system. This allows the plant to continue growing after being eaten. In other words, it keeps the ecosystem alive! Lastly, alpaca require less water and food compared to other wool providing animals, and alpaca wool doesn’t contain lanolin or grease, eliminating the need for harmful chemical treatments.

A notable downside to raising alpaca, as with all animals, is manure, belching and the passing of gas. This leads to high CO2 emissions of alpaca wool, like all other animal by-products. We try to overcome this by limiting the amount of wool used and only working with small farmers in Peru whose alpaca live on free range eco-farms. Our goal is to not increase production but rather help maintain the current livelihood of the rural farmers and care for the alpaca.

Animal Rights: By exclusively collaborating with small farmers in Peru, the prioritization of their aplacas well-being is much higher compared to that of mass production farms. The alpaca are only sheared once a year, in the summer, and all alpaca are allowed to roam freely on eco-farms. No alpaca are killed to produce wool and over-shearing is avoided to prevent devaluing the wool throughout their lifetime. Excessive shearing directly correlates with a decline in the quality of wool.

Deadstock fabric has the potential to be a vital component in any sustainable supply chain, as companies over-produce fabric. Deadstock fabrics are usually incinerated or simply thrown into landfill. By keeping the fabric in circulation, it improves the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as reusability plays a crucial role in the LCA.

We do see complications on relying solely on deadstock fabric as it incentives over production. However, the use of deadstock fabric plays a positive role in the sustainable supply chain and should be utilized. Hopefully, the use of deadstock fabric can be eliminated as the industry minimizes the overproduction of textiles.

Tencel, by Lenzing, has been making a name for itself over the last 10 years as an extremely sustainable fabric. The production process is very similar to its parent fiber Rayon. Both are derived from the wood chips of eucalyptus or beech trees and later made into a pulp. The difference between rayon and Tencel is the chemical solution that turns the wood pulp into a fiber. In rayon production, the solution is chemically intensive and roughly 40-60% of the solution needs to be discarded after production. In Tencel production, the NMMO solution is 99% recyclable and can be reused in further production of Tencel. The remaining 1% can easily be broken down using biological wastewater treatment.

Tencel uses 74% less non-renewable energy and emits 64% less CO2 compared to polyester. When compared to conventional cotton, Tencel uses over 90% less water. The state of the art facilities at Lenzing in Austria and Czech Republic are almost completely run on renewable energy with most of that energy being derived from biogenic carbon. The are so efficent that they net carbon and send it back to the grid. Lastly, the best part about Tencel is that it’s 100% biodegradable and can take as little as 16 weeks to compost in soil.

We use virgin polyester thread in the making of some of our garments. We’ve chosen to use polyester because we haven’t found a thread or tape that compares in terms of longevity or tensile strength. Simply put, polyester is strong and durable. Because of this, we default to the first rule of sustainable production: make your clothes last! With that said, we are working extremely hard to find alternatives. Some of the promising alternatives are Tencel and recycled polyester.

Knit Garments: One of the beauties of hand or machine knit garments is that absolutely no thread is needed. You gain all the strength from the interlocking of the knit.

Corozo is used as buttons for quite a few of our pieces. Derived from the nut of a tropical palm tree, the nut naturally falls to the forest floor, eliminating the need to harm or destroy the tree for material extraction. Moreover, the final corozo button is entirely biodegradable, contributing to its eco-friendly characteristics.

The Linen used in our clothing comes from China and is imported into India. At the moment, Linen is the only fiber we cannot trace from cultivation.

While the research into the LCA of linen is somewhat bare, flax (the fiber that linen is composed of) is mostly rain-fed which bodes well for any cellulose fabric in terms of sustainability. One study found that the cultivation of linen uses four times less water and reduces ecotoxicity by about eight times when compared to conventional cotton. The difference in ecotoxicity is due to the limited use of pesticides in the growing of flax.

We are aware that flax does have some down sides, such as the use of chemicals during the retting process and the use of certain finishes. At the moment, we don’t have the specifics for how our linen was treated. We are working hard to not only track down the supplier for our linen, but to also make sure they adhere to the highest standards in terms of environmental responsibility. If we cannot achieve that with the current linen supplier, we will look elsewhere. This is a growing pain for a small business like us, but we promise to improve and learn more. All linen was imported to India and woven by our amazing team at Five P Venture!

For durability and ease of use, our pants we use metal teeth for the zipper. There's something about a metal zipper that just feels right!

We mostly use brass for our zippers. Brass has a high CO2 footprint but if removed from the polyester tape, it's 100% recyclable. The removal of the tape is possible, but must be done by hand, which is why we started our take back program. Brass is extremely strong, durable, long lasting, and passes the first rule of sustainable production: make your clothes last!

All of our zippers are made by YKK, and all are Oeko-Tex certified. This ensures that all our zippers undergo thorough testing for harmful substances, providing a sense of confidence in their safety and quality.