A little ice-age

A cold, very cold winter is coming and we shouldn’t be surprised about temperatures of minus twenty degrees or even lower. Weather specialists even talk about a little ice age (brrr) and so we need to prepare ourselves!
Fortunate as we are, Charlie + Mary offers us lots of soft, organic wool in their winter collection 2012 which keeps us warm, happy and we don’t have to worry about low temperatures anymore :=)
But what differentiates organic wool from conventional wool? And why should we actually choose for organic wool?

Wool

Wool is a natural fiber and mostly derives from sheep. The merino sheep offers the most suitable wool compared to all other sheep. Australia is number one in the export of merino-wool. Many steps are involved in the production-process of conventional wool. First the wool is cut from the sheep, then cleaned and dyed. After this, the wool is spun into a yarn and the yarn is then knitted into a complete fabric.
Unfortunately, most of the sheep graze on land which is treated with fertilizers. Furthermore, the production process itself has a really bad impact on the environment as pesticides are often used. Besides the negative influence on the environment, the health of the sheep is mostly not considered as a number one priority. Many sheep get hormones in order to produce extra wool which makes it impossible for these sheep to take care of themselves. Next to this, mulesing (the removal of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech of a sheep ) is a common phenomenon to get rid of certain bacteria.

Organic wool

Organic wool is a more sustainable and animal-friendly option than conventional wool. Several standards must be met in the production process to certify wool as organic. The land on which the sheep graze is not treated with pesticides and sheep are not dipped in pesticides baths. Lots of attention is paid to the health of the sheep and the use of hormones is prohibited, even as mulesing.
A good example of a brand which pays lots of attention to the origin of their wool is Knowledge. They only produce garments made of 100% organic wool.

1 + 1 = 2

The advantages of organic wool over regular wool are obvious. Organic wool is better for the sheep, the environment and the human health. The only disadvantage is that the production process of organic wool is more expensive than this of conventional wool.
This is caused by several reasons. First of all, labor costs are usually higher since the use of pesticides is avoided which automatically results in a more labor intensive production process. Second, the organic wool sector has to deal with certification costs. Furthermore, the organic wool business is still quite small compared to the conventional wool industry. This means that it cannot reach the efficiencies which the regular wool industry can. At last, overgrazing is not allowed and therefore the organic-wool farmers cannot easily increase the production per unit of land. This is why they have to ask a higher price as well.

Keep you updated!

Garments made from Fairtrade cotton are not necessarily Fairtrade garments

When you buy a fashion label with the Fairtrade label, this means that the cotton used is Fairtrade certified, not the production process. So you only know that the farmers received good prices for their cotton but this doesn’t necessarily say that the people working further up in the supply chain did as well. The scarf project has been part of a pilot of Fairtrade International. Fairtrade researched whether they can integrate third part verification by the Fair Wear Foundation, through the entire cotton supply chain.

Auditing the entire supply chain

What Fairtrade and the Fair Wear Foundation did was auditing all the separate parts in the supply chain. This goes from the ginning of the raw cotton, until the sewing part of the production process. Normally the Fair Wear Foundation only audits the Cut Make & Trim factories, which are at the end of the supply chain.

An ambitious plan

The pilot was very ambitious, especially in this project. First of all because Charlie + Mary is a “small customer” so to say, so it’s harder to convince the factories of the importance of the audit. And second of all because all the separate steps in the production process of Meet your scarf took place in different factories in India. This means you have to convince a few factories of the importance of an audit.

Nobody is perfect

Beginning of this week we attended a presentation from Fairtrade International regarding this big pilot. The outcome of the pilot was that none of the factories of the attended brands complied with the standards of the Fair Wear Foundation , which is hardly ever the case. The aim of Fair Wear is to work towards better working connditions with the audited factories and it’s not about pointing out which is a good or bad factory. For sure the working conditions in the factories audited for the pilot are much better than they are in most other factories in India. But there is certainly room for improvement we understood.

The scarf is not perfect

In the case of the audit in our factories it seemed that the audits from the Fair Wear Foundation are so thorough compared to other audits, that the factory owner of the first factory was so offended by the fact that off site interviews where taking place that he stopped the audit in the end. This led to the other factories also canceling the Fair Wear audit because they did not want to endanger their working relationship with this factory owner.
After all the hard work we have done this is a real pity. We had a good feeling after visiting the factories but it would have been nice to have also the Fair Wear Foundation’s results as we could have worked further from there.

Gotta keep up the good work

We surely learned that it is not easy to do everything 100% right and probably it’s not even possible. And also that picture perfect can involve different things for different people and different verification offices. But it’s worth finding out whether the whole supply chain can be improved and in what way, as in every part of the production process there are people involved.

To be continued….

Polyester

Everyone has probably heard of the fabric polyester. It is made from synthetic fibers and these are the most popular fibers in the world. Around 70% of all synthetic fibers are made from polyester. Polyester is strong, quick drying and resistant to wrinkling, shrinking and... everyone probably knows about the bad impact the production of polyester has on the environment.

Innovation: Recycled polyester

Well, as the name already explains, recycled polyester is re-cycled. The fabric is either made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles or from used polyester clothes and contains synthetic polymers. The material creates a recycling stream for polyester clothing that is no longer wearable and keeps PET bottles out of the landfills at the same time. Furthermore, the fabric is less dependent on oil, needs less energy and there is less air, water and soil contamination compared to conventional polyester. In short, all fantastic!

Or not so fantastic

Unfortunately, there is a reverse to every medal and therefore recycled polyester is not always as eco-friendly as you might think in the first place. It totally depends upon the original polyester and the recycling process. The most common process is the mechanical process; disadvantages are among others that recycling a toxic product often results in releasing even more toxins into the air or water. Moreover, the quality of polyester goes down and even though you save energy and emissions from recycling PET, the entire process is still more energy-intensive than if you would use organically produced natural fibers.
The second option is the chemical process which breaks the polymer into its molecular parts to change it into a yarn with the same quality as conventional polyester. Unfortunately, this process is almost non-existent and very costly. Next to all this, the dyeing process is really difficult with recycled fibers and is therefore more harmful to the environment in comparison to regular fibers.

What's the verdict?

Lots of different factors play a role in the production of recycled polyester and it is hard to say what the impact on the environment actually is. We don’t have an answer yet but we try to make the most sustainable choices possible at the moment. And eventually recycled fabrics might just be the solution for less environmental impact of the fashion industry.

Keep you updated!

Launch of Vega magzine

Yesterday we went to the launch of Vega magazine, a new magazine for vegetarians and flexitarians.
To be honest I was not very charmed by the name Vega. But the launch in Bo Cinq in Amsterdam yesterday absolutely compensated this.
The magazine looks great, very fashionable, and has great content. Like a full profile on Stella Mc Cartney, an interview with Moby and lots of gorgeous eco fashion in this first edition.

Not only for veggies

Lots of us are flexitarians these days aren't we, and not without reason. It's definitely interesting and important to think about what we eat and what we wear and what the effects of our actions are. But even if you do not think of yourself as a vegetarian or so called "flexitarian" anyone interested in leading a sustainable lifestyle will be happy reading this new magazine.
And since there is no Green2 anymore there was kind of a gap in this field, so you are very welcome Vega!! You certainly deserve a spot on the Charlie + Mary reading table.