Green Cotton

Why not make something useful from fashion and textile waste?

“Limited Resources -  Limited Consumption”

We better start planning (and re-using) now, if we hope to have resources (and clothing) for generations to come. That is part of the mantra of Looptworks, a new eco-fashion brand on the scene, who launched September 9, 2009  in Portland, Oregon. Looptworks’ mission and rasion d’etre is to create lifestyle active wear made from fabric remnants (a.k.a fashion industry waste).

As the saying goes: Since there is only a finite amount of matter on the planet, we must be careful about how we use and allocate resources. As such, the question then becomes why did it take us so long to start re-using these valuable remnants?

Well, the answer is that others have been doing variations on this for a while. In fact, we know of several designers in the Boston area that make their deisgner collections out of re-purposed clothing. In addition, there is the design team Feral Childe. Feral Childe has been using fabric remnants and “mill-ends” for years now, integrating them into their unique collections. However the difference is that most designers who use this approach do not base their whole collection on remnants. They often use them when they find cool fabrics they like. In the case of Looptworks however, they seem to be the first to do this on a larger scale, with the whole focus of their label being on “remnant-to-garment”.

So Looptworks has created a unique approach to “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” in the fashion world, by re–using industry waste, and creating limited edition garments – all made from fabric scraps.

Indeed, these guys are inventive, bringing recycling to a new level and scale. Why not tap into the yards and yards of fabrics that get left behind at factories? Personally, we believe this is invaluable because remnants are rarely re-used, and often end up on landfills, so why not bring them into useful existence?

Led by Hamlin, Gary Peck and Jim Stutts,  all are apparel industry veterans with extensive experience from Nike, adidas and Royal Robbins. The team apparently came together in their distaste for traditional manufacturing models with the vision to create a more sustainable system: e.g. creating products from abandoned materials.

Every week, one garment factory can dispose upwards of about 60,000 pounds of textile waste, which goes directly into landfills. Looptworks taps into this excess of material thrown away by figuring out how it can be re-purposed into modern, useful and fashionable clothing.
Due to the nature of the source material, each production line is very small and each garment a limited edition. In fact, each item is hand numbered.

Working with waste instead of virgin materials also affects the entire design process. Development time for their garments is around 9 weeks, compared to the typical 54 weeks for the average apparel company. Given that, it’s easy to see how Looptworks could position itself not only as a sustainable brand, but also as a trendsetter.

Even though the production cycle is extremely fast, and materials acquired second-hand, Looptworks builds clothing and accessories to last a long time. Each material is tested for shrinkage and durability before being incorporated into designs. Products are double-needle stitched on all seams and triple-needle stitched on critical seams.

The company’s debut collection includes a variety of hoodies, tees, shorts, fleeces and jackets (for more see Looptworks).

The newly launched website welcomes visitors to see the world through a new lens, using two circles to showcase fresh videos on its homepage, to both educate and inspire. Clicking on the men’s and women’s product categories provides the shopper an overview of each collection. There are eight men’s products and nine for women, with additional styles being added on a regular basis.

Shoppers can rollover the static product images to magnify and discover the unexpected, signature Looptworks details, like craftily-designed pockets, and whimsical, unmatched buttons and snaps. Even the logo is attached to a loop that has the number of the garment etched in by hand.

Hats off to Looptworks joining the eco-fashion growing flock — looking beyond the “now” to future generations with the understanding that we cannot pursue our current production models for much longer if we hope to foster a sustainable future. One downside: if you like something on their site, you gotta buy it fast, since it wont last long. Fabric remnants cannot be re-produced.Check out looptworks.com and let us know what you think… do you like this model? Tell us your thoughts.

Photo source: Looptworks

By: Julie Finkel and Shana Yansen

Autonomie Project is a relatively new Fair trade, eco-friendly, and vegan fashion company based out of Boston, Massachussetts (USA).

The company began in 2007 when group of friends came together in their frustration with the fashion and footwear industries due to their lack of transparency, use of sweatshops and harmful chemicals.

Autonomie’s mission is to supply high-quality, stylish garments to ethically conscious consumers. Autonomie caters to the shopper who wants to align their personal style with their values. Autonomie makes this possible by providing a range of fashion options that all have a positive social impact on the environment, while raising awareness about today’s most pressing global issues. To Autonomie Project, the most effective solution to reducing sweatshops and child labor abuses is to create their own production ecology with reliable, transparent and supportive working conditions and operations. And that is what they did. Autonomie didnt just want to “do no harm”, they wanted to take things a step further by benefiting the communities who make their clothes, and helping to break the cycle of poverty. Toward this end, Autonomie Project:

- AP provides their workers with a fair wage so they can beat out sweatshops and enjoy a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

-  AP works exclusively with small, independent cooperatives and Fair Trade-certified facilities located in developing areas of the world where they can allot a portion of our funds to be used for initiatives that will uplift their entire community, such as building a health clinic or bringing a steady water supply to a small village.

Autonomie Project currently produces shoes, flip flops, hand bags, t-shirts, winter hats and accessories. In terms of materials, they use organic cotton, all natural FSC (Forest Certified Council) rubber, and other eco-friendly & locally-sourced materials.

The AP apparel does not end there however, their T-shirts are also 100% organic cotton, very comfortable, and stylish.  The cotton is ring-spun and combed for extra softness and colored with eco-friendly dyes.

The tee featured above is the “Fight Global Poverty / Warming” design in light blue ink on charcoal so that you can declare to the world where your eco priorities are at. Made right here in the USA.

Autonomie Project’s bag collection is hand made by a women’s knitting cooperative in rural Peru. The newest styles are made with 100% Fair Trade-certified organic cotton yarns that are naturally dyed.

The incredibly soft yarns used for the bags hail from a Fair Trade facility in Lima and are processed using completely natural and traditional methods. No dyes, chemicals or other synthetic processes have been used to grow, soften, or color the fibers. By buying a bag, you help the 25 mothers of Northern Creations grow a sustainable business and improve the standard of living for their families and community.

Autonomie Project works with small, independent cooperatives and Fair Trade certified facilities located in developing areas of the world including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Peru, and the USA. The products are relevant and fashionable, vegan , eco, and always sweatshop-free.

Since we wrote about the Fair Trade the Whitehouse initiative last week, Autonomie Project is also a supporter of that campaign (no surprise!). Check out that initiative and become a part of it, if you have not already.

There are several cool things going on at the Autonomie Project site worth checking out:

- Buy Fair Trade: First, if you are in the mood to shop or have a gift in mind for someone, check out their stylish, high-quality Fair Trade items.
- Blog: Autonomie runs a blog and encourages other to blog about them too. Get involved.
- Affiliates Program: If you are a company or non-profit you can also sign up as an AP Affiliate and get customized banner links that will earn you a commission on any sales brought in from your online outreach efforts.

Check them out!

By: Julie Finkel and Shana Yansen

Created in 2005, Pants to Poverty emerged as a result of the Make Poverty History phenomenon. Its mission is to make fair-trade and pesticide free cotton underwear, at half the price of competitors, while working with over 7,000 cotton farmers.

For 4 years now, Pants to poverty (P-to-P) has gained momentum. P-to-P developed a ethical and  transparent supply chain and a new type of underwear brand, while establishing a network of 70 independent shops and over 10,000 people in 16 countries around the world. Pants to Poverty has also recruited some of the world’s leading legal, branding and development organizations as its partners and achieved wide-reaching media coverage in National Newspapers, TV, Magazines, local papers and radio stations.

The underwear is made in India, using fair-trade certified and pesticide free cotton. However it’s not just the farms that are certified, but also the entire manufacturing process.

The supplier in India is called Pratibha Syntex in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and apparently Patribha maintains close control over every process of the production of the pants. They work exceptionally closely with the farmers to ensure that we meet our objectives as having the most ethical, and transparent, supply chain possible.

Where does the cotton come from? The cotton from Pants to Poverty comes from the world’s first farmer owned marketing company for fair-trade and organic cotton, Zameen Organic. Based in Hyderabad in India, Zameen will soon be majority owned by the 6,700 of India’s poorest farmers, most of whom are in the Vidarbha region– an area where on average 26 farmers commit suicide every day due to unfair trade.

Zameen means that in exchange for their hard work on their own land, the farmers get:
-    A guaranteed fair, market price for their cotton.
-    Fair-trade and organic premiums
-    Organizational and agricultural support to establish their own co-operatives, bank accounts and maximize the impact of their organic farming.
-    A clean, chemical free environment to live in
In addition to this, Pants to Poverty is now donating an extra 50p per pair to fund the establishment of the world’s first source of child labour free seeds.

FAIR WAGES:
All skilled workers are paid considerably more than the minimum wage for the region in India to ensure that everyone has a good living wage.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
Going beyond regular expectations is part of Pratibha and Pants to Poverty’s committment to suppliers. Below, they outline just a few of the initiatives they are working on.
WOMEN’s EMPOWERMENT:
Women’s empowerment is core to the Pratibha approach with many management positions filled by women and dynamic new programs for women empowerment at all levels of the organization.

EXTENSIVE TRAINING PROGRAM:
As a high level of skill is required for textile manufacturing, training is an essential part of the work conducted by Pratibha’s Human Resources department. The importance of effective training is further bolstered by the massive recruitment that is ongoing at the plant to meet the elevated level of capacity with the five new spinning mills. Training focuses on both work and personal areas including:
-    Technical training to include Spinning, Knitting, Stitching etc..
-    Workers rights training: in relation to working hours, minimum wage, child labor in compliance with ISO 9001.

OTHER STAFF INITIATIVES:
-    A dedicated staff hospital
-    Subsidized food
-    Free accommodation
-    Free transport
-    Blood donation camp

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND PROMOTION:
The textile industry is renowned for being one of the worst polluting industries and so Pratibha, in order to leave a positive impact on the planet, invests heavily in effective waste management:
-    95% of water is recycled within the plant
-    All waste is controlled within the plant
-    100 trees are planted per quarter (25,000 to date)
-    Participate in global campaigning events such as Earth Hour
-    First textile company in India to register for EARTH HOUR
-    Pratibha is using 3 way strategy of “REDUCE – REUSE-RECYCLE” for increasing sustainability throughout the chains

Check out and shop on Pants to Poverty website for more information.

Photos source: Pants to Poverty

By: Julie Finkel