Proximity leads to efficiency. That is particularly true when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint. By ensuring our suppliers work within a radius of 2,500 km at all stages of their production chains, from the raw materials to the textile finishing, our textiles accumulate a minimal carbon emission footprint in their production process. Even when our suppliers are from overseas, by assuring a regional ecosystem in their production, we ensure a lowered environmental impact while contributing toward higher levels of social impact. By incentivizing our suppliers to work with resources in their proximity, we help ensure that the value generated from the production of textiles has a higher positive impact on the region and the people who created it in the first place. Very often in big, global value chains, those producing the raw materials and spinning the yarns are unable to fairly benefit from the value of the final product they helped create. By promoting regional production chains, we help reduce the dissipation of value along the supply chain and help foster healthier and fairer distribution.

Just like our textiles, the resources that make them are precious. With this criterion, we bring attention to the underlying resources that go into the production processes of our goods and the better management strategies that involve them. Above all, we look to the consumption of energy, water and waste management (e.g. zero waste), but also to the use of renewable raw materials for the production of synthetic fibers. Here we value our suppliers who already have convincing strategies in their entire production processes of a product, and who demonstrate significantly more resource-efficiency than suppliers with conventional production methods. This helps us acknowledge and support them, by making more conscious decisions when selecting our mills and the designs for each collection.

Sustainability is also about promoting safer and healthier products, not only to our clients but also to the people that make them and our environment. Promoting significantly lower use of concerning chemicals throughout the entire supply chain when compared to conventional production, allows us to move closer to this goal. This reduction includes the use of pesticides in the cultivation of natural fibers and raw material for man-made fibers (such as viscose), dyes, printing processes and finishes. When looking into more eco-friendly products, our aim is to incentivize suppliers who are taking stringent actions to make their processes and products better, even if these actions are not yet validated by certification. Furthermore, all our suppliers are asked to sign and comply with the European REACH regulation.

Making use of the resources we already have is a key aspect of creating a more circular economy. By including more recycled fibers in our products, we help reduce the impact of waste and support the understanding of the quality and beauty of recycled products. To ensure the highest quality of our recycled materials, we aim to work in adherence to GRS (Global Recycling Standards) for our fibers and facilities.

In addition to recycled fibers, we also try to ensure better harvesting and production processes for our natural fibers. In our use of organic fibers we work with the following seals: GOTS, BCI, C2C, Fairtrade, European Flax – as well as RWS for animal fibers. Where we use natural fibers in our products, our commitment is to use at least 50% of organic natural fibers. At the moment, many of our suppliers already work with these certifications for their yarns. Once our suppliers are certified, we can also ensure the certification of our own textile products. It is a laborious process that requires time and great effort, but we are dedicated to working together with our mills on the path to creating a more sustainable value chain.