The question of Sustainability...
What is sustainability?
Sustainability is about making products that serve useful market and social functions, with lower detrimental environmental impact than the currently available alternatives (Farrington, Lunt, Davies, & Blackburn, 2005).
I prefer a definition which goes further than this. Sustainability means making important use of plants, animals and minerals in such a way as to promote, not limit, their growth. My use of materials and processes prove that all beings can flourish.
What are the drivers of the brand Sanctuary Innerwear?
Functionality
Aesthetics/beauty
Sustainability
Community
What is fabric?
A cloth, made by knitting, weaving or felting fibres.
What is a fibre?
The raw materials of fabric that could be made from plants, animals, or chemicals; and which are typically spun into thread before being made into fabric.
Sanctuary Innerwear is made from plant fibre, knitted into fabric.
What is a “natural” fibre?
Fibres produced by plants, animals or geological processes.
What are some examples? Cotton, hemp, linen, wool, bamboo
What is a manufactured fibre?
Fibres made using science and technology.
What are some examples? lyocell, modal, polyester, nylon, rayon
Tencel is a brand of the fabric type lyocell, which is in fact a rayon because it is made using plant material.
Are natural fibres better than manufactured fibres?
It depends...
Many factors come into play at each stage: fibre, fabric, and clothing.
How can a manufactured fibre be as good or better than a natural fibre?
If it is made from renewable raw materials with an organic, non-polluting process to produce a biodegradable fibre, and if the fabric made from it is dyed organically and contains no finishes. If transportation is minimized (i.e., it is made locally with well paid sewists), this is ideal.
This is the case with Sanctuary Innerwear (except for the well paid sewist!).
How do I know that Sanctuary Innerwear is sustainable? What proof do I have?
I purchase my fabric from Swatchon swatchon.com/qualities/18936?from=matching_quality. This company is a distributor, and verifies that my fabric is knitted in South Korea. It also verifies, through the certification number 318206638, that the fibres that make up 92% of my fabric are made by Lenzing AG, Austria. This company prides itself in manufacturing a fibre from FSC certified eucalyptus wood in a closed loop system where 99.5% of the effluent amine oxide NMMO is recycled into its process. Their accreditations are all listed here and include Oeko-tex Standard 100, European Ecolabel and USDA Certified Biobased. More about my fabric can be found in this and this blog post.
I purchase only one fabric, in white, and dye it myself in very small batches. I purchase plant dyes from Maiwa when I cannot grow them. This includes logwood, alkanet, as well as alum for the mordant. I grow madder, indigo, woad, and weld, and forage walnut, goldenrod, pomegranate, and rhubarb. I maintain a chemical-free garden and am beginning to use biodynamic principles and practices. I do not use toxic mordants and am moving toward an organic indigo and woad vat. I dispose of my dye bath directly onto my garden, making the growing/dyeing process cyclic.
I cut each garment individually, thereby reducing waste and making the best use of each mm of my fabric. I make bra-nas from the scraps and re-purpose the scraps of the scraps into loofahs, which I knit.
I use cardboard and paper labeling and packaging.
My product is made by myself, and my experience as a sewist is given here. As with everything I make for myself or for customers, the quality is far superior than anything purchased. I create garments which generate an experience and include sensorial aspects and emotional factors. They are made to have a long and useable life. My guarantee covers my commitment to high standards of production.
At the end of its lifespan, each Sanctuary Innerwear garment is recyclable since it is 92% cellulose. This is verified here.
I pride myself in abiding by slow fashion principles and being open, transparent and honest about my materials and practices.
My goal is to help build deep and long-lasting change towards sustainability in the fashion sector.
Sustainability is about making products that serve useful market and social functions, with lower detrimental environmental impact than the currently available alternatives (Farrington, Lunt, Davies, & Blackburn, 2005).
I prefer a definition which goes further than this. Sustainability means making important use of plants, animals and minerals in such a way as to promote, not limit, their growth. My use of materials and processes prove that all beings can flourish.
What are the drivers of the brand Sanctuary Innerwear?
Functionality
Aesthetics/beauty
Sustainability
Community
What is fabric?
A cloth, made by knitting, weaving or felting fibres.
What is a fibre?
The raw materials of fabric that could be made from plants, animals, or chemicals; and which are typically spun into thread before being made into fabric.
Sanctuary Innerwear is made from plant fibre, knitted into fabric.
What is a “natural” fibre?
Fibres produced by plants, animals or geological processes.
What are some examples? Cotton, hemp, linen, wool, bamboo
What is a manufactured fibre?
Fibres made using science and technology.
What are some examples? lyocell, modal, polyester, nylon, rayon
Tencel is a brand of the fabric type lyocell, which is in fact a rayon because it is made using plant material.
Are natural fibres better than manufactured fibres?
It depends...
Many factors come into play at each stage: fibre, fabric, and clothing.
How can a manufactured fibre be as good or better than a natural fibre?
If it is made from renewable raw materials with an organic, non-polluting process to produce a biodegradable fibre, and if the fabric made from it is dyed organically and contains no finishes. If transportation is minimized (i.e., it is made locally with well paid sewists), this is ideal.
This is the case with Sanctuary Innerwear (except for the well paid sewist!).
How do I know that Sanctuary Innerwear is sustainable? What proof do I have?
I purchase my fabric from Swatchon swatchon.com/qualities/18936?from=matching_quality. This company is a distributor, and verifies that my fabric is knitted in South Korea. It also verifies, through the certification number 318206638, that the fibres that make up 92% of my fabric are made by Lenzing AG, Austria. This company prides itself in manufacturing a fibre from FSC certified eucalyptus wood in a closed loop system where 99.5% of the effluent amine oxide NMMO is recycled into its process. Their accreditations are all listed here and include Oeko-tex Standard 100, European Ecolabel and USDA Certified Biobased. More about my fabric can be found in this and this blog post.
I purchase only one fabric, in white, and dye it myself in very small batches. I purchase plant dyes from Maiwa when I cannot grow them. This includes logwood, alkanet, as well as alum for the mordant. I grow madder, indigo, woad, and weld, and forage walnut, goldenrod, pomegranate, and rhubarb. I maintain a chemical-free garden and am beginning to use biodynamic principles and practices. I do not use toxic mordants and am moving toward an organic indigo and woad vat. I dispose of my dye bath directly onto my garden, making the growing/dyeing process cyclic.
I cut each garment individually, thereby reducing waste and making the best use of each mm of my fabric. I make bra-nas from the scraps and re-purpose the scraps of the scraps into loofahs, which I knit.
I use cardboard and paper labeling and packaging.
My product is made by myself, and my experience as a sewist is given here. As with everything I make for myself or for customers, the quality is far superior than anything purchased. I create garments which generate an experience and include sensorial aspects and emotional factors. They are made to have a long and useable life. My guarantee covers my commitment to high standards of production.
At the end of its lifespan, each Sanctuary Innerwear garment is recyclable since it is 92% cellulose. This is verified here.
I pride myself in abiding by slow fashion principles and being open, transparent and honest about my materials and practices.
My goal is to help build deep and long-lasting change towards sustainability in the fashion sector.
