Alchemist

High-end fashion that is also sus­tainable? Tha­t’s Alche­mist. Becau­se fashion is more than just a beau­tiful look. Many fashion brands have the mouth full of sus­taina­bi­li­ty, but at Alche­mist sus­taina­bi­li­ty is in their DNA. From thread to LED light­ing in Alche­mist HQ and the pack­a­ging in which Alche­mist sends its par­cels: ever­y­thing is as eco­lo­gi­cal and sus­tainable as pos­si­ble. Thumbs up!

Alchemist?

Dutch Caro­li­ne Mewe was born on Ter­schel­ling, a small island on which peo­p­le live clo­se to natu­re. Her child­hood was a source of inspi­ra­ti­on for Alche­mist. Alche­mist is a super-femi­ni­ne brand with light­weight, fra­gi­le garm­ents that look sty­lish and bold at the same time. A bit like Ter­schel­ling itself.

Eco: from needle to thread?

Yeah, Alche­mist is eco from need­le to thread. From the non-mule­sing meri­no wool, to the fibres of the euca­lyp­tus trees for Ten­cel®. Wait a minu­te, wha­t’s with the meri­no wool? Well, to make sure that the sheeps­kin stays clean and no flies get in or infec­tions occur, sheep far­mers some­ti­mes cut away the skin around the bum of the sheep. Not at Alche­mist! They firm­ly choo­se wool from well-groo­med meri­no sheep.

Ten­cel ® is made of wood fibres. The pro­cess Alche­mist uses is envi­ron­men­tal­ly fri­end­ly: the pro­ducts used to extra­ct the fibres are recap­tu­red and reu­sed.

Recy­cling, tha­t’s what Alche­mist real­ly loves. Recy­cled linen, recy­cled den­im and recy­cled wool. And thus a lower ener­gy con­sump­ti­on and less impact on the envi­ron­ment.

Other fabrics that Alche­mis­t’s desi­gners like to work with: cer­ti­fied and orga­nic cot­ton, Modal ® (fibres from Aus­tri­an beech wood) and vis­co­se. Becau­se the pro­duc­tion of vis­co­se is less envi­ron­men­tal­ly fri­end­ly than that of Ten­cel ® or Modal ®, Alche­mist uses this fabric as litt­le as pos­si­ble.

Alche­mist does ever­y­thing in its power to beco­me even more eco­lo­gi­cal and sus­tainable year after year. The brand is very trans­pa­rent about this: on the web­site you will find a lot of infor­ma­ti­on about the pro­du­cer visits, the Dutch Coven­ant on Sus­tainable Clot­hing and Tex­ti­les and certificates.

A great place to work?

Sin­ce 2015, Alche­mist has an employee who helps to make the brand even more sus­tainable, not least in terms of working con­di­ti­ons. For exam­p­le, the brand regu­lar­ly checks whe­ther workers in Por­tu­gue­se tex­ti­le fac­to­ries recei­ve the mini­mum wage.

By pro­du­cing main­ly in the EU, Alche­mist also con­tri­bu­tes to a bet­ter living stan­dard in count­ries such as Por­tu­gal and Mace­do­nia. A small per­cen­ta­ge of clo­thes are pro­du­ced – in good con­di­ti­ons – in Delhi, India. Awe­so­me, no?

A circular brand?

Yeah! Or almost. Alche­mist sti­mu­la­tes reu­se and asks cus­to­mers to bring clot­hing to second-hand shops, to make someone else hap­py with them. Alche­mis­t’s desi­gners like to use recy­cled den­im, linen and recy­cled wool as well.

Short / overall

Alche­mist is sus­tainable down to the smal­lest fib­re. And on top of that, their clot­hing is femi­ni­ne, sty­lish and bold. Win-win, as we like to call it!