Ecological Textiles

Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les com­mits to ethi­cal pro­duc­tion. For exam­p­le, all cot­ton and Ten­cel fabrics are pro­du­ced by a trus­ted pro­duc­tion part­ner in Tur­key. The brand has long work­ed with this sup­pli­er and the­r­e­fo­re has a clo­se rela­ti­onship with them. As a result, Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les trusts that pro­duc­tion takes place in safe working con­di­ti­ons and with the pay of fair wages.

The orga­nic cot­ton pro­ducts have the GOTS cer­ti­fi­ca­te (Glo­bal Orga­nic Tex­ti­le Stan­dard). This cer­ti­fi­ca­te not only checks the use of che­mi­cals in the pro­duc­tion pro­cess, but also the working con­di­ti­ons in the fac­to­ries in Tur­key and India. Other mate­ri­als with the GOTS cer­ti­fi­ca­te are also che­cked for this, such as the orga­nic wool from South Ame­ri­ca.

Part of the coll­ec­tion is pro­du­ced in Euro­pe. So you can be sure that the­se pro­ducts are made in ethi­cal and fair con­di­ti­ons. This is for ins­tance the case for the woven wool­len fabrics and a lar­ge part of the hemp products.

Final­ly, the­re are also pro­ducts in Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les’ coll­ec­tion that are pro­du­ced in Chi­na. Some of the hemp in the coll­ec­tion is grown and pro­du­ced in Chi­na. The silk fabrics are also sourced from China.

Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les uses a varie­ty of mate­ri­als in their pro­ducts, but only natu­ral mate­ri­als. The most sus­tainable mate­ri­als in the coll­ec­tion include orga­nic cot­ton and orga­nic wool. As men­tio­ned, the­se mate­ri­als have the GOTS cer­ti­fi­ca­te which pro­ves that no che­mi­cals are used in the pro­duc­tion pro­cess. This also pro­hi­bits the use of gene­ti­cal­ly modi­fied orga­nisms and impo­ses water-saving measures.

Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les also has Ten­cel pro­ducts in their coll­ec­tion. Ten­cel is a type of vis­co­se made by the com­pa­ny Lenzing. This mate­ri­al is made in a clo­sed-loop pro­duc­tion pro­cess so that no che­mi­cals can be released. Moreo­ver, Ten­cel has FSC (Forest Ste­ward­ship Coun­cil) cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on to show that the neces­sa­ry wood pulp comes from sus­tainable forestry. 

Hemp and linen are other natu­ral mate­ri­als used by Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les. They are part­ly grown in Euro­pe and in Chi­na. Less che­mi­cal pesti­ci­des and insec­ti­ci­des are nee­ded to pro­du­ce the­se mate­ri­als. Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les uses both con­ven­tio­nal linen and orga­nic linen. Con­ven­tio­nal cot­ton is also unfort­u­na­te­ly still used in the collection.

Final­ly, Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les also has ani­mal mate­ri­als in their coll­ec­tion such as silk and wool. Some of the silk is the so-cal­led peace silk, for which silk worms are not kil­led. Sus­tainable wool from spe­cial Ice­lan­dic sheep can also be found in the Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les collection.

Becau­se Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les uses only natu­ral mate­ri­als, the brand is more cir­cu­lar. In addi­ti­on, the brand also uses many mono-mate­ri­als, mea­ning a fabric is made of only one mate­ri­al. Pro­ducts made of 100% linen, for exam­p­le, are easy to recy­cle. Clot­hing or fabrics made from a mix of syn­the­tic and natu­ral mate­ri­als are much more dif­fi­cult to recycle.

Moreo­ver, pro­ducts made of 100% orga­nic mate­ri­als are even biode­gra­da­ble! Thus, they lea­ve no was­te in nature.

Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les unfort­u­na­te­ly does not have a short sup­p­ly chain. The brand uses mate­ri­als from Ice­land, South Ame­ri­ca, Chi­na and India. The pro­ducts them­sel­ves are pro­du­ced in Chi­na, Tur­key and Euro­pe. So the distance a pro­duct tra­vels to get to Euro­pe varies great­ly for each pro­duct.

As men­tio­ned, Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les also uses ani­mal mate­ri­als in their coll­ec­tion. The brand does take steps to mini­mi­se ani­mal suf­fe­ring in the pro­cess. The­r­e­fo­re, the brand uses only mule­sing-free wool. Mule­sing is an ani­mal-unfri­end­ly prac­ti­ce in which skin is cut away from the shee­p’s backside wit­hout anaes­the­tic. This is done to avo­id infec­ting the ani­mal with parasites. 

In addi­ti­on, much of the wool in the coll­ec­tion is cer­ti­fied orga­nic. The wool comes from Nor­way, Swe­den, Switz­er­land and Aus­tria, among others.

Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les also has some uni­que pro­ducts in their coll­ec­tion made from Ice­lan­dic shee­p’s wool. The sheep live free­ly in the wild in Ice­land in sum­mer, cared for by small-sca­le sheep far­mers. The pre­ven­ti­ve admi­nis­tra­ti­on of anti­bio­tics or tre­at­ment with che­mi­cal agents (e.g. against para­si­tes) does not or hard­ly hap­pen. Mule­sing or unneces­sa­ry dehor­ning of the sheep also does not occur.

The silk used in Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les pro­ducts is part­ly GOTS-cer­ti­fied orga­nic silk, and part­ly peace silk. This is silk for which the cocoons are coll­ec­ted only after the cater­pil­lars have hat­ched. This way, the cater­pil­lars are not kil­led to pro­du­ce the silk.

Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les has a wide ran­ge of sus­tainable tex­ti­les, in many colours and types. Moreo­ver, you can also find sewing sup­pli­es such as yarns, rib­bons, non­wo­vens and natu­ral dyes.

Tim­e­l­ess or trend-sen­si­ti­ve, colourful or mini­ma­list, the style is up to you. Your designs will defi­ni­te­ly be slow fashion! When you make your own clo­thes, you put time, love and atten­ti­on into them. This also gives you a clo­ser bond with the gar­ment. Plus, of cour­se, you can easi­ly repair it when needed!

Eco­lo­gi­cal Tex­ti­les is working on their trans­pa­ren­cy. The brand does not dis­c­lo­se pro­du­cers, but does share with each pro­duct the coun­try whe­re it was made, whe­re the mate­ri­als come from and the cer­ti­fi­ca­tes the mate­ri­al has.