Päälä

The clo­thes are pro­du­ced in Por­tu­gal and Tur­key, after which the coll­ec­tions are prin­ted in the Net­her­lands with beau­tiful motifs. The brand only works with pro­du­cers who are mem­bers of the Fair Wear Foun­da­ti­on. This ensu­res safe working con­di­ti­ons and a fair wage for the workers.

Päälä’s pro­ducts also have the GOTS cer­ti­fi­ca­te (Glo­bal Orga­nic Tex­ti­le Stan­dard). This cer­ti­fi­ca­te checks not only the use of che­mi­cals but also the working con­di­ti­ons in the pro­duc­tion pro­cess. Thus, we can assu­me that Päälä’s clot­hing is pro­du­ced ethi­cal­ly.

Päälä uses a varie­ty of sus­tainable mate­ri­als, such as linen and orga­nic cot­ton. As men­tio­ned ear­lier, orga­nic cot­ton has a GOTS cer­ti­fi­ca­te. Among other things, this assu­res that no che­mi­cals are used in the pro­duc­tion pro­cess and that the cot­ton has actual­ly been grown organically. 

Linen is also a sus­tainable mate­ri­al. Gro­wing it requi­res litt­le water or che­mi­cals, and che­mi­cals are rare­ly used in the pro­duc­tion pro­cess either. 

Some of the coll­ec­tion is made of bam­boo vis­co­se. This appears to be a sus­tainable mate­ri­al, sin­ce bam­boo is a fast-gro­wing plant and requi­res litt­le fer­ti­li­zer or pesti­ci­des. Howe­ver, harmful che­mi­cals are requi­red in the pro­duc­tion pro­cess of the textile. 

Päälä also uses more sus­tainable vis­co­se in their clot­hing. Some of the coll­ec­tion is made from Ten­cel, Eco­vero and Modal. The­se are types of vis­co­se deve­lo­ped by the manu­fac­tu­rer Lenzing. The mate­ri­als are more sus­tainable becau­se they are made in a clo­sed-loop pro­cess whe­re no che­mi­cals can be released into the envi­ron­ment. On top of that, Lenzing also gua­ran­tees that all raw mate­ri­als come from respon­si­bly mana­ged forests.

Päälä wants to redu­ce their eco­lo­gi­cal impact as much as pos­si­ble and the­r­e­fo­re choo­ses water-based inks for the screen prin­ting of their clo­thes. All designs are prin­ted by hand in Ams­ter­dam. For this, the brand uses sus­tainable inks that con­tain fewer chemicals.

Much of Päälä’s coll­ec­tion is made of 100% orga­nic cot­ton or 100% linen. This is cir­cu­lar, becau­se clot­hing made from one mate­ri­al is easy to recy­cle. Moreo­ver, due to the absence of harmful che­mi­cals in the cot­ton and print, the gar­ment is biode­gra­da­ble.

A small por­ti­on of the coll­ec­tion con­sists of a com­bi­na­ti­on of bam­boo vis­co­se and orga­nic cot­ton. This is less cir­cu­lar becau­se a mate­ri­al blend is more dif­fi­cult to recy­cle. Bam­boo vis­co­se is not biode­gra­da­ble due to the pre­sence of che­mi­cals. It would be biode­gra­da­ble if the vis­co­se were pro­du­ced in a clo­sed-loop process.

Päälä’s sup­p­ly chain is rela­tively limi­t­ed thanks to their pro­duc­tion sites in Por­tu­gal and Tur­key. The clo­thes are pro­du­ced the­re and then brought to the Net­her­lands for prin­ting the designs. Con­se­quent­ly, the coll­ec­tion is wide­ly sold in the Net­her­lands. In this way, the num­ber of links remains limited. 

Unfort­u­na­te­ly, less infor­ma­ti­on is known about the ori­gin of the mate­ri­als. The lar­gest pro­du­cing count­ries of cot­ton are Chi­na and India. Bam­boo vis­co­se often comes from Chi­na as well. Becau­se of this, we can­not give a com­ple­te pic­tu­re of the length of the sup­p­ly chain.

Päälä does not use mate­ri­als of ani­mal ori­gin in their coll­ec­tions. Thus, the brand is com­ple­te­ly vegan and ani­mal-fri­end­ly. Becau­se the coll­ec­tions con­sist enti­re­ly of natu­ral mate­ri­als, the­re is also no risk of micro­pla­s­tics being released when washing the clo­thes. Thus, Päälä helps pre­vent pla­s­tic pol­lu­ti­on in our oceans.

Päälä designs modern basics with uni­que prints. This makes their coll­ec­tion tim­e­l­ess and per­fect to com­bi­ne with your out­fit. The simp­le designs also make the clo­thes tim­e­l­ess. The brand does not fol­low flee­ting trends but designs clo­thes that can be worn for a long time. The reco­gnizable prints in water­co­lor look are typi­cal of the Päälä style.

Päälä choo­ses qua­li­ty mate­ri­als that give a lon­ger life to the garment. 

Päälä is trans­pa­rent about the mate­ri­als they use. They also share a lot of infor­ma­ti­on about the stu­dio whe­re the clo­thes are prin­ted. Unfort­u­na­te­ly, this is not the case with the pro­duc­tion loca­ti­ons in Por­tu­gal and Tur­key. Becau­se no spe­ci­fic infor­ma­ti­on is known, COSH! can­not veri­fy if the­se real­ly are mem­bers of the Fair Wear Foun­da­ti­on (FWF) and what their assess­ment by the FWF is like.