Ragwear

To pro­du­ce their coll­ec­tions, Rag­wear works with an estab­lished pro­du­cer in Shan­dong, Chi­na. The brand has work­ed with this pro­du­cer for more than 15 years and is the­r­e­fo­re in clo­se cont­act with it.

Rag­wear has Glo­bal Orga­nic Tex­ti­le Stan­dard (GOTS) cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on for much of its coll­ec­tion. This cer­ti­fi­ca­te checks the pro­duc­tion pro­cess of orga­nic cot­ton. It also checks working con­di­ti­ons and the safe­ty of the work­place. So you can be sure that all garm­ents made with orga­nic cot­ton are made in ethi­cal con­di­ti­ons.

As men­tio­ned ear­lier, Rag­wear is cer­ti­fied by GOTS. This means that the pro­duc­tion pro­cess of the orga­nic cot­ton is moni­to­red. No che­mi­cals are allo­wed to be used, less irri­ga­ti­on water is used in cul­ti­va­ti­on and the cot­ton is har­ve­s­ted by hand. This ensu­res that the mate­ri­al has a much smal­ler impact on the envi­ron­ment.

Rag­wear also uses other sus­tainable mate­ri­als in their coll­ec­tions such as lyo­cell, bam­boo vis­co­se, linen and hemp. Linen and hemp are natu­ral and requi­re fewer che­mi­cals. Lyo­cell and bam­boo vis­co­se are also sus­tainable alter­na­ti­ves to con­ven­tio­nal cot­ton, alt­hough the­re are a few reser­va­tions here. Lyo­cell is one of the cau­ses of forest fires in Spain and Por­tu­gal. In the case of bam­boo vis­co­se, on the other hand, che­mi­cals can be released during the pro­duc­tion process.

Last­ly, Rag­wear also uses syn­the­tic mate­ri­als. Among the mate­ri­als used in the coll­ec­tion are poly­es­ter, recy­cled poly­es­ter, elas­t­a­ne and poly­acrylic. The­se mate­ri­als are made from petro­le­um, in a pro­cess that requi­res many che­mi­cals. Even in the pro­cess of recy­cling poly­es­ter, many harmful che­mi­cals are used.

In the Remake coll­ec­tion, Rag­wear uses most­ly recy­cled mate­ri­als. The coll­ec­tion is made of 90% recy­cled mate­ri­als with the GRS label (Glo­bal Recy­cling Stan­dard). Most­ly recy­cled poly­es­ter is used for this, but the­re are also garm­ents made of recy­cled cotton.

Becau­se Rag­wear often uses mono­ma­te­ri­als in their clo­thes, tho­se clo­thes are easier to recy­cle after use. Mono­ma­te­ri­als means that only one mate­ri­al is used in a gar­ment, for exam­p­le 100% poly­es­ter or 100% cotton.

Becau­se Rag­wear’s coll­ec­tions are pro­du­ced in Chi­na, the brand does not have a short sup­p­ly chain. The clo­thes have to go a long way to be sold in Europe.

Rag­wear is a com­ple­te­ly vegan street­wear brand. The brand is even ​‘vegan appro­ved’ by PETA (Peo­p­le for the Ethi­cal Tre­at­ment of Animals). 

To be even more ani­mal-fri­end­ly, Rag­wear sup­ports Hof Buten­land. This is an orga­ni­sa­ti­on that res­cues farm ani­mals from the slaugh­ter­house and pro­vi­des them with a loving and safe living environment.

Rag­wear designs modern clot­hing, often basics that are easy to com­bi­ne. The brand has seve­ral coll­ec­tions with designs for men, women and child­ren. The­se include the Orga­nic coll­ec­tion with orga­nic cot­ton clot­hing, the Remake coll­ec­tion made of recy­cled mate­ri­als and a child­ren’s collection. 

Rag­wear also has the Crys­tal coll­ec­tion. The­se are garm­ents that incor­po­ra­te spe­ci­fic crys­tals. The­se crys­tals have posi­ti­ve effects and are sewn into the clo­thes in spe­ci­fic places such as the neck of a T‑shirt.

In terms of trans­pa­ren­cy, Rag­wear still has some work points. They share the coun­try whe­re pro­duc­tion takes place, but not their pro­du­cer. This makes it dif­fi­cult to form a full pic­tu­re of how ethi­cal the coll­ec­tion is.