Owl

Owl works from the emblematic neighbourhood of Poblenou, Barcelona. In its own workshop, located in an old bakery dating back to the early 20^th century, is where the brand’s ideas are born. 

In addition, another of Owl’s premises is to be equitable, so that society is also a beneficiary, not just the market.

They are involved in creating a more balanced society, which is why they collaborate with social workshops in Barcelona, such as the Emili Papirer Workshop and Sewing School of the Roure Foundation or the Diomcoop cooperative, which carry out great and important social work. The income generated is mainly used to train and integrate people without resources into society and the labour market.

Since its beginnings with underwear, Owl has been committed to biodegradable, ecological and comfortable materials. 

That is why they work with different projects and suppliers of cotton fabrics:

• GOTS® and OCCGUARANTEE® certified organic undyed cotton, where the three colours, raw, earth and green, come directly from the cotton plant, without dyes or bleaching chemicals.

• Organic cotton with elastane, produced in a totally vertical company, they control from the purchase of raw material to the finishing and colour of the final fabric. Certified by Re-EcoTextiles Cotexmo Organic® and Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX®.

• Sustainable cotton without integrated plantation certification, the only cotton, spun and produced entirely in Spain. This fabric is the result of cooperative work, recovering and revaluing the fields of Andalusia in the cotton plantation, passing through the Catalan textile industry until it reaches you.

On the other hand, some of their garments are also made with recycled fabrics, as in their outerwear, where they use SEAQUAL® fibre, made from PET plastic bottles collected from the sea, and linings made from 50% cotton and 50% recycled polyester, certified by Re-EcoTextiles Cotexmo Recycled and Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX® .

Owl believes that reusing existing materials is a responsibility. That’s why they reuse discarded paragliders from an aircraft fabric producer, converting them into jackets and outerwear. Thus, they prevent this nylon material from ending up in the bin – taking up to 500 years to decompose – with upcycling, this material is reused, giving it a new and higher value, being more environmentally friendly and sustainable than creating a new one.

Paragliders offer us a fabric with very interesting technical characteristics: it is a nylon fabric, resistant and light, capable of protecting us from the wind and the first drops of rain. A very versatile, recyclable and highly durable fabric.

As each paraglider is different and not all parts are the same, nor do they have the same colour, they cut the garments one by one, obtaining limited editions, unrepeatable and of great ecological value.

In Owl they work and produce some of their garments locally from the city of Barcelona.

Some of their suppliers and garment workshops are less than 100 kilometres away, from their own garment workshop in Poblenou (Barcelona) to locations such as Mataró (Maresme) or La Cellera (La Selva), thus significantly reducing the carbon footprint derived from transport and supply of materials.

However, some of their garments such as sweatshirts, T‑shirts and trousers come from a supplier that manufactures in Bangladesh. These garments are then customised locally in Barcelona.

Owl is a vegan brand! It has not used or harmed any animals directly or indirectly in its manufacturing process.

In addition, their T‑shirts, sweatshirts and jogger trousers carry the PETA Approved Vegan seal, which guarantees that they contain no animal-derived materials.

Owl is a brand with a slow fashion philosophy. Owl thinks about the best way to generate the minimum waste in the creation of their garments and productions, so they try not to produce more than necessary and keep the remaining materials to study the best way to reuse and/​or recycle them, to generate zero waste.

Their sales with the ​“On Demand” service help to only produce what is sold, and generate minimum waste, as well as reducing CO2 footprint emissions.

Currently, with the remains of their upcycling garments (nylon fabric from gliders), they are investigating how to transform these leftovers into textile padding, both for the home (cushion padding) and for fashion (quilting for jackets), and thus extend the use of the life of the materials. 

Owl is a transparent brand!

COSH! was able to talk to the founder of the brand and we can assure you that Owl is a very transparent brand.

He gave us information about where they make their products, the names of their suppliers and even showed us some certificates.