Samsoe & Samsoe Conscious

Materials

We see that the brand has evol­ved tre­men­do­usly over the past few years. In 2017, the per­cen­ta­ge of sus­tai­na­ble mate­rials was only 7.4%, this has increa­sed to 35.8% in 2019. Sam­soe & Sam­soe hopes to be using strictly 100% sus­tai­na­ble mate­rials by 2024. A transition we can only encourage. 

We see a ran­ge of dif­fe­rent mate­rials at Sam­soe & Sam­soe. The brand divi­des their mate­rials into 3 cate­go­ries: ​‘pre­fe­rred’, ​‘accep­ta­ble’ and ​‘limi­ted use’. The pre­fe­rred mate­rials are made from natu­ral fibers. The­se are also our favo­ri­te at COSH! becau­se they are bio­de­gra­da­ble. Sam­soe & Sam­soe uses cot­ton for half of its collec­tions, pre­fe­rring GOTS cer­ti­fied orga­nic cot­ton (their pre­fe­ren­ce). The brand only uti­li­zes regu­lar cot­ton in limi­ted quantities. 

Sam­soe & Sam­soe has also limi­ted its use of synthe­tic mate­rials. Like the brand, we are not a fan of this type of mate­rial, sin­ce synthe­tics relea­se micro­plas­tics into water streams when washed. For some clothes we make an excep­tion becau­se in some cases a per­cen­ta­ge of synthe­tic fibres can enhan­ce the com­fort and thus the lifes­pan of a gar­ment.

For exam­ple, for wool pullo­vers it’s impor­tant to add a pro­por­tion of synthe­tic mate­rials (pol­ya­mi­de or acry­lic, for exam­ple) to increa­se com­fort. Your favo­ri­te swea­ter will stay beau­ti­ful for much lon­ger. Sam­soe & Sam­soe wants to keep the per­cen­ta­ge of synthe­tics in their clothes as low as pos­si­ble. Besi­des, they opt for recy­cled alter­na­ti­ves when pos­si­ble.

Good news: all mate­rials Sam­soe & Sam­soe uses are Oeko-tex cer­ti­fied. This label for raw tex­ti­le mate­rials prohi­bits the use of harm­ful che­mi­cals. Bet­ter for the envi­ron­ment and for your health.

Ethical

Sam­soe & Sam­soe has a code of con­duct to ensu­re that all mini­ma­list clothing is pro­du­ced in an ethi­cal and res­pon­si­ble way. They encou­ra­ge their sup­pliers and sub­con­trac­tors to comply with this code of con­duct in order to make the who­le sec­tor more sus­tai­na­ble. The brand has also imple­men­ted the Orga­ni­za­tion for Eco­no­mic Coope­ra­tion and Deve­lop­men­t’s (OECD) Due Dili­gen­ce Gui­dan­ce for Res­pon­si­ble Supply Chains in the appa­rel industry to pro­perly iden­tify and moni­tor risks throughout the supply chain.

Circular economy

Sam­soe & Sam­soe uses recy­cled mate­rials, such as the recy­cled cot­ton in their jeans. The recy­cled cot­ton is Glo­bal Recy­cled Stan­dard (GRS) cer­ti­fied. This qua­lity label takes into account the tra­cea­bi­lity of the mate­rials and various eco­lo­gi­cal and social requi­re­ments in the pro­duc­tion of the mate­rials. Also, for part of the collec­tion of eve­ning gowns and jum­psuits, the brand uses 100% recy­cled polyester.

At COSH!, we love to see the use of recy­cled mate­rials becau­se it means that fewer new raw mate­rials are crea­ted. This way Sam­soe & Sam­soe mana­ges to dras­ti­cally redu­ce their water and energy con­sum­ption as well as their use of che­mi­cals and pro­duc­tion of waste.

How sus­tai­na­ble is the Sam­soe & Sam­soe cons­cious collec­tion really? At COSH, we note that with its cons­cious collec­tion, Sam­soe & Sam­soe has esta­blished a nice ambi­tion as well as an exten­si­ve pro­duct know­led­ge of the envi­ron­men­tal impact of its fabrics. Well done, if you ask us. 

Curious about this time­less and com­for­ta­ble Sam­soe & Sam­soe cons­cious collec­tion? Take a look at the shop­ping map below.