RAINKISS

Rain­kiss pro­du­ces its rain capes in Myan­mar and the fac­tory whe­re this takes pla­ce is a mem­ber of Sedex/​Sme­ta. This orga­ni­sa­tion carries out regu­lar inde­pen­dent checks to ensu­re ethi­cal wor­king con­di­tions, fair pay, hou­sing and safety.

All of the pon­chos are made of 100% recy­cled pol­yes­ter tex­ti­le and are 100% water­proof becau­se of the taped seams and water­proof column of 10.000mm. The hood of the coat is adjus­ta­ble, the cuffs have a vel­cro clo­su­re and the side panels are adjus­ta­ble with but­tons so the pon­cho is con­ve­nient to wear on your bike ride as well. The brand claims to work only with sus­tai­na­ble mate­rials and recy­cled polyesters.

Recy­cled pol­yes­ter uses PET bottles as a raw mate­rial which is great becau­se the bottles don’t end up in land­fills or in the ocean this way. The bottles are fla­ked, hea­ted, machi­ne shrunk and then wound up in spools to make it into fabric. Fun fact: each Rain­kiss rain pon­cho con­sists of at least 20 PET bottles! This pro­cess uses up to 40% less energy than the pro­cess of making vir­gin pol­yes­ter. Another advan­ta­ge of recy­cled pol­yes­ter as oppo­sed to vir­gin pol­yes­ter is that the pro­duc­tion of vir­gin pol­yes­ter uses (new) petro­che­mi­cal pro­ducts, loads of water and has toxic byproducts.

COSH! Is gene­rally not a fan of pol­yes­ter as it is a synthe­tic fibre and it relea­ses micro­plas­tics into the water when the mate­rial is washed. But for rain­coats we make an excep­tion becau­se it is ideal for making clothes that need to be water­proof and you will not wash the jac­ket fre­quently. It is good to see Rain­kiss opting for recy­cled polyester.

All Rain­kiss pon­chos are made by an Oeko-Tex cer­ti­fied manu­fac­tu­rer, so they are tes­ted and free from harm­ful che­mi­cals. The recy­cled pol­yes­ter itself is also Oeko-Tex certified.

Rain­kiss rain pon­chos are made from 100% recy­cled pol­yes­ter and, becau­se they are made from a mono-mate­rial, they can be recy­cled after use as well. This makes them a cir­cu­lar pro­duct, the fabric can tech­ni­cally be re-mel­ted over and over again. In reality, in 2021 we are still wai­ting for legis­la­tion to allow post-con­su­mer clothing to be recy­cled. As pol­yes­ter is not a natu­ral mate­rial, it is not bio­de­gra­da­ble, but it can tech­ni­cally be easily recy­cled in the futu­re, so that’s not too bad. The high qua­lity of the coats means they will last a long time too.

In prin­ci­ple, Rain­kiss jac­kets are vegan, the mate­rials do not ori­gi­na­te from ani­mals as all jac­kets are made of the synthe­tic mate­rial pol­yes­ter. The only thing we don’t know is what kind of finishing agents and dyes are used to treat the coats, as the­se might con­tain ani­mal products. 

The pon­chos from this brand all come in the same uni­sex and one-size design asi­de from the dif­fe­rent moti­ves and colours they are deco­ra­ted with. It is a loo­se-fit­ting coat so if it’s cold outsi­de you can com­for­tably fit a thick swea­ter under­neath. Becau­se of the sim­ple and wide design it has a time­less look and becau­se of the sizing it is pos­si­ble to even sha­re the coat with your loved ones!

The pon­chos also have a built-in sto­ra­ge pouch so you can easily fold it and take it anywhe­re, it only weighs 250g. The jac­kets are also trans­por­ted from the manu­fac­tu­rer to the shop in the­se built-in pou­ches so that the trans­port can take pla­ce effi­ciently and without the use of plas­tic.

Although most of the prints and colours on the­se coats will make you stand out in the crowd, they are not espe­cially based on short-lived trends so they will not go out of fashion. In con­clu­sion, if you get a pon­cho in a print you like you will pro­bably love it for years to come and the dura­ble mate­rial will last for years too!