Fresh and Clean Apparel

How sustainable is Fresh and Clean Apparel?

Cir­cu­lar fashion
It’s claim to cir­cu­la­ri­ty main­ly derives from three ele­ments it nails. First that means going waste-free. Eve­ry­thing that the brand pro­duces can be send back to them, which they can then re-use to make new clothes. The gar­ments come with QR-codes with return labels which allows you to easi­ly send back the garment to Fresh & Clean whe­ne­ver you want. When you do, they offer a £5 cou­pon on your next pur­chase. Waste is desi­gned out, mate­rials flow back into the loop and you even get rewar­ded. Eve­ry­bo­dy wins!

Natu­ral sys­tems
The second ele­ment of cir­cu­la­ri­ty is using natu­ral sys­tems. Because the brand is rather
new it must rely on main­ly vir­gin mate­rials for the time being. The mate­rial of choice is 100% orga­nic cot­ton from the North of India. This is also where its sup­ply chain is loca­ted and the cot­ton is trans­for­med into clo­thing. Its faci­li­ties in India are cer­ti­fied by SA8000 and GOTS, which gua­ran­tee social stan­dards, and envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly, orga­nic pro­ces­sing.

Rene­wable ener­gy
The third and final sub­ject of Fresh and Clean Appa­rel’s cir­cu­la­ri­ty fra­me­work is the use
of cir­cu­lar ener­gy. Back in the Uni­ted King­dom the gra­phics are prin­ted in a the Tee­mill faci­li­ty that runs 100% on rene­wable ener­gy. In India the assem­bly fac­to­ry the brand works with uti­lizes rene­wables as well.

Is it for you?
While Fresh and Clean Appa­rel is doing great on cir­cu­la­ri­ty, this does not mean that there
is no room for impro­ve­ment. The brand does not spe­ci­fy the names of its sup­pliers which makes it very hard to veri­fy their true social and envi­ron­men­tal per­for­mance . Proof of pay­ment of a living wage is also not pro­vi­ded which is espe­cial­ly in India a goal that a lot of brands struggle to achieve. Howe­ver, Fresh and Clean Appa­rel checks a lot of boxes. The brand has cir­cu­la­ri­ty in its heart, uses orga­nic cot­ton and is safe for vegans. All in all this is a great brand that is imple­men­ting cir­cu­la­ri­ty prac­tices within an indus­try that is very far from adop­ting this at a lar­ger scale. If you’re on the fence for a swea­ter or t‑shirt and you’re consi­de­ring Fresh & Clean Appa­rel, we won’t stop you!