Christian Wijnants

The brand pro­vi­des lit­tle infor­ma­ti­on on the coun­tri­es of final pro­duc­ti­on in the pro­duct des­crip­ti­ons- Italy, Lit­hu­ania, Por­tu­gal, Mace­do­nia, Spa­in, and Chi­na. This assu­res us that most of the pro­duc­ti­on in Euro­pe­an coun­tri­es is con­duc­ted ethi­cal­ly. Howe­ver this can­not be assu­med for cer­ta­in Euro­pe­an coun­tri­es or China.

The brand men­ti­ons the use of FSC Vis­co­se, which is a cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on by the Forest Stewar­d­ship Coun­cil based on rigo­ro­us stan­dar­ds of res­pon­si­ble forest mana­ge­ment, ensu­ring the bene­fit of the lives of local people and wor­kers as well as eco­no­mic viabi­lity.

Asi­de from this the­re is no infor­ma­ti­on pro­vi­ded regar­ding the acti­ons taken to assu­re ethi­cal sour­cing and pro­duc­ti­on of the garments.

Chris­ti­an Wij­nants uses natu­ral mate­ri­als such as cot­ton, linen, silk, wool, and leat­her, as well as syn­t­he­tic and semi-syn­t­he­tic mate­ri­als such as vis­co­se, rayon, span­dex, polya­mi­de, polyes­ter, nylon, elas­ta­ne, and ace­ta­te. A majo­rity of the­ir web­si­te sta­tes the use of cot­ton, as well as orga­nic cot­ton, howe­ver the cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on is not pro­vi­ded. They also use FSC Vis­co­se, which ensu­res bet­ter mana­ge­ment of the fores­ts and biolo­gi­cal diver­sity.

The­ir web­si­te also shows the use of syn­t­he­tic fibres a lot, which is not ide­al for the envi­ron­ment, howe­ver a lot of it is mono­ma­te­ri­al which makes recy­cla­bi­lity easi­er, more will be said abo­ut this in the cir­cu­la­rity sec­ti­on below. 

Apart from this, the­re is not­hing sta­ted regar­ding the­ir addi­ti­onal acti­ons to con­tri­bu­te to the planet.

This brand has a lot of mono­ma­te­ri­al gar­ments, which makes them easi­er to recy­cle at the end of use. Howe­ver it also has a few gar­ments with syn­t­he­tic blen­ds con­ta­ining more than 30% syn­t­he­tic fibres, which redu­ces the recy­cla­bi­lity.

Asi­de from this, the brand does not men­ti­on cir­cu­la­rity rela­ted acti­vi­ti­es anywhe­re on the web­si­te; howe­ver, they are sup­po­sed to be col­la­bo­ra­ting with Okret to upcy­cle and recy­cle the­ir fabrics, which would be a gre­at plus point regar­ding the­ir circularity.

The brand is loca­ted in Antwerp, and most of the­ir final pro­duc­ti­on is con­duc­ted in Euro­pe, howe­ver some of it is done in Chi­na, which disa­dvan­ta­ges the tra­vel emi­ssi­ons. . Some of the­ir yarn is sour­ced from Italy, which is a good sign, but no more infor­ma­ti­on is given regar­ding the rest of the pro­duc­ti­on cha­in. Tran­s­por­ta­ti­on met­hods of pro­duc­ts are not cla­ri­fi­ed either.

Chris­ti­an Wij­nants uses silk, wool, and lam­b­skin leat­her for some pro­duc­ts, but none of the mate­ri­als are cer­ti­fi­ed in rela­ti­on to ani­mal wel­fa­re, or said to be sour­ced ethically.

This brand’s desig­ns are time­less, and beca­use Chris­ti­an Wij­nants is a luxury desig­ner, we’re able to assu­me the mate­ri­als and gar­ments as a who­le are of high quality and long lasting. 

The pro­duc­ts are brig­h­tly colo­ured and inno­va­ti­ve, elu­ding tem­po­rary tren­ds, which ensu­res that they can be used over time, regard­less of the chan­ge in tren­ds. Be sure to take good care of your gar­ments and che­rish them forever.

The tran­s­pa­ren­cy of this brand is very lac­king, con­si­de­ring the only thing regar­ding sus­ta­ina­bi­lity men­ti­oned on the web­si­te is the final pro­duc­ti­on loca­ti­ons (only the coun­try). Mate­ri­als are sta­ted on every pro­duct des­crip­ti­on page, howe­ver cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­ons of the mate­ri­als are not pro­vi­ded. If the brand pro­vi­ded more tran­s­pa­ren­cy regar­ding the­ir part­ner­ship with Okret we may be able to reflect the­ir efforts at sus­ta­ina­bi­lity better.