Erstwhile

All Erstwhi­le clot­hing is pro­du­ced in Por­tu­gal, with a few excep­ti­ons that are pro­du­ced in Italy. Very Euro­pe­an you could say! This way the clot­hing does not have to tra­vel far to Fle­mis­ch desig­ners or maybe to you, the Euro­pe­an buyer.

This means that Erstwhi­le has to take the Euro­pe­an worker’s legis­la­ti­ons into acco­unt. Next to that, almost half of the­ir col­lec­ti­on is cer­ti­fi­ed by the Glo­bal Orga­nic Texti­le Stan­dar­ds (GOTS). This cer­ti­fi­ca­te has requ­ire­ments abo­ut biocot­ton and also the wor­king conditions. 

Abo­ut the non-cer­ti­fi­ed mate­ri­als of Erstwhi­le we do not have to wor­ry eit­her. This is Por­tu­gu­ese orga­nic cot­ton, and sin­ce this cot­ton is cul­ti­va­ted and pro­ce­ssed we can aga­in assu­me the wor­king con­di­ti­ons are okay. The same goes for the cycling shirts of polyes­ter that are made in Italy.

Next to guaran­te­eing fair wor­king con­di­ti­ons Erstwhi­le does rese­ar­ch abo­ut can­cer as well. They do this beca­use everyo­ne knows some­one who is con­fron­ted with this. This also goes for the foun­ders of the brand. They have a spe­ci­al col­lec­ti­on of which the pro­fit goes direc­tly to can­cer rese­ar­ch and for every sale of the ​‘Erstwhi­le Vélo Klub’ cycling shirt, the brand dona­tes 10 euros to ​‘stop intes­ti­nal cancer’.

A lit­tle bit over half of the shirts and pul­lo­vers are made of GOTS-cer­ti­fi­ed orga­nic cot­ton. This cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on has, besi­des biolo­gi­cal and ethi­cal requ­ire­ments, also requ­ire­ments abo­ut che­mi­cal mate­ri­als. You can be sure that the­re are no har­m­ful che­mi­cals nece­ssary for the pro­duc­ti­on of your t‑shirt. Also, abo­ut the non-cer­ti­fi­ed mate­ri­als, we do not have to worry.

The other cot­ton pro­duc­ts are made of 100% orga­nic and pre-washed Por­tu­gu­ese cot­ton. The cycling shirts are the only piece of clot­hing in which syn­t­he­tic mate­ri­als can be found. They are made of 100% recy­cled polyes­ter. The disa­dvan­ta­ge of syn­t­he­tic mate­ri­als is that they are not biode­gra­da­ble and that micro­plas­tics are rele­ased when the clot­hes get washed. Howe­ver, we do under­stand that this mate­ri­al is used for this pro­duct. Polyes­ter is a mate­ri­al that we often see in sports clot­hing beca­use of its quick-drying and lig­ht characteristics.

Anot­her thing that stan­ds out is that the brand is made of mono mate­ri­als. Every piece of clot­hing con­sis­ts of only one mate­ri­al, which makes the pro­duc­ts very easy to recy­cle.

Tho­se who love sports will not get tired easily of the shirts and pul­lo­vers of Erstwhi­le. Even people who dis­li­ke sports would not mind seeing or wearing the clot­hes. Next to the figu­ra­ti­vely por­trayed cyclis­ts and run­ners that can be seen on the­ir T‑shirts and pul­lo­vers, they also have pro­duc­ts with a retro design. In the­ir colo­ur palet­te, we find basic colo­urs like black, whi­te and grey, but the­re are also pink, gre­en, yel­low, pur­ple or blue items for people who like colour.

Erstwhi­le sta­tes that they work toget­her with com­pa­ni­es that sha­re the same phi­lo­sop­hy and that hap­py people are the cen­tre of the­ir com­pany. The­ir web­si­te also sta­tes that they are as sus­ta­ina­ble and tran­s­pa­rent as possi­ble by using fair­tra­de and orga­nic cot­ton and pro­du­cing in Euro­pe. Every pro­duct sta­tes in which coun­try they are made, but an exact fac­tory name or gene­ral list with fac­to­ri­es and sup­pli­ers is nowhe­re to be found. COSH! would like to see more tran­s­pa­ren­cy in this field!