Ragnarøk Clothing

Pro­duc­ti­on locations

• Zwol­le, The Netherlands

Wor­king Con­di­ti­ons & living wages

Zagros Brim com­ple­tes the enti­re pro­duc­ti­on of the T‑shirt wit­hin his stu­dio in Zwol­le, The Net­her­lan­ds. Zagros, ori­gi­nal­ly from Syria, brin­gs diver­se skil­ls and expe­ri­en­ce whilst also having wor­ked in Tur­key. Due to the strict Euro­pe­an labo­ur regu­la­ti­ons, we can be sure that ethi­cal wor­king con­di­ti­ons are guaranteed. 

Rag­narøk wor­ks clo­sely with TIEM Zwol­le to pro­vi­de oppor­tu­ni­ti­es for people dis­tant from the labo­ur mar­ket to deve­lop the­ir skil­ls. Wit­hin this sup­por­ti­ve and sti­mu­la­ting envi­ron­ment they are given the oppor­tu­nity to gain work expe­ri­en­ce, stren­g­t­hen skil­ls and ful­ly par­ti­ci­pa­te in the labo­ur mar­ket. This col­la­bo­ra­ti­on is essen­ti­al to the brand as part of the­ir com­mit­ment to soci­al inclusion.

The brand also has an edu­ca­ti­onal col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Win­de­she­im and Cibap. Stu­dents are offe­red the chan­ce to gain prac­ti­cal expe­ri­en­ce in the fashi­on indus­try. With this col­la­bo­ra­ti­on Rag­narøk hopes to con­tri­bu­te to the growth of futu­re talents and help stu­dents under­stand the impor­tan­ce of sus­ta­ina­bi­lity and soci­al responsibility.

The­se col­la­bo­ra­ti­ons fos­ter oppor­tu­ni­ti­es to stren­g­t­hen the local com­mu­nity and economy.

Mate­ri­als

• Ten­cel lyocell
• Cork label
• Jute
• Recy­cled cotton

Rag­narøk looked at dif­fe­rent mate­ri­als that are more sus­ta­ina­ble, first focu­sing on hemp tho­ugh final­ly deci­ding upon Ten­cel lyo­cell. Ten­cel is a mate­ri­al that is lovely to sew. It is tra­ce­able, which is bene­fi­ci­al for the tran­s­pa­ren­cy of the brand. Ten­cel is biode­gra­da­ble and recy­cla­ble and made from FSC-cer­ti­fi­ed eucalyp­tus and bir­ch wood. Want to know more abo­ut Ten­cel? Ple­ase read our blog­post abo­ut the mate­ri­al here. 

Rag­nørak fini­shes the­ir T‑shirts with a cork label, or for some desig­ns, they add a cork poc­ket on the chest. The cork used is sour­ced from cork tre­es in Por­tu­gal. Cork is a natu­ral fire retardant.

Pac­ka­ging

The pac­ka­ging used by Rag­narøk is unpa­in­ted paper. It’s desig­ned to be as mini­ma­lis­tic as possi­ble, with no plastic.

Cus­to­mers have the opti­on to col­lect the­ir shirts at the­ir wor­k­shop and cho­ose to rece­ive them wit­ho­ut packaging.

Enclo­sed with the orders are car­ds embed­ded with seeds that can be plan­ted, cre­ated by a busi­ness cal­led Blo­om. 

Water usa­ge & chemicals

All Rag­narøk fabrics are Oeko-tex cer­ti­fi­ed, meaning the­re are no har­m­ful sub­s­tan­ces, thus ide­al for your skin! Pro­duc­ti­on of Len­zing Ten­cel is a clo­sed-loop pro­cess. Che­mi­cals are reused thro­ug­ho­ut the pro­duc­ti­on pro­cess, thus redu­cing the eco­lo­gi­cal impact.

In the­ir LCA from 2021, the brand men­ti­ons that 29,9% from the­ir water use comes from manu­fac­tu­ring and 70,1% from production.

The brand sta­tes it takes 49 liters of water to pro­du­ce the Rag­narøk Clot­hing: Essen­ti­als T‑shirt.

Cir­cu­lar pro­duct design

Beca­use Rag­narøk pro­duc­ts are 100% Ten­cel, with cork deta­iling, the­ir t‑shirts are biode­gra­da­ble and recy­cla­ble. They also have a long life due to the­ir high quality and time­less design. Ide­al for the cir­cu­lar eco­nomy adaptor!

In addi­ti­on, they wish to eli­mi­na­te all was­te in pro­duc­ti­on and dis­tri­bu­ti­on, eit­her CO2 neutral or even CO2 nega­ti­ve con­sump­ti­on. Rag­narøk is also buil­ding a cir­cu­lar pro­duc­ti­on cha­in, making cho­ices thro­ug­ho­ut to redu­ce the lar­ge foot­print of the fashi­on indus­try.

Rag­narøk wishes to play a leading role in redu­cing CO2 emi­ssi­ons wit­hin the clot­hing indus­try, which they outli­ne on the­ir web­si­te. They say that the wor­ld is in dan­ger, tho­ugh we can still make chan­ges. Rag­narøk sha­res that the­re needs to be more sup­port to make fur­t­her chan­ges, and they bra­vely sta­te that they want to be part of it. They call for a tran­sfor­ma­ti­on of soci­ety and the sys­tem. This being clot­hing doesn’t seem bet­ter in prac­ti­ce yet fol­lows a new set of standards. 

In coope­ra­ti­on with cof­fee roas­ters in the regi­on, the brand upcy­cles jute cof­fee bags into tote bags. 

Cir­cu­lar busi­ness models

The brand offers a life­ti­me repa­ir pro­gram­me. 

• Rag­narøk will refund ship­ping and/​or repa­ir cos­ts (up to €10) when an item is repa­ired for the first time.
• Rag­narøk sup­ports the repa­ir cos­ts (up to €5) in case of a second repair.
• For fur­t­her repa­irs, Rag­narøk pays a stan­dard repa­ir fee of €2!

Dis­tan­ce & com­plexity of the sup­ply chain

• Pro­duc­ti­on –
  • Pro­duc­ti­on of Ten­cel fiber (Len­zing faci­li­ti­es): Aus­tria
  • Pro­duc­ti­on of Cork: Por­tu­gal
• Manu­fac­tu­ring
  • Spin­ning cel­lu­lo­se fibers: Wes­tern Europe
  • Ring-spin­ning Cot­ton 200 deci­tex: Aus­tria
  • Knit­ting 200 deci­tex: Ger­many
  • Conven­ti­onal roll piece dye­ing, incl. pre-tre­at­ment, sco­uring, sof­te­ning, cen­tri­fu­ga­ti­on, drying & was­tewa­ter tre­at­ment: Ger­many 
  • Laser cut­ting, iro­ning & sewing: Zwol­le, The Netherlands
• HQ: The Netherlands
• Sale: The Net­her­lan­ds

Everyt­hing in the Rag­narøk clot­hing comes from the Euro­pe­an Uni­on; the Ten­cel thre­ads come from Len­zing in Aus­tria, which then is sent to Ger­many to cre­ate the fabric. The cork cables come from Por­tu­gal. Ten­cel is wood-based, the mate­ri­al is sour­ced from more sus­ta­ina­bly mana­ged Euro­pe­an fores­ts. We can safely sta­te that Rag­narøk has a short sup­ply cha­in. COSH! is a fan of this local pro­duc­ti­on chain! 

The­ir visi­on is a local fashi­on indus­try, whe­re everyo­ne invol­ved, desig­ners, pro­du­cers, mate­ri­als and con­su­mers are loca­ted wit­hin a radi­us of 250km of each other.

Tran­s­por­ta­ti­on

Sup­ply chain: 

• Truck +Tra­iler EURO3‑6 ave­ra­ge 24T capacity
• Inter­na­ti­onal Fre­ig­ht Car­ri­er (ship) 

E- com­mer­ce:

• In sto­re pick-up
• Bike couri­er

Rag­narøk is a vegan-fri­end­ly brand, which means they use only vege­ta­ble-based mate­ri­als. No ani­mals are invol­ved in the pro­duc­ti­on of the fabrics. 

Pro­duct design

When you say Rag­narøk, you say slow fashi­on. The brand sta­tes that fast fashi­on domi­na­tes the indus­try, whilst reform is urgen­tly needed. Rag­narøk focu­ses on pro­du­cing long-las­ting, tran­s­pa­rent, ethi­cal, and more sus­ta­ina­ble clot­hes that res­pect and care for the pla­net and the people invol­ved. The t‑shirts are ava­ila­ble in cla­ssic colo­urs like black and whi­te and in loose-fit­ting or fit­ted styles. So you can deci­de which one is best for you!

Good to know: Ten­cel is soft, anti­bac­te­ri­al, and bre­at­ha­ble. Due to the long weara­bi­lity, this means the need to wash your t‑shirts after every wear is not requ­ired. So, saving water.

The­ir sizing ran­ges from XXS-XXL.

Slow fashi­on processes

Rag­narøk appli­es made-to-order pro­duc­ti­on.

Every col­lec­ti­on starts with an idea that alig­ns with the­ir core valu­es: sus­ta­ina­bi­lity, cir­cu­la­rity and local pro­duc­ti­on. The desig­ners bra­ins­torm desig­ns that are stylish and fun­c­ti­onal, whi­le having mini­mal impact on the envi­ron­ment. The­se desig­ns are deve­lo­ped into pro­totypes in the­ir wor­k­shop, whe­re they expe­ri­ment with deta­ils, fits and finishes.

Rag­narøk offers regu­lar dis­co­unts and spe­ci­al offers. They beli­eve everyo­ne sho­uld have access to sus­ta­ina­ble fashi­on, no mat­ter the­ir bud­get. This is why they want to ensu­re the­ir pro­duc­ts rema­in affordable.

Tran­s­pa­ren­cy on product

Each pro­duct page deta­ils the mate­ri­als and care instructions.

Tran­s­pa­ren­cy on processes

Rag­narøk has not­hing to hide; they want to achi­eve total tran­s­pa­ren­cy of every pro­duc­ti­on sta­ge. They also want to invol­ve the cus­to­mer in showing whe­re the­ir clot­hes ori­gi­na­te from and the­ir actu­al cost. 

Every part­ner, every mate­ri­al, and every pro­cess in the com­pany is the­re­fo­re acce­ssi­ble to the cus­to­mer. This way, you can see the cost bre­ak­down for each pro­duct, which route it has taken, and the pro­duc­t’s foot­print. Rag­narøk has had an inde­pen­dent LCA (Life Cycle Analysis) car­ri­ed out to iden­tify, among other thin­gs, the water con­sump­ti­on, the CO2 emi­ssi­ons, and the dis­tan­ce tra­vel­led. COSH is thril­led to see this!