Swedish Stockings

PRO­DUC­TI­ON LOCATIONS 

• Swe­den (Köping)
• Italy (Cas­tel Goffredo)
• Chi­na
• India
• Japan
• South Afri­ca
• Tur­key
• Ger­many
• Czech Repu­blic
• Isra­el
• South Korea

WOR­KING CON­DI­TI­ONS & LIVING WAGES 

The brand wor­ks exclu­si­vely with hand-pic­ked fac­to­ri­es in nor­t­hern Italy. Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs requ­ires all sup­pli­ers to under­go annu­al SME­TA audits, and to map, track, and moni­tor all sites invol­ved in pro­duc­ti­on across all tiers of the sup­ply cha­in. This hel­ps to pre­vent unsa­fe wor­king con­di­ti­ons, exce­ssi­ve labor hours, dis­cri­mi­na­ti­on, low pay, and for­ced labor. They visit the­ir fac­to­ri­es at least once per year and ensu­re com­pli­an­ce with its soci­al sus­ta­ina­bi­lity cri­te­ria and main­ta­in col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve relationships.

The Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs brand tran­s­pa­ren­tly sha­res the names of the­ir pro­duc­ti­on part­ners. This infor­ma­ti­on allowed COSH! to learn more abo­ut pro­duc­ti­on sites and con­di­ti­ons. For ins­tan­ce, seve­ral pro­du­cers have a SA8000 label and seve­ral sus­ta­ina­bi­lity labels such as OEKO-Tex 100 and GRS label (Glo­bal Recy­cling Standard).

In 2022, the Swe­dish brand said they were col­la­bo­ra­ting with the non-pro­fit orga­ni­sa­ti­on ​‘The Per­fect Wor­ld Foun­da­ti­on’ to draw atten­ti­on to over­fi­shing and pol­lu­ti­on pro­blems in oceans.

They sta­te that in 2023 they laun­c­hed the­ir own pro­duc­ti­on com­pany, howe­ver no fur­t­her deta­ils are made ava­ila­ble on the­ir website. 

MATE­RI­ALS

• Amni Soul Eco® polyamide
• ECONYL® 100% rege­ne­ra­ted nylon 
• EVO® plant-based polyamide
• Q‑NOVA® rege­ne­ra­ted nylon (polya­mi­de)
• Q‑CYCLE® recy­cled polyamide
• SEN­SIL® Eco­ca­re recy­cled polyamide
• Elas­ta­ne
• GOTS or OSC Orga­nic Cotton
• RWS and mule­sing-free Wool
• Cash­me­re

The brand sta­tes they use over 80% recy­cled mate­ri­als in the­ir col­lec­ti­ons. For tig­h­ts, they rely on recy­cled and rege­ne­ra­ted polya­mi­des like Econyl®, Q‑Nova®, Q‑Cycle®, and Sen­sil® Eco­Ca­re. The­se mate­ri­als are sour­ced from pre- and post-con­su­mer was­te such as fishing nets, fabric scraps, and indus­tri­al plas­tic waste.

They also incor­po­ra­te EVO®, a bio-based polya­mi­de made from cas­tor bean oil resi­du­es, and Amni Soul Eco®, a biode­gra­da­ble polya­mi­de that bre­aks down in lan­d­fill conditions.

Sin­ce stret­ch and dura­bi­lity are essen­ti­al for hosi­ery, all yar­ns are blen­ded with elas­ta­ne. Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs aims to use Roica™ EF, a more res­pon­si­ble elas­ta­ne made from 58% pre-con­su­mer recy­cled con­tent. Howe­ver, due to limi­ted ava­ila­bi­lity of recy­cled elas­ta­ne, they some­ti­mes use vir­gin Cre­ora® elas­ta­ne pro­du­ced by Hyo­sung in South Korea and for the­ir Sof­twe­ar Col­lec­ti­on vir­gin elas­ta­ne made in Italy.

In some of the­ir soc­ks col­lec­ti­ons, the brand incor­po­ra­tes natu­ral mate­ri­als like orga­nic cot­ton, RWS-cer­ti­fi­ed wool, and occa­si­onal­ly cash­me­re. To use more sus­ta­ina­ble opti­ons, the brand cho­oses orga­nic cot­ton and RWS (Res­pon­si­ble Wool Stan­dard) cer­ti­fi­ed wool. A small per­cen­ta­ge of the col­lec­ti­on also con­ta­ins cash­me­re, sour­ced from China.

PAC­KA­GING 

All pac­ka­ging is made from FSC-cer­ti­fi­ed car­d­bo­ard. Whi­le the hosi­ery is still wrap­ped in plas­tic for pro­tec­ti­on, Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs con­ti­nu­es to seek bet­ter alter­na­ti­ves. The brand does not spe­cify pac­ka­ging deta­ils for e‑commerce or sup­ply cha­in logistics

WATER USA­GE & CHEMICALS 

Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs outli­nes cle­ar expec­ta­ti­ons for che­mi­cal hand­ling and water mana­ge­ment thro­ug­ho­ut its sup­ply cha­in. Accor­ding to the brand’s Code of Con­duct, all busi­ness part­ners must com­ply with appli­ca­ble laws and regu­la­ti­ons on che­mi­cal use, dis­po­sal, and sto­ra­ge. This inclu­des hol­ding valid per­mits and fol­lowing the Safety Data She­ets (SDS) of every che­mi­cal used.

To mini­mi­ze water con­sump­ti­on, Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs col­la­bo­ra­tes with pro­duc­ti­on faci­li­ti­es that use more water-effi­ci­ent dye­ing pro­ce­sses. The dye­ing of tig­h­ts takes pla­ce after knit­ting and befo­re sewing and sha­ping. The brand sta­tes that the was­tewa­ter from the­se pro­ce­sses is cle­aned and tre­ated to pre­vent envi­ron­men­tal harm befo­re it is rele­ased or reused.

All pro­duc­ts are dyed using OEKO-TEX® cer­ti­fi­ed pro­ce­sses, which means the che­mi­cal use is res­tric­ted and moni­to­red for safety, and the fini­shed pro­duc­ts are safe for skin con­tact. Thro­ugh the­se com­bi­ned measu­res, Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs aims to limit water was­te and ensu­re more res­pon­si­ble che­mi­cal mana­ge­ment across its sup­ply chain.

The use of syn­t­he­tic mate­ri­als such as polya­mi­de and elas­ta­ne also car­ri­es the risk of micro­plas­tics being rele­ased when washing the clot­hes. Learn more abo­ut the impac­ts of plas­tic from clot­hing pro­duc­ti­on here. 

CIR­CU­LAR PRO­DUCT DESIGN 

Alt­ho­ugh tig­h­ts are typi­cal­ly hard to recy­cle due to the­ir blen­ded syn­t­he­tic con­tent, Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs is deve­lo­ping more cir­cu­lar pro­duct stra­te­gi­es. They design pro­duc­ts to last lon­ger thro­ugh impro­ved dura­bi­lity, rein­for­ced toes and heels, and pre­mi­um yar­ns. In 2023, they intro­du­ced a ​“Tig­h­ts To Tables” ini­ti­ati­ve that recy­cles col­lec­ted tig­h­ts into fur­ni­tu­re thro­ugh a pro­cess of shred­ding, mol­ding, and pre­ssing the mate­ri­al into new objects. 

Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs ack­nowled­ges that most tig­h­ts are made with mate­ri­al blen­ds, spe­ci­fi­cal­ly polya­mi­de (nylon) and elas­ta­ne, which are both syn­t­he­tic mate­ri­als. The­se blen­ds are nece­ssary to achi­eve the elas­ti­city, dura­bi­lity, and fit requ­ired for hosi­ery. Whi­le they do not mix plant-based and syn­t­he­tic mate­ri­als in a sin­gle pro­duct, they also sta­te that blen­ded syn­t­he­tic fibers like polya­mi­de and elas­ta­ne are cur­ren­tly not recy­cla­ble thro­ugh stan­dard texti­le recy­cling systems. 

This means whi­le the­ir pro­duc­ts are made from syn­t­he­tic blen­ds (not mixed with plant-based fibers), they are still not mono-mate­ri­al, which limits recy­cla­bi­lity. Howe­ver, the brand is tran­s­pa­rent abo­ut this chal­len­ge and is acti­vely explo­ring inno­va­ti­ons that could allow for more cir­cu­lar design in the future.

CIR­CU­LAR BUSI­NESS MODELS 

Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs Recy­cling Club ini­ti­ati­ve enco­ura­ges cus­to­mers to send in any brand of old, used tig­h­ts in exc­han­ge for a dis­co­unt on a new pair. The­se retur­ned pro­duc­ts are not re-used as clot­hing due to the fiber blen­ds, but ins­te­ad are repur­po­sed in col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with desig­ners and rese­ar­c­hers, tran­sfor­ming used tig­h­ts into tables and stools.

In 2023, 6,384 pairs of tig­h­ts were col­lec­ted thro­ugh the Recy­cling Club. This ini­ti­ati­ve is cur­ren­tly ava­ila­ble to EU cus­to­mers only, with ship­ping cos­ts cove­red by the customer. 

The brand does not cur­ren­tly offer a repa­ir service. 

DIS­TAN­CE & COM­PLEXITY OF THE SUP­PLY CHAIN 

• Pro­duc­ti­on loca­ti­ons: Swe­den (Köping), Italy (Cas­tel Gof­fre­do), Chi­na, India, Japan, South Afri­ca, Tur­key, Ger­many, Czech Repu­blic, Isra­el, South Korea
• Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs HQ is loca­ted in Stoc­k­holm, Sweden.
• They sell the­ir pro­duc­ts inter­na­ti­onal­ly thro­ugh the­ir onli­ne shop, with a physi­cal pre­sen­ce in reta­il sto­res in Den­mark, Finland, Fran­ce, Japan, Swe­den, UK, USA.

On the­ir web­si­te, Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs sha­res a lot of infor­ma­ti­on abo­ut the­ir sup­ply cha­in. This allowed COSH! to verify that all soc­ks and tig­h­ts are knit­ted and sewn wit­hin Euro­pe, mainly in Italy. Much of the mate­ri­als also come from the­ir Ita­li­an sup­pli­er, alt­ho­ugh it is not always cle­ar whet­her the pro­duc­ti­on pro­cess itself takes pla­ce in Italy. 

Some mate­ri­als tra­vel a lon­ger dis­tan­ce to get to Euro­pe. The cash­me­re, for ins­tan­ce, comes from Chi­na and the she­ep’s wool is sour­ced in South Afri­ca. The brand also wor­ks with select pro­du­cers from Japan, Isra­el, South Korea, Ger­many, Tur­key, Chi­na, Czech Repu­blic and India.

TRAN­S­POR­TA­TI­ON 

Fini­shed pro­duc­ts are ship­ped to the brand’s ware­ho­use in Köping, Swe­den, then dis­tri­bu­ted glo­bal­ly. Tran­s­por­ta­ti­on met­hods for e‑commerce are not disclosed.

Most of the col­lec­ti­on con­ta­ins no ani­mal-deri­ved mate­ri­als and is the­re­fo­re vegan. 

Only a small per­cen­ta­ge of the pro­duc­ts con­ta­in she­ep’s wool and cash­me­re. Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs men­ti­ons whe­re the wool comes from, namely Chi­na and South Afri­ca. Whi­le the res­pon­si­bi­lity is set to the sup­pli­er, the brand has its own code of con­duct outli­ning mini­mum requ­ire­ments for acqu­iring mate­ri­al from regi­ons whe­re ani­mal wel­fa­re is res­pec­ted and sour­cing does not result in deforestation.

PRO­DUCT DESIGN 

The col­lec­ti­ons inclu­de tig­h­ts, soc­ks, knee-hig­hs, leg­gin­gs, and sha­pewe­ar, with robust design featu­res for dura­bi­lity. Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs offers a rela­ti­vely limi­ted size ran­ge, with most hosi­ery pro­duc­ts ava­ila­ble in four sizes: XS, S, M, and L. Some styles extend to XL, but this is not con­sis­tent across the full collection.

SLOW FASHI­ON PROCESSES 

Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs featu­res a ste­ady core col­lec­ti­on, peri­odi­cal­ly refre­shed aiming to limit seaso­nal over­pro­duc­ti­on. Whi­le they offer peri­odic pro­mo­ti­ons, they do not rely on flash sales. 

Tig­h­ts are often very pro­ne to tears and wear, and are the­re­fo­re often seen as a dis­po­sa­ble pro­duct. That is why Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs not only rese­ar­c­hes the recy­cling poten­ti­al of the­ir tig­h­ts, but also rese­ar­c­hes the deve­lop­ment of tear-resis­tant mate­ri­als. On the web­si­te, tips and washing ins­truc­ti­ons are pro­vi­ded as gene­ral texts to guide lon­ge­vity pro­ce­sses. Des­pi­te all this, the lifes­pan of tig­h­ts rema­ins short, espe­ci­al­ly for more sen­si­ti­ve items, such as the tran­s­pa­rent and lace tig­h­ts, which can only be worn a few times.

TRAN­S­PA­REN­CY ON PRODUCT 

By focu­sing fir­mly on tran­s­pa­ren­cy, Swe­dish Stoc­kin­gs demons­tra­tes the­ir com­mit­ment and ambi­ti­on when it comes to sus­ta­ina­bi­lity. The brand aims to make all pro­duc­ts ful­ly tra­ce­able in the­ir 2023 Sus­ta­ina­bi­lity Report. 

The pro­duct pages show mate­ri­al com­po­si­ti­on, coun­try and fac­tory of ori­gin, lon­ge­vity featu­res, and care tips. To sup­ple­ment this, they also pro­vi­de size charts that inclu­de heig­ht and weig­ht guidan­ce to help cus­to­mers cho­ose the rig­ht fit. Howe­ver, inclu­si­ve sizing (such as plus sizes beyond XL or peti­te opti­ons) is not widely ava­ila­ble. 

On some pro­duct pages, a full ​‘pro­duct foot­print’ report is visible.

TRAN­S­PA­REN­CY ON PROCESSES 

The brand typi­cal­ly publi­shes an annu­al sus­ta­ina­bi­lity report with the most recent rele­ase in 2023, sha­ring deta­ils on the­ir sup­ply cha­in, mate­ri­als and recy­cling pro­jec­ts. In gene­ral texts on the­ir web­si­te they pro­vi­de infor­ma­ti­on on the fac­to­ri­es they use, mate­ri­al bre­ak­down and the­ir Sup­pli­er Code of Conduct.