ZERUM

ZERUM’s com­mit­ment to ethi­cal prac­ti­ces is deeply inte­gra­ted into its sup­ply chain. 

By cho­osing to pro­cu­re GOTS-cer­ti­fi­ed cot­ton from Gre­ece and Tur­key, ZERUM ensu­res that the­ir mate­ri­als meet the hig­hest stan­dar­ds of orga­nic cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on, which covers not only the envi­ron­men­tal aspec­ts of pro­duc­ti­on but also the soci­al con­di­ti­ons of the wor­kers invol­ved. This cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on guaran­te­es that the cot­ton is cul­ti­va­ted in a man­ner that is both envi­ron­men­tal­ly fri­end­ly and bene­fi­ci­al to the local com­mu­ni­ti­es.

The majo­rity of ZERUM’s T‑shirts are woven and dyed in Aus­tria. The­ir lon­g­s­tan­ding part­ner­ship with a family-run tailo­ring shop in Hun­gary, has evol­ved into a dedi­ca­ted faci­lity pro­du­cing exclu­si­vely for ZERUM. Being an EU-based pro­duc­ti­on, ZERUM adhe­res to strin­gent EU regu­la­ti­ons com­pli­an­ce.

The­ir prints are desig­ned by vari­ous artis­ts and illus­tra­tors. ZERUM pla­ces par­ti­cu­lar emp­ha­sis on cre­ati­ve fre­edom and artis­tic expre­ssi­on. They want T‑shirts to not just look cool, but also be tho­ug­ht-pro­vo­king and ori­gi­nal.

This clo­se-knit pro­duc­ti­on cha­in ensu­res quality and adhe­ren­ce to ethi­cal standards.

ZERUM uses all natu­ral and envi­ron­men­tal­ly fri­end­ly mate­ri­als, such as orga­nic cot­ton, orga­nic linen, Ten­cel, Eco Vero, Micro-Modal, and wool.

Organic cotton

The orga­nic cot­ton comes from Gre­ece and Tur­key. In con­trast to conven­ti­onal cot­ton, no pes­ti­ci­des or fer­ti­li­zers are used in orga­nic cul­ti­va­ti­on and the water con­sump­ti­on of conven­ti­onal cot­ton is many times hig­her than that of orga­nic cot­ton. Thro­ugh man­da­tory crop rota­ti­on, the soil rema­ins heal­t­hy in orga­nic far­ming and sto­res water bet­ter. If it is still too dry, most of the water is irri­ga­ted with rainwa­ter. Read more abo­ut orga­nic cot­ton here.

Organic linen

Orga­nic linen, also a natu­ral fibre, which is obta­ined from flax, is par­ti­cu­lar­ly robust and hard-wearing. Linen clot­hing is very com­for­ta­ble to wear. Blo­uses, shirts, skirts and tro­users are par­ti­cu­lar­ly popu­lar in the sum­mer, but clot­hing made from linen also wor­ks well in win­ter. Linen has a cooling effect, is mois­tu­re-regu­la­ting and bre­at­ha­ble. Simi­lar to orga­nic cot­ton, the orga­nic cul­ti­va­ti­on of flax pays atten­ti­on to soil heal­th and avo­ids pes­ti­ci­des and pure monoculture.

Tencel

Ten­cel is con­si­de­red a sus­ta­ina­ble semisyn­t­he­tic fibre. The basis of this mate­ri­al is cel­lu­lo­se, which is obta­ined from wood. How does Ten­cel feel on the skin? Won­der­ful­ly soft and ple­asan­tly lig­ht. Ten­cel is not cal­led vegan silk for not­hing. The fibre is more bre­at­ha­ble than cot­ton and absor­bs more moisture. 

EcoVero

With Eco­Ve­ro, the Aus­tri­an com­pany Len­zing has taken a step fur­t­her in ter­ms of sus­ta­ina­ble vis­co­se. Just like vis­co­se, the fibre is made from wood and yet the­re is a big dif­fe­ren­ce. The wood at Eco­Ve­ro comes exclu­si­vely from sus­ta­ina­ble and cer­ti­fi­ed sour­ces, and the che­mi­cal pro­cess during pro­duc­ti­on is clo­sed. In other wor­ds, no che­mi­cals – which are hig­hly toxic in the case of vis­co­se – end up in the gro­un­dwa­ter or anywhe­re else they sho­ul­d­n’t go. The dif­fe­ren­ce to Ten­cel is a cer­ti­fi­ca­te that ful­ly guaran­te­es the tra­ce­abi­lity of the tre­es used. Len­zing Eco­Ve­ro has been awar­ded the EU Eco­la­bel.

Micro Modal

Micro-Modal is, as the name sug­ges­ts, an even finer and lig­h­ter cel­lu­lo­se fibre made from sus­ta­ina­ble wood. It has the same posi­ti­ve pro­per­ti­es as Ten­cel and Eco­Ve­ro, but its lig­h­t­ness makes it par­ti­cu­lar­ly suita­ble for underwear.

Wool

Wool t‑shirts and swe­aters are warm, bre­at­ha­ble, and mois­tu­re-wic­king. They offer natu­ral odo­ur resis­tan­ce and dura­bi­lity, making them ide­al for both com­fort and long-las­ting wear. Wool bene­fits the pla­net by being natu­ral­ly biode­gra­da­ble and renewa­ble.

Many items and mate­ri­als in the ZERUM col­lec­ti­on car­ry the GOTS seal of quality, ensu­ring sus­ta­ina­ble pro­duc­ti­on. From the raw fibres to manu­fac­tu­ring con­di­ti­ons and fair wor­ker wages, every aspect is tho­ro­ug­hly ins­pec­ted and veri­fi­ed by inde­pen­dent aut­ho­ri­ti­es to meet GOTS standards.

Woven and dyed with water-based and skin-friendly colours

The majo­rity of the­ir T‑shirts are woven and dyed in Aus­tria. The GOTS-cer­ti­fi­ed com­pany dyes exclu­si­vely with water-based and skin-fri­end­ly colo­urs.

Sustainable packaging

For the most part, ZERUM sen­ds goods in reused car­d­bo­ard boxes. From the pro­duc­ts them­sel­ves to our T‑shirt pac­ka­ging made from recy­cled car­d­bo­ard – we attach gre­at impor­tan­ce to wor­king as sus­ta­ina­bly and plas­tic-free as possi­ble.

ZERUM ensu­res CO2-neutral deli­ve­ri­es to cus­to­mers via pos­tal services.

ZERUM emp­ha­si­zes cir­cu­la­rity in its pro­duct design by using enti­rely natu­ral and biode­gra­da­ble mate­ri­als like orga­nic cot­ton, orga­nic linen, Ten­cel, Eco Vero, Micro-Modal, and wool, all dyed with natu­ral colours. 

Alt­ho­ugh the brand does not cur­ren­tly offer repa­ir ser­vi­ces or a resa­le plat­form, the inhe­rent recy­cla­bi­lity and biode­gra­da­bi­lity of the­ir mate­ri­als ensu­re that the­ir pro­duc­ts can re-enter the life cycle, redu­cing waste.

ZERUM, headqu­ar­te­red in Graz, Aus­tria, main­ta­ins a rela­ti­vely short sup­ply cha­in by focu­sing pro­duc­ti­on wit­hin Euro­pe and Tur­key. This stra­tegy not only mini­mi­zes long-dis­tan­ce tran­s­port, the­reby redu­cing the­ir car­bon foot­print, but also sup­ports local family busi­ne­sses.

The­ir orga­nic cot­ton fabrics are pri­ma­rily woven, dyed, and sewn in Aus­tria, whi­le other col­lec­ti­ons like Eco­Ve­ro and Ten­cel are pro­du­ced and assem­bled in Tur­key. Addi­ti­onal­ly, they have a tailo­ring shop in Hun­gary.

The tran­s­port to the end cus­to­mer is car­ri­ed out in a CO2 neutral man­ner by post.

ZERUM sour­ces its wool exclu­si­vely from con­trol­led orga­nic ani­mal husban­dry (kbT) that is both mule­sing- and chlo­ri­ne-free, ensu­ring the wool comes from sla­ug­h­ter-free far­ms. This com­mit­ment to ethi­cal sour­cing exten­ds to every step of the­ir pro­duc­ti­on chain.

In 2019, they were named ​“Gol­den Cham­pi­on” in Aus­tria by the ani­mal pro­tec­ti­on orga­ni­za­ti­on ​“Vier Pfo­ten”, toget­her with AK OÖ, for the com­ple­te tran­s­pa­ren­cy in the­ir wool production.

At ZERUM you will find fair clot­hing and acce­sso­ri­es that are dura­ble and time­less.

By focu­sing on high-quality basics that are desig­ned to last, ZERUM enco­ura­ges con­su­mers to invest in pieces that tran­s­cend seaso­nal tren­ds, pro­mo­ting a more sus­ta­ina­ble appro­ach to fashi­on. This com­mit­ment to lon­ge­vity hel­ps redu­ce the envi­ron­men­tal impact asso­ci­ated with frequ­ent clot­hing pur­c­ha­ses and disposal.

ZERUM is tran­s­pa­rent in the­ir busi­ness prac­ti­ces by ope­nly sha­ring the­ir manu­fac­tu­ring loca­ti­ons and fos­te­ring long-stan­ding, rela­ti­on­ships with part­ners. They use high-quality, ethi­cal­ly sour­ced mate­ri­als and are cle­ar abo­ut the­ir sour­cing.

Whi­le not com­ple­tely vegan, they uphold high stan­dar­ds of ani­mal wel­fa­re. The­ir dura­ble basics tran­s­cend tren­ds, and they have sus­ta­ina­ble pac­ka­ging prac­ti­ces.

ZERUM truly goes abo­ve and beyond in its com­mit­ment to tran­s­pa­ren­cy and sustainability.