carbon in clothingWith organic materials, using wind-powered factories and innovative use of camels, our Co2 per product is around 80% lower than the average t-shirt. Organic fabrics mean less carbon-intensive nitrogen fertiliser, and less machinery. Renewable energy powers the factory in India and in the UK. New print technology reduces waste massively.
The Carbon Footprint of a product is the total amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that are emitted as part of its manufacture, distribution, use and disposal. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are so called because they trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere and keep the planet warm: too much GHG in the atmosphere causes climate change. It is important to remember that greenhouse gas emissions aren't just transport fumes. They come from all over the supply chain. To make one tonne of nitrogen fertiliser takes one tonne of oil, one hundred tonnes of water and creates seven tonnes of Co2. Going organic could do more good than electric transport. Our t-shirts start life as organic cotton, planted in fields in northern India. Less fertiliser, pesticides and machinery means less carbon. The cotton is often transported from the fields to the ginning plant by camel. The dye, cut and sew factory has it's own array of Vestas V52 wind turbines. Excess is sold to the Indian grid, which is predominanty coal fired. Our clothing is shipped to the UK, and we print everything using low-waste print technology in our factory in the UK, which is powered by Good Energy. The biggest area of work is post-purchase, as 80% of the carbon emissions from a t-shirt come from washing and drying. We changed our washcare instructions to wash cool, hang dry. At the end of life we recover old products for recycling. Up to 80% of the impact of a t-shirt occurs after purchase. This means the water, chemical toxicity, energy use and emissions from washing and drying your clothing. If every clothing manufacturer in the world halved their eco-footprint of their supply chain, it would still only make 10% difference over the whole product life cycle. We are working with Rapanui towards a circular economy with our incentivised material recovery program. Our next big challenge involves the in-use phase. We must inform our customers about the need to Wash Cool, Hang Dry |