Sustainability - Clothing
‘Sustainability’ has become the buzz-word of the moment, and when it comes to design and production it is often used flippantly and irresponsibly. We have always worked with sincerity and integrity as the building blocks of our practice. We have a deep love and respect for our materials and the connection they give us to our environment, and hope to gift that joy of appreciation along with all of our products, from tables to tap handles, windows and knife-racks to shirts and jackets - the garments of everyday life.
WELSH WOOL
Our tweed is not only woven in Carmarthenshire but also made from wool fibre that is grown in Wales. We source our fleeces from our local farmers, selecting different breeds for the qualities of their wool. These fabrics support our local rural economy, sustainable development in sheep farming and help to preserve the traditional skills of our area.
Wool naturally sheds dirt and odours, keeps you warm - even when wet, is easy to repair and when a garment eventually comes to the end of its life it can be composted, returning nutrients to the soil.
ORGANIC COTTON
When we buy virgin cloth for linings it will always be Organic. Organic certification ensures that textiles are produced responsibly from growing the fibre with careful water management and without harmful pesticides or chemical fertilisers, through to spinning, weaving and dying. Organic certification also stipulates fair wages and supportive working conditions for all those involved along the way.
LINEN
Our shirts are made from European Flax and recycled cotton. This innovative fabric was developed by weavers in Northern Ireland, who are members of the European Masters of Linen and the Irish Linen Guild, continuing the weaving legacy of Ireland. Linen is one of the most sustainable textiles known to man. Flax is easy to grow (80% of flax used globally is grown in Europe), requires no pesticides and uses a fraction of the quantity of water compared to cotton. The resulting textile is hardwearing, dries quicker than cotton and is better at regulating body temperature.
DESIGNER SALVAGE
Large fashion houses commission thousands of meters of cloth at a time. This will then be sent on to a factory where the designs are produced extremely efficiently, often hundreds of pieces cut at once by skilled people with amazing machinery. At the end of this process there will be some lengths of cloth left over - often 3m here 8m there, which aren’t useable in the high level production system, so go to landfill as waste. As issues of waste and accountability within the fashion industry have become increasingly prominent, more companies are allowing these ‘leftovers’ to be made available to independent makers. Because we make just a few items at a time we can easily use short pieces of cloth and turn them into beautiful clothing rather than see them go to landfill.
When we select from designer salvage fabrics we continue to choose only natural fibres of the highest quality. We choose cloth that will complement our incredible Welsh wool, for linings or shirts, each telling their own story.
DESIGN
Our garments are designed for life. They are pieces that you will come back to day after day because they are comfortable, practical and make you feel good. They are designed with a their whole lifecycle in mind. The way they are constructed allows them to be repaired; we use buttons instead of zips, cuffs can be replaced, fabrics can easily be patched and darned.
We don’t use synthetic interfacings and are working towards all sewing threads being organic cotton.
We only make a few garments at one time and often make to order, which eliminates garment waste. We take time with our layouts to make sure that cutting is as efficient as possible and all fabric scraps are used either by us or other makers to produce smaller items (or they get composed if they are too small!)
Repair
We hope our clothing gets worn often and enjoyed fully, and so cannot reasonably expect it to last forever without the occasional need of attention. The fabrics we choose all darn and patch beautifully and we keep this in mind when designing our construction methods.
We will always welcome our garments back for repair. As we are a very small business we cannot always offer free repairs, but will always repair at cost, with no profit margin added. If you would like us to service a garment for you, please do get in touch with the details.