NATURAL RUBBER
MOTIVE: Natural rubber comes from the sap of the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). Unlike synthetic rubber, which is a petroleum product, natural rubber is a renewable resource and comes from plantations primarily in South and Southeast Asia as well as Central America. As international demand for natural rubber increases, millions of rubber trees are being planted across the tropics; unfortunately, many national forests are clear cut for the new trees.
WHERE ARE WE NOW? Our sourcing of natural rubber is committed to provide only deforestation free, environmental and socially responsible natural rubber to our products. We want support farmers and producers to only operate under legal and responsible management practices. Though only 4% of global rubber plantation area is currently FSC®-certified, well-managed FSC®-certified forest management have the potential to affect a positive environmental and social transformation of the natural rubber sector. We are demonstrating to farmers and producers that there is a strong market for their sustainably produced natural rubber.
WHERE ARE WE GOING? We are on the mission to develop materials further with natural rubber source. Our sourced rubber comes from FSC® Certified plantations whichensures that the product come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits. This also ensure and monitor for abolition of child or forced compulsory labor, discrimination and right to collective bargaining.
RECYCLED POLYESTER (R-Pet)
MOTIVE: Recycled polyester, often called rPet, is made from recycled plastic bottles.The Positive of this fibre is it is a great way to divert plastic from our landfills. The production of recycled polyester requires far fewer resources than that of new fibres and generates fewer CO2 emissions. The fibre is naturally water repellent and performs well in the outdoors. The downside is it is still non/biodegradable and takes years to disappear once eventually disposed of. There are 2 ways to recycle polyester: For mechanical recycling, plastic is melted to make new yarn. This process can only be done a few times before the fibre loses its quality. Chemical recycling involves breaking down the plastic molecules and reforming them into yarn. This process maintains the quality of the original fibre and allows the material to be recycled infinitely, but it is more expensive.
WHERE ARE WE NOW? We do not use any virgin polyester in our current product arrange. Recycle polyester is a key fibre in our original eco leash. All our Recycled Polyester is sourced from a leading and responsible company in USA. By using recycled polyester made from post-consumer PET-bottles we are able to lower the carbon footprint compared to virgin polyester, with 75% lower emission.
WHERE ARE WE GOING? Our aim is not to use any virgin polyester in or future product range. We will continue to use recycled polyester in our Evo leash, planned launched first half of 2022. Due to recycle polyester being a well performing outdoor future fibre we envision our future life/positive product range will be dominated using this fibre.
Recycled TPU
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BIO TPU
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BIO EVA
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RECYCLED COTTON
MOTIVE: Recycled cotton prevents additional textile waste and requires far fewer resources than conventional or organic cotton. This makes it a great sustainable option. Cotton can be recycled using old garments or textile leftovers. The quality of the cotton may be lower than of new cotton. Recycled cotton is therefore usually blended with new cotton. The production of recycled cotton is still very limited.
WHERE ARE WE NOW? Our current supply chain partners collect pre-consumer scraps from factory floors that meet our quality standards. We are using recycled cotton in some products right now. Using recycled cotton saves 20,000 liters of water per kilogram of cotton and reduces the amount of energy use. Sometimes these figures can appear greenwashed, as much of the reduction in water and energy exists because the fiber has already been processed once.
WHERE ARE WE GOING? Going forward we would like to incorporate more of recycled cotton into our natural raw materials whenever possible to create and improve our coming life-positive product rating. Working with like mined partners to access new supply chains and technology so we can increase our use of this fibre.
ORGANIC HEMP
MOTIVE: Hemp is naturally antimicrobial with a high UV resistance. Hemp is also incredibly durable with 3x the tensile strength of cotton and why it was so highly prized by the sailors of old for their ropes and sails. Hemp has a large tap root capable of penetrating deep into the soil to pick up water and nutrients. These deep roots prevent erosion and also aerate the soil leaving it rich for the next crop. And when the traditional paddock or ‘dew’ retting process is used, hemp also returns 60-70% of the nutrients it takes back into the soil, making it the perfect rotation crop for farmers already growing soy or corn. The ability of hemp to leave soil in far better condition than when it started via a process called ‘phyto-remediation’ whereby hemp locks up pollutants such as heavy metals by absorbing them through the roots. High biomass crops like hemp are also able to sequester large amounts of carbon through boring old photosynthesis. In fact hemp can trap 1.63 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of hemp harvested (or 10 tonnes per acre), which is roughly 230% more than the equivalent fast growing Eucalypt forest in a year.
WHERE ARE WE NOW? We are using hemp in our board bags today, because it’s a great fiber with great properties as well as it sure looks great on that product.
WHERE ARE WE GOING? We are investigating to blend hemp with other materials to create new fusion materials with a greater appliance to our upcoming life-positive products.
Organic bamboo
MOTIVE: Organic plant-based celloluse fabric is a natural fabric made from the pulp of the bamboo grass. It grows quick and it is cool and does breathe making it a great choice for t-shirts. That was before, when we did not know better.
WHERE ARE WE NOW? There is more than one way to make rayon. The most common way – and the one widely used for bamboo – is called the viscose process. In this process, cellulose material (such as bamboo) is dissolved in a strong solvent to make a thick, viscous solution that is forced through a spinneret into a quenching solution where strands solidify into fiber. This is sometimes called hydrolysis alkalizations or solution spinning because the fiber is “spun” in a chemical solution.
WHERE ARE WE GOING? There Is No Such Thing as Organic Bamboo textile. Given that we’ve been using Rayon Viscose marketed as organic bamboo, we are taking our responsibility to phase out the use of this material in our coming products. What we currently have will be offered for customers, because all the effort that’s been put into making those garments needs to be honoured by wearing the garments, just like it was intended to do.
ALGAE INK
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RECYCLED CARDBOARD
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