Organic cotton

Cotton is a natural fiber and the most widespread profitable non-food crop in the world. Approximately half of all textiles are made of cotton. Currently cotton production methods are environmentally unsustainable – ultimately undermining the industry’s ability to maintain future production.

Bringing cotton production in line with even minimally acceptable environmental standards is a challenging task. eco.logic is working hard to choose cotton garments with smaller environmental footprints, and work with collaborators that adhere to global standards such as GOTS certification.

By using organic cotton with GOTS standards, we get a full record of the use of chemicals, energy, water consumption and waste water treatment in the the whole process. We also insure that our garments fulfill requirements that prohibit critical inputs such as toxic chemicals.

Cupro

Cupro is technically cotton, but from another part of the plant, giving the resulting fabric a significantly different hand than typical cotton. Cupro is a plant-based natural fiber made from a recycled part of the cotton plant. It also retains dye very well, meaning its dye process is much more streamlined in terms of waste.

The fabric is breathable and regulates body temperature well. Additionally, there is no need to take this textile to the cleaners- it can be washed and dried in the machine (unlike silk), is anti-static, and resists stretching out at high temperatures.

Silk

Silk is a highly renewable resource often with less impact on the environment that many other fabrics. The silk worms feed on mulberry leaves, which don’t require the use of pesticides or fertilizers to grow.

But silk is not a local resource in most places, so processing and transportation lead to pollution. Producing silk uses a lot of resources, and to clean it many harsh and intensive treatments and chemicals are used, which can pollute the ground water.

eco.logic is always looking for ways to reduce the negative impact on the environment throughout the whole garment process. We try to decrease the water usage and the use of toxic chemicals, as well as finding more environmental friendly transportation solutions.

Viscose

Viscose is a plant-based fiber and it is not inherently toxic or polluting. However, because of the growing fast-fashion industry, much of the viscose on the market today is manufactured cheaply using energy, water and chemically-intensive processes that have devastating impacts on workers, local communities and the environment.

If we use viscose, we prefer to use natural/vegan dyeing to make the fabric as sustainable as possible. Timeless design provides us the opportunity to not push for fast production and instead invest more time in processes with less use of energy, water and chemicals.

Lyocell/tencel

Lyocell is a regenerated cellulosic fiber which is sold under the trade name Tencel. Lyocell is know for being eco-friendlier in comparison with other regenerated fibers. From beginning to end, the manufacturing process is more environmentally sustainable. Another environmental benefit is that lyocell fabrics are fully biodegradable.

Linen

Linen is known to be the world’s strongest natural fiber. It is thicker than cotton and linen fiber has variable lengths, most of which are very long. This contributes to strength, which contributes to longevity. But there are still some challenges concerning linen production, since it’s quite water demanding.

Linen is one of the most biodegradable and stylish fabrics in fashion history. It is strong, naturally moth resistant, and made from flax plant fibers, so when untreated it is fully biodegradable. We like to use linen in timeless design to make the garment long lasting. We believe that combining strong materials and timeless design will result in decreasing the frequent need for new clothes. This will hopefully result in a change to the continuous demand for fast production/fashion.

Merino wool

Merino wool is a natural fiber that comes from Merino sheep, which are suited to local landscape and climate. Merino wool takes only one year to decompose, as opposed to most synthetic materials, such as polyester, which takes up to 1000 years.

The environmental impact of producing wool is more significant at the earlier stages of the supply chain. Producing wool is a CO2 demanding process, but wool hardly needs washing. Laundering garments is the most energy intensive part of the garment lifecycle, so owning items that require less laundering is always a good thing.

While it’s a natural, renewable, long-lasting and biodegradable fabric, wool production is a chemical- and water-intensive fabric to process. We try, as always, to find ways to reduce the use of water and chemicals, while considering the importance of environmental benefits you get after the production phase. When we choose wool we prefer to produce with something called bio wool, meaning that the wool fibers have been recycled, and that the dying process is natural.

Cashmere

Cashmere is a high-quality wool that comes from cashmere goats and must adhere to certain stringent requirements. It’s strong, light and highly insulating. Cashmere wool is often more sustainable, and the renewable fiber makes long lasting apparel.

All the environmental impacts throughout the whole process are necessary to consider, and we think it is important to mention that the cashmere goats are not all good for the eco.system. The demand for cashmere is high, and hungry goats eat and destroy the grassland with their hooves, an important part of the ecosystem.

Alpaca wool

Alpaca appears better than many other fibers, not only in its high quality appeal, but also for its luster, depth of color and its long life properties. Alpacas have almost none of the same environmental impacts that sheep and goats have. And one of the reasons is that alpaca have soft pads and not hooves, meaning the ground and topsoil does not get broken up as herds feed.

Alpaca produce a fleece that’s also warmer, natural, renewable, biodegradable and durable; it’s also lighter weight than wool. We use alpaca because of all the environmental benefits and its long lasting advantages.

Vegetable tanned leather  

Chrome tanning leather creates loads of toxic wastewater that, if left untreated, can cause massive environmental impacts and health problems. Vegetable tanned leather, using only natural tannins, has no significant negative environmental impact. Due to the careful tanning process and the natural tannins, vegetable tanned leather develops a rich and beautiful patina, and actually gets prettier with time and has a very long lifespan.

These are some of the reasons why eco.logic thinks vegetable tanned leather is far superior to chrome tanned leather, and why we want to use it for our products.

Polyester

Polyester is a synthetic petrolium-based fiber and is therefore made from a carbon-intensive non-renewable resource. The environmental impacts of polyester are relatively high. Cheap polyester is probably the biggest offender when it comes to the negative environmental cost of fashion.

It’s not only the production phase of polyester that is a high pollution source, but also when the clothes reach a washing machine. Every time you run your washing machine, thousands of microfibers are flushed down the drain. These are microscopic pieces of plastic, that could reach beaches and oceans where they can remain for decades.

But one of the most positive aspects of polyester is that it is often recyclable, and it is also possible to manufacture polyester from recycled plastics. If we are using polyester, we try to use as much recyclable as possible. If you want to maintain a sustainable wardrobe, it is best to avoid purchasing new polyester garments.