STSCsustainabletextiles

17/05/2024

Read below for the real-life shocking stats on (well shocking to some but NOT to the designers- they know… they all know and are still using it 🤯☠️)

• Over the last two weeks, leaders from 175 countries gathered in Ottawa, Canada to hash out the details of a global treaty to end plastic pollution which is expected to be finalised in a last round of negotiations set to be held in Korea in November.

The issue is urgent. A new study by the US-funded research and development centre, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, found that plastics have grown by more than any other bulk material on earth over the past decade, with significant and damaging consequences for human health and the environment.

Carbon pollution created by plastic production is responsible for 2.24 gigatons of CO2 per year, or nearly five percent of all global emissions. Microplastics, some of which shed from synthetic fashion, are entering our bodies through the food we eat and the air we breathe, with dangerous health implications. According to the UN, more than 2,400 chemicals that are associated with plastics are of concern to our health or the planet. And because they do not biodegrade, products like nylon tights and polyester sneakers can remain in landfills for generations. Incinerated plastics release heavy metals and toxins.

According to Ecuador’s chief negotiator, Walter Schuldt, the talks on global plastics treaty are “about the survival of the future of life, not only human life but all sorts of life on this planet.”

Big stakes. And ones in which fashion is complicit. Head the the to read more on what can be done?

✍️ Kenneth Pucker
📷 Shutterstock

01/05/2024

Boom 💥 says it all 🙏🏼
• If you take anything away from my page, can this be it. There is absolutely no way. Think about every single step. The fabric, the fabric dying, the sewing, the miles the garment travels, the promotion. Not possible to pay anyone in the supply chain anything like a fair salary when you consider all those costs. It is up to you how you shop, and I know I can’t just buy lots of things this month from small sustainable businesses. But, here lies the mindset switch. I don’t need everything this month or next month. I don’t need anything. I can be creative with what I have whilst still considering where I will next invest my money. I will continue sourcing one off considered pieces for others, circulating preloved and vintage and encouraging a slower mindset allowing myself and others to step outside this cycle.

30/04/2024

Combining sustainable textiles with Circular Design Consultation, brands, businesses and academia are invited to develop their circular design strategies and purchase STSC textiles.

Textiles include CircStretch bio-stretch for activewear, using Lenzing Group TENCEL™ and Asahi Kasei Roica V550 plus glorious GOTS organic Fairtrade Peace Silk satin and gorgeous blend of Peace Silk with TENCEL™ Luxe.

Plus our amazing GRS recycled wool where you’ll see not only how the wool is sorted, disassembled then recycled but we can also loop for you so products go back to the recyclers for infinite circularity and all data is captured by the RFiD Threads and Circlolink app.

This cycle is a great illustration of how Circlolink acts as an actual product passport. It creates a unique QR code but they’re only used as a “smart swing tag” carrying inert information for customers and can only single scan.

Learn how you can integrate the worlds first washable RFID thread for B2B communication and bulk scanning for efficiency throughout it’s entire journey; just like a real passport collecting data.

Plus how to use Circlolink NFC ring and QR Codes for customer communication
Visit the link to book a Consultation and purchase.

www.stscecotextiles.com



Circlolink. Digital Products Passport via RFiD THREADS®

29/04/2024

Check out which brands you’re wearing and how they work rate on using PFA Forever Chemicals. How do we stop the from being recycled back into “mainstream” textiles worn close to our skin or perhaps baby wear? By adding a Circlolink RFiD Thread Digital Product Passport ♻️💚

• ⚠️ Caution: Your clothes might have toxic chemicals in them. Popular clothing brands from to have made commitments to eliminate toxic chemicals known as *PFAS* from their products.

Never heard of PFAS before? They’re a family of an estimated 12,000 chemicals that pollute the drinking water of approximately 200 million people in America.

Swipe to see how companies have scored in terms of keeping PFAS out of their products, then check the link in bio to read the latest report we worked on with and

20/04/2024

20/04/2024

This “tip of the iceberg” case against upcycling is, at best, a huge missed opportunity. We espouse for collaboration to be the key to reducing emissions after all the climate crises is a global crisis, even if you can afford aircon.

The solution is simple & starts with a single thread; pop a Circlolink RFiD THREADS® Digital Product Passport in products then Chanel can claim a ROI. They’ve invested over years to build their brand + trial and select premium textiles and manufacturing for longevity so it makes sense they invest in EPR (note I’m not referring to Living Wages which is also crucial).

Our DPP facilitates communication and collaboration between the brands and the R-cycle providers extending a products life.

It’s a holistic B2B communications tool that acts like a real passport retaining both provenance data plus accepts new data to document the product’s journey as it travels around a circular economy. Let’s connect for the common good & retain provenance.

• A little over a year ago, Travis Kelce, the American football star and boyfriend of Taylor Swift, stepped out in a flamboyant silk shirt emblazoned with two barrel-chest-sized pink flamingos and trimmed across the bottom with a giant Chanel logo.

The design was upcycled from vintage Chanel scarves by stylist Logan Horne, whose brand, J. Logan Home, specialises in refashioning heritage luxury accessories. His pieces, which retail at close to $3,000 each, have been worn by musicians Dua Lipa and 2 Chainz and sold at stores including Farfetch, Kith and The Webster. They’ve also caught the attention of the French luxury giant’s legal department.

In February, lawyers acting for Chanel sent Horne a cease and desist letter, demanding his label stop selling products bearing its logo and other brand signifiers.

It’s the latest in a flurry of cases that have turned upcycling into an emerging legal battle ground, pitting a practice that’s been pitched as key to improving the industry’s sustainability credentials against the established bounds of trademark protection.

But why is upcycling so controversial? Read the full story by BoF’s
📷

15/04/2024

This just makes my blood boil. Why are we working so hard to preserve nature when they simultaneously work so hard to literally obliterate it. People, if it’s not from a trusted trademarked traceable@source do not buy it. Cotton and generic lyocell, viscose, rayon are causing mass deforestation and it’s catastrophic for both people and planet, and for what 🤷🏻‍♀️ a garment to wear a few times 🤷🏻‍♀️😭😩 stop buying them please 🙏🏼

• Better Cotton-certified producers linked to H&M and Zara’s supply chains are contributing to large-scale deforestation, land grabbing and violent harassment of local communities in a sensitive eco-region of Brazil, according to an investigation published Thursday by environmental NGO Earthsight.

The organisation tracked hundreds-of-millions of dollars of products sold by H&M and Zara to manufacturers who source cotton directly from two agribusinesses linked to malpractice in the country’s vast tropical Cerrado savanna.

The findings have raised fresh questions about the credibility of Better Cotton, a certification scheme widely used by major brands to assure their cotton is grown responsibly. Zara-owner Inditex slammed the Swiss-based organisation’s response to the investigation in a letter sent to its CEO earlier this week, complaining about a lack of transparency over how the initiative plans to address Earthsight’s allegations. Better Cotton did not comment on Inditex’s letter.

The bigger issue, according to Earthsight, is what its findings reveal about broader shortcomings in big brands’ ability to monitor and prevent environmental and human rights abuses in their supply chains.

Read the full story by

📷 Thomas Bauer/Earthsight 2023

14/04/2024

Announcing an opportunity to partner in a demo using Circlolink Digital Product Passport RFiD THREADS® and NFC ring at Copenhagen Global Fashion Summit.

Insert into fashion, accessories, footwear, showcase full circular systems, from fibre to feedstock collecting LCA data and ROI from circularity.

09/04/2024

Oh I love this story. Humans can be the best 😻 tho note the environmental destruction and climate crisis ie extremes is also caused by us. Note to self/others see a light switch on, switch it off if unnecessary 🙏🏼 every single itty bitty action helps 🙏🏼

07/04/2024

When I talk about this peace silk and the Fairtrade sericulture coop who make these glorious textiles it always fills my heart and takes me back to when I first touched them, ok I had 2 glasses of wine by that time but I knew I could feel the love and care.

Making garments with them will surely translate and turn fashion into heirlooms.

Visit the website to purchase a full 45 metre roll, or 15 metres where we can cut a roll x3 or 3 metres to trial first.

We no longer send tiny swatches because I won’t waste even a small amount, it’s too precious. The work, skill and love that goes into producing these really translate so every strand should be celebrated 🙏🏼♻️💚♻️

07/04/2024

PLASTIC MICROFIBRES from textiles made from “eco” recycled plastic bottles not only end up in our water but our soil, food, waterways, ocean, sea life. Seafood, animals then it’s found in our deep tissue, bloodstream, brain, our unborn’s amniotic fluid.

Researchers are only just now at the beginning to understand this important.

What we do know is that the fibres are known endocrine disruptors and carcinogens. The plastics in our clothes are highly likely contributing to poor health consequences for everyone; no one is immune.

We need to be minimising the use of plastics especially in garments that do not require them, legislate mills to capture water and dispose of the plastics microfibres that are shed in their millions at this point in safe ways.

Garments that do require plastic and/or tiny amounts of stretch should be hand washed or use a Guppyfriend Washing Bag to minimise agitation. The machine can filter .(rarely) but it’s the minimising of rubbing when washing is key.

Plus rPET should be certified to have these safety measures in place and not greenwashing. It’s either water capture or it’s pumped into the waterways. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also insist on rPET that holds high anti shedding capabilities.

The recycling of plastic bottles, not always from collected waste, was always a way for brands to look good, but maintain lower costs instead of “doing good” it’s just “less bad”.

When they say it’s to reduce emissions that’s also not quantified plus in landfill it releases both methane and carbon emissions and it lasts 200 years as opposed to say 8-12 weeks of natural fibres in compost.

Thanks for discussing downcycling- it’s difficult when brands will defer to the cheaper textiles rather than making the changes necessary to support customers health, people, animals and the environment for generations to come. ♻️ 💚🙏🏼

30/03/2024

This is a great illustration of synthetic “wool Vs animals wool.

IMO governments should outright ban some products that make zero sense and 100% negative impact including toxic chemicals and microfibre pollution for 200ish years. Why is this still legal 🤷🏻‍♀️

To improve on use of wool my tips are; only use dyes with certified eco-status (take an non toxic product and dye to become toxic is crazy)

And add a Circlolink. Digital Products Passport via RFiD THREADS® to communicate to other “R” sector businesses (repair, resell, redesign, remake) using bulk scanning RFiD for increased efficiency- this extends the products life which is the aim of

Plus communicates with a simple scan to efficiently sort, valorise, decommission and the brand has access to this data in realtime. Then it’s recycled accordingly (eg 100% wool or mixed blends)

The brand uses this data for compliance reporting (in EU only atm but if governments stepped up to legislate then brands are forced to pivot to support people and planet and stop taking advantage of a lack of regulation allowing them to trash our planet)

Plus it’s smarter; put the “economy” into a circular economy to increase ROI.

This is a fraction of what the Circlolink system is designed to do; and link brands to R providers, educate and increase brand loyalty and share the wealth and responsibility ♻️
Visit Circlolink.com for details.

————
“Tellenby Wool
With all the talk of the mountains of indestructible “plastic” clothing being shipped to Africa, India and in fact, anywhere out of sight and out of mind, I thought a timely reminder of how wool is NOT part of that would be useful.

These two jumpers were buried by my good friends in Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia. 6 months later they were dug up. The one on the left is synthetic, the one on the right is wool. They have preserved this powerful statement in resin for all to see for posterity. Sheep and their wool are not the problem but part of the answer.