Welcome to Ecouture's CSR profile, where you'll find answers to what Ecouture does to take care of the environment and people when we produce your clothes.
Ethical and environmentally friendly clothing production is Ecouture's most important core value. Since 2003, we have been making clothes from organic and sustainable textiles. The clothes are sewn in sewing rooms in Europe where there are healthy and safe working conditions. In this way, we take care of both the environment and the people who work to make Ecouture special. You can explore our CSR profile and find concrete examples of how we work to make the fashion industry a greener and more humane industry.
If you have any further questions regarding our work with environment and ethics, you are welcome to write to us at: shop@ecouture.dk
Season's greetings
Ecouture
Use of textiles
Ecouture uses all kinds of environmentally friendly textiles on the market. Mostly natural textile fibers such as organic cotton, linen, hemp, which can be grown in an environmentally friendly way and according to the rules of organic farming. These textiles are often certified by organizations such as GOTS - Global organic textile standard.
Ecouture's choice of raw materials and processes therefore creates products that are as pure as possible when working with an industrial manufacturing process. This ensures you skin-friendly, soft products that have not harmed nature and people unnecessarily in the manufacturing process. Fortunately, there are constant technological developments in environmentally friendly textile manufacturing, and we are always on the lookout for new ecological and sustainable initiatives. Also in recycling.
Waste
We generate as little waste as possible. Wherever possible, we use leftover fabric for smaller jobs to minimize the amount of textile waste. We reuse packaging as much as possible - so your shipment may occasionally look a little recycled, but there's a reason for that.
Packing and packaging
Ecouture uses packaging in the form of compostable wrapping bags and packing labels. All clothes you order on our webshop are packed in FSC-certified tissue paper and sent in bags made of bioplastic, eco-friendly recycled paper, recycled cardboard or recycled plastic. If you buy a bag in Ecouture's showroom, you can choose to take your newly purchased clothes home in a GOTS-certified organic cotton tote bag. Ecouture is part of Eco-friendly Packaging.
There are many fine details on Ecouture clothing. Prints are one of the things that give the design that extra finish. Our prints are made in Denmark. For this we use binders and pigments of non-toxic pigment binders.
Sewing rooms and work environment
Two of the sewing centers Ecouture uses are located in Europe - Poland (Qualitex) and Bulgaria (Pronto Moda). Here we have the opportunity to have a close dialog and ensure that the working conditions are in order. Our sewing centers
Design, finishing and sales take place in Denmark. For the part of the production that takes place in Denmark, we meet the requirement for working conditions - including accidents - by complying with the Danish working environment regulations. A requirement for healthy and safe working conditions means, among other things, that the company's layout and work processes are organized so that the work does not lead to a deterioration of the employees' physical or mental condition.
Guide: Ecolabels for textiles and clothing
If you want to avoid chemical residues in your clothes and buy clothes with a cleaner conscience, look out for the different eco-labels. Buy clothes made from textiles labeled with the international eco-label GOTS. This is the eco-label that currently has the highest standards in environmental certification and social justice requirements.
The EU Ecolabel Flower or the Nordic Ecolabel Swan are also eco-labels you can look for. They don't have as high standards as GOTS, but they guarantee that the clothes are among the most environmentally friendly on the market. The ecolabels can be found in major supermarkets, among other places. If you can't find clothes with GOTS, the Flower or the Swan, choose the private label OEKO-TEX. The OEKO-TEX label only sets requirements for the health and quality of the finished textile product - not the environment.
GOTS: Global Organic Textile Standard.
GOTS is the best eco-label available right now, and it is always the eco-label Ecouture strives for when sourcing new materials. In addition to being the eco-label with the highest standards in both environmental and social responsibility, GOTS' strength is that it works globally. It makes perfect sense to have an international certification, as textiles and clothing usually cross many national borders before they end up as a finished product in a clothing store in Denmark, so with an international label, production can be controlled in all stages and countries.
The Nordic Swan Ecolabel - the Nordic Ecolabel
If you find a piece of clothing or textile with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, you cannot assume that it is organic. The Nordic Swan Ecolabel simply shows that the product is among the least environmentally harmful within the product group in question. In Ecouture's opinion, the fact that the rules are set so that no more than 1/3 of the products on the Nordic market can meet them is the Nordic Swan Ecolabel's major weakness. This means that the products are not necessarily particularly environmentally friendly, but simply that they are among the least environmentally harmful products on the market right now.
The Flower - EU Ecolabel
The Flower ecolabel scheme is very similar to the Swan. But whereas the Nordic Swan Ecolabel only covers products that are among the least harmful to the environment and health in the Nordic countries, the Flower covers all products on the EU market. On the other hand, the Flower has higher requirements for ecology than the Swan.
Oeko-Tex - health only and not to be confused with ecology
Many people mistakenly believe that the Oeko-Tex label is organic. This is not the case. Textiles and clothing with an Oeko-Tex certification are grown conventionally and then tested for a small proportion of the hundreds of chemicals used in the cultivation and processing of textiles. Oeko-Tex therefore only guarantees that the content of selected chemicals is below a given limit.
Environmental info: Facts about natural and synthetic fibers
Body adornment, including clothing, has always been a status symbol, so it's no wonder that the consumption of fashion clothing has steadily increased as technology has made it possible to produce faster and cheaper. The focus is primarily on economics; cheap production allows manufacturers to make more money and allows consumers to buy cheap and therefore more clothes. The apparel industry is racing to keep up with demand.
However, conventional (cheap) cultivation and production methods have a number of unfortunate side effects in the form of huge costs for nature and people. Cotton is the main culprit: 25% of the world's pesticide consumption is used on cotton fields, which only take up 5% of agricultural land, and processing one kilo of cotton uses one kilo of chemicals!
There is a growing focus on organic non-food products, and the selection, design and quality are getting better and better. As Western consumers of all kinds of goods, we give the planet a helping hand by choosing environmentally friendly products. However, organic cotton could not be grown in sufficient quantities even if all cotton production was converted to organic farming. It is therefore not only important, but necessary, for the fashion industry to slow down and start looking for alternatives.
What is natural fiber?
Animal fibers and plant fibers are collectively referred to as natural fibers. The word natural should not be confused with the word organic, because natural fibers are not necessarily produced sustainably or organically. Quite the opposite. The word simply means that they have not undergone the same manufacturing process as man-made fibers. That they are, in short, whole fibers that originate from nature, as opposed to man-made fibers, which are dissolved into a pulp and restored to a long fiber.
Plant fibers include cotton and linen. All plants are made up of cellulose, which is what plant fiber textiles are made of.
Animal textile fibers come from the wool of sheep, goats, rabbits and other fur-bearing animals. The wool fiber consists of protein molecule chains. The same goes for silk, which is why silk also belongs to the animal fiber category.
What are synthetic fibers?
Man-made fibers are divided into the categories of regenerated fibers and synthetic fibers.
Regenerated fibers become the textiles we know as viscose, acetate and lyocell. They are basically made from cellulose from, for example, cotton waste or wood, but due to the processing method, they are categorized as man-made fibres and not natural fibres.
Synthetic fibers, like plastic, are made from oil, air and water. Metal fibers can also be used. They are used in textiles such as polyester, acrylic and nylon.
Why organic cotton?
Cotton is an exceptional natural fiber for many purposes; perfect for its softness and comfort and one of our favorite fibers for clothing and home textiles, which we are consuming more and more of.
At the same time, cotton is one of the most environmentally damaging crops on the planet. It covers just five percent of cultivated land, but is sprayed with almost 25 percent of the world's total insecticide consumption! 20-30 sprays per season are devastating to biodiversity, soil quality and groundwater, while farm workers are harmed during spraying, picking and the subsequent processing of the cotton.
The UN health organization WHO estimates that up to three million farm workers experience acute symptoms of poisoning every year as a result of working with pesticides. Of these, 40,000 die, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). Both farm workers and nature thrive much better when cotton is grown organically with crop rotation, natural fertilizers and biological control methods. Yields are slightly lower, but farmers are often better off anyway. They don't have to pay for pesticides and fertilizers, there are fewer middlemen, and the price per kilo is higher.
Fortunately, more and more organic cotton is being grown, which means that we can get cotton grown according to EU rules for organic farming. The further industrial process can take place according to rules from various eco-labels that have requirements for weaving, dyeing, washing, bleaching and other processes that the textiles must go through before a t-shirt is on the shelf in the store.
Organic cotton textiles benefit groundwater, biodiversity, farm workers, processing workers AND you as a consumer, as you avoid exposing your skin and your local water environment to chemical residues in your clothes. However, organic cotton production cannot keep up with the demand for textiles because the yield of an organically grown field is typically slightly lower than conventional farming. Therefore, other types of fibers need to be included to a greater extent.
Chemicals in textiles
Usage and adverse effects
Chemicals are used in the production of textiles, for example for dyeing and bleaching. Dyes contain lead, cadmium, chromium, tin and nickel, and when textiles are bleached, this can be done with chlorine-based chemicals. In some cases, textiles are also treated with chemicals to inhibit the development of fire, so-called flame retardants, which contain bromine or chlorine.
The chemicals are discharged with the wastewater during production, but there are still chemical residues in the textiles when they are sold in stores. When we wash the textiles, residues are also released into the aquatic environment.
Some of the chemicals can be problematic for the environment and health, and in some cases the concentration of chemical residues in the finished garment can be so high that they can pose a health risk to you and your children. For example, the textiles may contain residues of chemicals that can be carcinogenic, or chemicals that can cause allergic reactions or irritation on contact with the skin.
All chemical residues are washed out of the garment during the first few washes. Therefore, wash new clothes before using them.
Avoid clothes that smell of chemicals or perfume. The scent may have been added to hide the smell of chemicals.
It should be pointed out that the harmful effects of chemicals are concentration-dependent and that it is therefore not certain that textiles contain the chemicals in concentrations that are harmful to health. However, it makes sense to try to reduce the total chemical exposure to which we are exposed on a daily basis. Some of them impossible to avoid. One place where we can reduce daily chemical exposure relatively simply is by buying organic textiles.
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is found in many different products, for example as a preservative in paints and textiles. It is also found in many of the impregnations that make cotton and viscose more crease-resistant, shrink-proof and colorfast, and because of its preservative properties, it reduces the risk of clothes being attacked by pests during transportation and storage.
Formaldehyde is included in the IARC list of carcinogens (Gr. 2A). Formaldehyde can also be allergenic.
Formaldehyde has the following classifications, among others:
- R 23/24/25 Toxic by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed.
- R 34 Risk of burns.
- R 39 Risk of permanent serious damage to health.
- R 40 Possible risk of carcinogenic effects.
- R 43 May cause sensitization by skin contact.
- R 68/20/21/22 Hazardous: Possible risk of irreversible effects through inhalation, skin contact and ingestion.
Nonylphenol ethoxylate and nonylphenol
Nonylphenol ethoxylate is a surfactant that has previously been widely used in detergents. It can also be used as an emulsifier in cosmetics and as a dispersant in color pigments. The use of nonylphenol or nonylphenol ethoxylate in textile processing is prohibited in the EU, but there is no direct ban on importing textiles containing nonylphenol or nonylphenol ethoxylate. Studies show that the substance is present in imported cotton products.
Nonylphenol ethoxylate is easily degraded to nonylphenol, which has the following classifications, among others:
- R50/53 Very toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.
- R62 Possible risk of harm to reproduction.
- R63 Possible risk of harm to the unborn child during pregnancy.
Metals
Large amounts of fertilizer are used during cotton cultivation. The fertilizer often contains cadmium, which settles on the plant and is washed into the soil, where it is later absorbed by the cotton plants, among other things.
The metals antimony, bromine, chromium, copper, nickel, zinc, cadmium and lead are also used in color pigments for dyeing textiles.
In addition to groundwater contamination, we are exposed to increased cadmium exposure through skin contact with cotton and through plants that we consume as food.
Antimony, bromine, chromium, copper, nickel, zinc, cadmium and lead do not degrade and accumulate in nature. Some of these metals are vital to plants and animals in small concentrations, but what they have in common is that they are toxic in higher concentrations. Some are known allergens and others are known carcinogens.
Azo dyes
Azo dyes are widely used for dyeing textiles. The dyes are often cheap, provide bright colors and are easy to work with.
Some of the azo dyes are allergenic, possibly carcinogenic and toxic to aquatic organisms. The dyes are often water-soluble, which means they are easily absorbed through skin contact.