Sustainable Fabric?

What do we mean when we talk about sustainability in our clothing?

Right now, there's no such thing as a sustainable fabric. All fabrics require natural resources to produce, process and/or deliver. In the production of our products, however, we seek out fabrics that offer superior sustainability characteristics. And, in our efforts to blend our principle ideals of beauty, performance and sustainability, our fabrics get some of the highest marks around for sustainability, when compared to just about everything else on the market today. That said, we still have a long way to go.

Where We Stand
We believe that a sustainable fabric is one that leaves the least impact throughout its lifespan-from creation, through its long life, and once it reaches its usable life's end.

What We're Doing
There are numerous elements to consider when examining the idea of sustainability as it relates to fabric, from embedded energy to carbon footprint to waste created to transportation to end of life strategies, and that's just to name a few. We've chosen three key areas as a value set for our fabric development efforts. They are far from the only things we focus on, but we acknowledge that given our size and newness, they are areas where we can be most effective in creating positive change in our field and in the market at large:

BEGINING OF LIFE AND END OF LIFE  (BOL/EOL) STRATEGY
We look at the energy and resources used to create a fabric, and the opportunities and systems to deal with a product at the end of its useful life. We also distinguish between the life cycle of the garment and the initial and end considerations of its fiber. Our considerations around BOL/EOL fabric impacts have led us away from entire...