It’s no surprise that fabric is central to what we produce. We do our best to only use organic or recycled materials in all our collections and for this we are really helped by recent huge advances in lessening the environmental impact of fabric production. We mainly use natural fibres as they biodegrade much faster than most synthetics and also they don’t release dangerous chemicals into the environment as they do so. And of course we let you know as much as we can about the fabric your clothes are made from and how it is produced: transparency and strict control are key features in our whole supply chain.

Organic Cotton

We use organic cotton instead of conventional cotton as it is grown in fields without using any chemical fertilisers, pesticides or defoliants. Organic cotton also has a lower negative impact on water quality, biodiversity and global warming. It’s clearly the only choice of cotton for us!

Most of the organic cotton we use at esmé studios is produced in India. We aim to use GOTS certified fabric as we are sure that it is produced correctly to our exact standards - that is, the cotton contains a minimum of 70% organic fibres and made with high water reduction, minimum waste and as little carbon dioxide pollution as possible. In fact, it uses a staggering 91% less water, leads to 46% less carbon dioxide emissions and uses absolutely zero pesticides and fertilisers compared to conventional cotton.


Chetna Organic Cotton

We like to partner with businesses we trust and have the same principles as us. That’s why we get our cotton from the GOTS and Fair Trade certified textile company The Rejlakschmi Cotton Mills or RCM for short.  Working with RCM means we support the Fair Trade ‘Chetna Organic’ project - a wide ranging initiative that works with more than 15,300 small cotton farmers in order to help improve their livelihood options and helps them make organic cotton a good and profitable business. The farms in the project are from the rain-fed regions of Maharashtra, Odessa and Andhra Padesh and cover about 35,000 acres in total. Chetna Organic helps the farmers with everything from better welfare for their families and fair working conditions to education about organic farming methods. It also helps them with contracts, bank loans and interest free pre-finance for their harvests. Social conditions have been improved as well as the local environment and drinking water is no longer polluted with toxic chemicals and pesticides. Working on a human and an environmental level, Chetna has had a positive affect on the lives of thousands

Tencel, Modal and Eco-Vero Viscose

These are materials all derived from natural grown woods - mostly FSC certified eucalyptus and beech trees. The fibres are called regenerated as they are produced by breaking down the wood and then building it up again to make a useable thread. Both the growing of the trees and the production is eco-friendly.

The fibres we use are produced to a very high standard from an Austrian textile company called Lenzing. They ensure environmentally responsible production from the sourced wood right through to the production which uses a new method that has fewer chemical steps and allows 99% of the chemical to be reused rather than washed away into the water supply. This is called a closed loop process - a huge improvement on days past when the fibre production process involved huge amounts of chemicals that were then released to pollute rivers and oceans.

Recycled Polyester

PET might sound cute but in reality it means polyethylene terephthalate and is the type of plastic derived from petroleum and is most often used to make soft drink bottles. Our polyester supplier uses these PET bottles and recycles them by melting them down and re-spinning into a useable fibre. A staggering 51 billion plastic bottles - none of them biodegradable - go to landfills worldwide each year so anything we can do to reuse them instead of allowing them to pollute the environment is a good thing. 

Our recycled polyester is produced according to the standards set by the Global Recycled Standard from the Textile Exchange. 
They verify and track recycling from raw materials to end product and also promote responsible environmental and social practices.

Recycled polyester uses 70% less energy, produces 37% less carbon dioxide and uses 90% less water than conventional virgin polyester.


Dying

Colour is important to our wardrobe but we do our best to make sure you get that without environmental damage. All the fabrics we use are dyed responsibly and meet the international standards like REACH regulations. We take it even further but using eco friendly Global Organic Textile Standards certified dyes with no harsh chemicals that cause pollution and skin irritation.


Water Consumption

Water is a valuable commodity and should be protected from pollution. All of the above fabrics and production methods help us reach our goal of minimising water consumption in manufacturing and dying. This can also be done by using rain water - a method used by our farming partners in India where they trap and reserve rainwater to use as irrigation during the dry seasons. The farms also maintain good soil quality by crop rotation rather than the use of damaging fertilisers, insecticides or pesticides.