materials
cotton
why we love silk
Silk is one of the strongest fabrics despite its appearance. Its fibers refract light at multiple angles, giving it its characteristic sheen and luminous quality. It is the only naturally occurring continuous filament fiber, which also contributes to its strength.
Silk is naturally thermoregulating: silk fibers adjust to body temperature, ensuring a cool, dry experience in warm conditions and providing insulation in cold conditions.
Silk is also hypoallergenic, biodegradable within months under composting conditions, and has excellent dye uptake, producing rich, deep colors.
what's wrong with silk
Silk ranks higher than virtually all other fibers in terms of environmental impact. This fiber is produced by the Bombyx Mori, a worm that feeds on mulberry leaves to grow. It takes 187 kg of mulberry leaves to produce 1 kg of silk. A lifecycle analysis of raw silk production in China identified mulberry cultivation as accounting for 46% of total environmental impact, with terrestrial ecotoxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, and human carcinogenic toxicity among the primary impact categories.
Silk production also has a high carbon footprint, driven by high energy use for climate control, reeling, processing, and boiling water during cocoon harvesting. Most silk comes from China and India, where sericulture facilities are often coal-powered.
our only choice is deadstock
We love silk, but we don’t want to contribute directly to its production since its impacts are not as manageable and its sourcing as traceable as other fabrics.
Unless we find a more sustainable way to do things, we choose to only use deadstock silk fabrics. Using deadstock fabrics does not create new demand for production it diverts a product that already exists away from destruction or recylcing into lesser quality fabrics. Our silk garments should be treasured for what they are: limited, curated pieces to be loved and passed-down, not mere commodities.
social & animal welfare
On social conditions: the four most significant silk-producing countries are reported by the Global Slavery Index to have high modern slavery risks, with forced and child labor documented in Uzbekistan and India.
On animal welfare: silkworms (Bombyx mori) are killed during cocoon harvesting, typically by boiling or steaming, in order to keep the silk filament intact. The mulberry silkworm has been fully domesticated over centuries and cannot survive outside captivity. The species can no longer fly and its mouth structures are underdeveloped — it lives only long enough to spin its cocoon.
silk
why we love silk
Silk is one of the strongest fabrics despite its appearance. Its fibers refract light at multiple angles, giving it its characteristic sheen and luminous quality. It is the only naturally occurring continuous filament fiber, which also contributes to its strength.
Silk is naturally thermoregulating: silk fibers adjust to body temperature, ensuring a cool, dry experience in warm conditions and providing insulation in cold conditions.
Silk is also hypoallergenic, biodegradable within months under composting conditions, and has excellent dye uptake, producing rich, deep colors.
what's wrong with silk
Silk ranks higher than virtually all other fibers in terms of environmental impact. This fiber is produced by the Bombyx Mori, a worm that feeds on mulberry leaves to grow. It takes 187 kg of mulberry leaves to produce 1 kg of silk. A lifecycle analysis of raw silk production in China identified mulberry cultivation as accounting for 46% of total environmental impact, with terrestrial ecotoxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, and human carcinogenic toxicity among the primary impact categories.
Silk production also has a high carbon footprint, driven by high energy use for climate control, reeling, processing, and boiling water during cocoon harvesting. Most silk comes from China and India, where sericulture facilities are often coal-powered.
our only choice is deadstock
We love silk, but we don’t want to contribute directly to its production since its impacts are not as manageable and its sourcing as traceable as other fabrics.
Unless we find a more sustainable way to do things, we choose to only use deadstock silk fabrics. Using deadstock fabrics does not create new demand for production it diverts a product that already exists away from destruction or recylcing into lesser quality fabrics. Our silk garments should be treasured for what they are: limited, curated pieces to be loved and passed-down, not mere commodities.
social & animal welfare
On social conditions: the four most significant silk-producing countries are reported by the Global Slavery Index to have high modern slavery risks, with forced and child labor documented in Uzbekistan and India.
On animal welfare: silkworms (Bombyx mori) are killed during cocoon harvesting, typically by boiling or steaming, in order to keep the silk filament intact. The mulberry silkworm has been fully domesticated over centuries and cannot survive outside captivity. The species can no longer fly and its mouth structures are underdeveloped — it lives only long enough to spin its cocoon.
wool
why we love wool
Wool is naturally thermoregulating: the crimped fiber structure traps air in microscopic pockets, which insulates against cold but releases heat and moisture vapor when the body gets too warm.
Wool is also naturally moisture-wicking: it absorbs moisture vapor from the skin and releases it into the air, keeping the wearer dry even during physical activity.
Wool has natural antimicrobial properties that inhibit odor-causing bacteria, meaning garments stay fresher for longer between washes.
what's wrong with wool
Mulesing is the practice of cutting chunks of skin from the hindquarters of sheep to prevent flystrike — a parasitic infection. Australia is the world's top wool producer and more than 70% of its wool comes from sheep who are mulesed.
Land erosion and overgrazing are caused by sheep grazing the same piece of land for a prolonged period of time. Overgrazing means vegetation does not have enough time to grow back before being consumed. The soil becomes weak and vulnerable to erosion and desertification. Overgrazing can reduce soil carbon storage by up to 50%, diminishing the soil's ability to sequester carbon and contributing to climate change. Sheep also emit methane, a greenhouse gas with roughly 25 times the warming potential of CO₂.
our first choice is always deadstock
Wool production — even when certified — has an environmental footprint: land use, water consumption, methane emissions from sheep, and the energy required to spin, weave, and finish fabric.
This is why our first commitment is to deadstock: fabrics that were already woven and finished, sitting in stock with no buyer. Using them does not create new demand for wool production. It gives an existing resource a first life rather than being shipped overseas to be destroyed or shredded to produce recycled yarn.
why we chose the RWS certification
The Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) is a voluntary international certification developed by the Textile Exchange. It certifies the entire wool supply chain to protect animal welfare, land health, biodiversity, worker's rights, and chain of custody.
do you know the 5 animal freedoms?
The Five Freedoms were created by the UK's Farm Animal Welfare Council and are internationally recognized.
- Freedom from hunger and thirst, with access to fresh water and healthy diet
- Freedom from discomfort, with an appropriate environment
- Freedom from pain, injury or disease
- Freedom to express normal behavior, with sufficient space and company of the animal's own kind
- Freedom from fear and distress, with conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
Critically, under the RWS, mulesing by any method is not permitted, and all farms are audited annually.