After discussion with Gabrielle McHugh from Merida, the goal of my project became focused on the exploration of safe and sustainable labor practices, specifically how to ensure that partners pairing with Merida were practicing sustainable labor practices. It turns out, that this is a very difficult subject and so far there are no real good answers yet. This of course has not prevented people from trying to address the issue, especially where child labor is concerned. Currently, Merida has worked to seek out suppliers that are certified by Goodweave (an international organization committed to ending child labor and promoting sustainable labor practices in industry supply chains) and SA 8000 (an international labor certification created and standardized by Social Accountability International). These certifications currently assist Merida in determining who to partner with but don’t necessarily cover all bases.

During the course of my research I found that the best line of attack when looking to ensure sustainable labor practices was to always do your research on the company/studio/person you were planning on partnering with and then once partnered, working in tandem with the partner to ensure that goals align and standards are being met. The second thing that became apparent was that the next thing to do was to solidify a Code of Conduct and Ethics into company policy that included sustainable labor goals. This would make these goals something that could be enforced internally and company wide as well as making crystal clear to any potential partners of a sincere dedication to sustainable labor practices. Lastly, the most important thing I have found over the course of my research is company motivation. The only way to truly ensure that safe and sustainable labor practices are being practiced is to always be aware and actively seek out people who are willing to put these practices in place and work to make sure all sustainable labor goals are being met.

Sustainability as a movement has been growing, how have you seen its effects on the textile industry?

GM: There has been some effect driven by LEED* certification, especially in commercial projects. This applies mostly to larger players in the industry rather than to smaller companies who do not participate much in larger commercial projects.

In your view, what does it mean to be environmentally sustainable as a company?

GM: Being a sustainable company is more than just being environmentally conscious. It also encompasses social concern – labor standards of suppliers and the well-being of employees and other stake holders.

What current practices (materials, sourcing, manufacture, shipping, etc.) do you have that relate to sustainability?

GM: We use only rapid replenishable material in our rugs – with one exception for tufted rugs. In developing countries, we work with supplier that have SA 8000* and/or Goodweave* certification. One of our suppliers does not have the certification but they work only for us. They are pretty small family business and we (through visits and having developed a trusting relationship) are sure they share our values.

Have you found it easy or difficult to find suppliers and manufacturers for your products that adhere to sustainable practices? Please explain.

GM: We have had the same suppliers for many years (decades) so we have not have not had to find a supplier in many years. The most recent one – about 5 years ago – from India has the SA 8000.

How is sustainability reflected in your long and short term goals as a company?

GM: It is part of what we are: as far as we can foresee we will only work with natural materials – both of animal and plant origin.

What is one problem relating to your sustainability goals/issues you have identified, that you would like me to address over the course of this project?

GM: Our view on sustainability includes and extends beyond environmental concerns. While using renewable materials at the base of products, we also want to ensure that internally and externally (our internal partners) are practicing safe and sustainable labor practices. For overseas partners this means working with suppliers that meet SA 8000 and/or Goodweave certifications.

*LEED, SA 8000, Goodweave are certifications provided to businesses utilizing green building practices, employee friendly workplace practices and businesses who do not employ child labor. For more information:

http://leed.usgbc.org/leed.html

http://www.sa-intl.org/index.cfm

https://goodweave.org/

Merida is a textile company specializing in rugs made of mostly natural materials such as sisal, cotton, linen, mohair, silk, alpaca and wool. An American company, they take pride in their efforts to create beautifully designed rugs while remaining committed to sustainability.  Gabrielle McHugh is a textile designer for Merida. You can learn more at: www.meridastudio.com

Nanne wants to focus on online sales as it requires a significant amount of time and energy to go to shows and maintain all of the running of the business. In my research for Nanne I found several suggestions for finding her, as she calls it, a virtual partner. Ravelry is a company that started in 2007, in Boston, as a free community for primarily knitters but also includes a variety of textile arts. What is great about Ravelry is that it has over 8 million members and allows for the sharing of patterns and ideas freely. I suggested to Nanne that she might advertise on Ravelry forums for a partner who is interested in working on the technological aspect of her business with an interest in sustainability.

Social media has become an effective way to advertise for small and large businesses and I wanted to find some applicable information for Nanne. In my research I found a discussion topic on Ravelry, “Concrete suggestions and advice for building your social media profile” which has some great advise on what social media platforms are worth using and how to get noticed on those platforms. Finally, I suggested that she get in touch with Katy Riley of Tree House Farms as someone who might be a good fit with Nanne. Katie has her own small farm in Millis, MA and has experience running the Newton farmers market. She has also invented a bicycle powered drum carder and works in textile conservation.

www.mainedye.com

Maine Dye and Textiles is a hands on yarn dyeing company is Saco, Maine. They dye 14 tons of fiber a month! With that much product being dyed, I had to wonder, how sustainable is the business? I was able to talk with Claudia Raessler, the Co-Founder/Business Developer of Maine Dye and Textiles.

Noticing the website feature both natural and synthetic fibers, i felt compelled to ask “Would you want to move away from synthetics, or do you feel the impacts aren’t very harmful?”
She answers, “Synthetics in and of themselves are not “harmful”. It is just a type of raw material – i.e. nylon, polyester, armids, etc. which are different from natural protein fibers. The good and bad of dyeing is in the practices followed, the types of dyes used and their chemistry and water usage. One of the biggest issues is equipment. Old equipment which is much of the U.S. inventory uses lots of water. Our old skein dyeing equipment uses 40 gal. of water for every 1/lb. of yarn dyed. Our new package dyeing machine uses 4-5 gal. for each 1/lb. of yarn. The process is different – but the real change is in the technology of the equipment.”
How great it is to know technology helps reduce water waste!?

Another question I had actually was “Is there a lot of water waste?”
She answered, “The process in a dyehouse is to track the water usage daily, record and report to the city/state where the facility is located. And, yes textile dyeing remains one of the largest negative factors in textile manufacturing from a water consumption perspective.”
Along with this, she provided me with an article on textile dyeing as an environmental hazard to give me a better understand on how dye waste has changed over time.

Next I was wondering, “What dyes do you use?”
She answered, “We use primarily synthetic dyes some of which are certified under the Global Organic Textile Standards – a European organization as made from organic chemistry.”

Next I asked about the main product, the yarn! “Where are your yarns sourced from?”
She answers, “We do not ‘purchase’ the yarns – Our customers source their raw materials from all over depending on the type of yarn, volume and spinning resources in a particular country. They ship raw materials to us, we dye it according to their color requirements and then ship it back to them in a final form – skein, cone, etc. This is a very, very basic explanation of the dyeing process.”
I find this really interesting the yarn comes from the customers themselves!

Wanting to know about the future of Maine Dye and Textiles, I asked “What changes would you like to see in your company?”
She answers, “We started the Company in 2012 first as primarily a “wool” dyehouse offering skein dyeing for all types of natural fibers. In 2016 we moved into dyeing synthetics – nylon & polyester for a different end market than the skein dyeing which is principally B2B arts/crafts, textile artists and businesses selling into these markets. What I would love to change/improve is to beef up our team for customer support in the diverse range of markets we now serve. It is a wide scope in products and types of materials handles and with the implosion of textile mfg. for the last 30 years as textiles are re-shoring – knowledgeable and in-depth expertise has to be re-built.”

My final questions for Claudia was, “What issue would you like me to tackle and research to obtain sustainability for Maine Dye House?”
With my deadline soon approaching, she answered, “Given the lateness of my responses, I am not sure this is relevant. Having said this – anyone focused on textiles mfg. in the U.S. should spend some time learning and understanding the principles of supply chain mfg; how to reduce transportation costs; and find ways to improve collaboration in what is a relatively “dysfunctional” supply chain.”

To me, it appears she’s learned something herself, and wants this advice out there for anyone looking to start a business. Sometimes, your best advice comes from your own experiences. From her own blog post she sent me, she listed a helpful statistic to back this tip.

Brook There is a Lingerie company; their target consumers are women. The brand promotes confidence and comfort; they consider comfort is the main thing. Brook who is the owner and designer of the company thinks that self-confidence comes from the comfort of clothing, and self-confidence is the foundation of every form of beauty. The lingerie they designed can make you feel free, without the extra binding. The designers feel that every piece of clothing worn on the body is used to provide warmth and support. Their products are undies, unpadded and wireless bras, tanks, tees, shorts, and leggings.

They mention that they use organic cotton and silk for environmental reasons, producing in the US and choose a low-impact work style.

Organic cotton fabrics:

– GOTS-certified yarn

– milled in South Carolina or California

– real silk trims, with a touch of spandex.

Dye:

– in Pennsylvania or California

– small selection by Brook in Maine

– fiber reactive dyes

Transport:

– Everything is cut and sewn in New England, with the bulk of production occurring in Fall River, Massachusetts. The majority of our fabric is produced in South Carolina. It is trucked to Pennsylvania for dyeing. And then it goes to Massachusetts for cut and sew, and that’s it, until it ships to customers.

– Making in the USA, no sweatshops and no child labor.

– Ship directly from the process house, packing them without plastic bag. Instead of using plastic, they use eco-enclose recycled poly bags and recycled tissue paper for most orders. (If you order a whole bunch of stuff, they use a cardboard box.)

Interviewing:

1. After reading your web and blog, I know that you are good at making garments, but why do you choose to create a lingerie brand instead of others?

• I actually started by making clothing using organic cotton and sustainable fabrics. It was by chance that I made a few pieces of underwear, and they sold really well.  After a couple of seasons, we decided to focus on underwear and lingerie because it was getting the best response from the market.

2. I think that dyeing is one of the big and important parts of sustainable development. There is mentioned in your webpage that you are using reactive-dye. But as far as I knew, the reactive-dyeing process would produce a lot of high concentration of dye run-off. What do you think of this? Reactive-dye doesn’t get good results in some colors. How would you solve these problems? Would you use natural dye?

• Yes, we use primarily fiber reactive dye (except for white and black, which are difficult to get with fiber reactive. Other than white and black, fiber reactive dyes can be used to achieve any color reliably, in my experience.) The other primary commercial alternative for natural fibers to fiber-reactive dye is called direct dye. The dye contractors that I have talked to feel that the waste by product is similar for both.  By natural dyes, I’m guessing you mean plant dyes. The reasons we don’t use these are: the achievable color range is less, they are less reliable with regards to permanence in light and washing, and, most importantly, I’ve never found a contractor who could dye fabric on the roll using plant dyes. If you encounter a contractor who does dye on-roll fabrics using plant dyes, I’d be interested in testing it out!
• For a while in the beginning, I did the dyeing myself, but at the scale of our business now it isn’t possible for me to continue dyeing fabric.
• We tested using garment dyeing -which means cutting and sewing undyed fabric using cotton thread. It was ok for clothing, but because of the multiple materials and shrink factors with underwear and elastic, we pulled back from garment dying. With roll-dyed fabric, we see 99%-100% of sewn items passing the QA step. With garment dyeing it was more like 70-80%.

3. The style of your products is keeping in simple and comfortable, but sometimes, customers have no other choices. In contrast, in some other lingerie brands, such as Victoria’s secret. They will produce products that fix with people of different ages and aesthetics. Consumers may also be biased towards such these brands. What do you think about this? Have you ever thought of innovating base on these foundations to attract more consumers and promote environmental protection?

• Typically, smaller companies serve a niche market first before expanding to a broader market. From my point of view, Victoria’s Secret offers a very limited product range 🙂 The reason we focused on sustainable, low-structure, and organic fabrics are precisely because it was hard to find those products in the market.

If you would like to see more Brook’s products or process, please check out https://www.brookthere.com/.

Nanne Kennedy is what one might call a Renaissance woman. Through her company Seacolors Yarnery Nanne presents herself as a guild artist with sustainability built throughout her entire process. Nanne starts in Maine with grass fed sheep: cross-bred island sheep with Merino and Leicester breeds, making a homebred Polwarth, now improved with imported genetics from New Zealand. The fleece is then processed, scoured, spun, knitted, or woven within a bioregional 5-hour radius. Perhaps the most impressive sustainable process is how the yarn is dyed. Nanne uses solar thermal heat source to dye her yarn from prewashing the yarn to rinsing and drying. The green dyes are fixed to the yarn with sea water and the remaining dye water is then used as irrigation. Nanne’s finished goods are woven, knit, and crocheted by local Maine handworkers within that 5-hour radius. Her original Maine Blankets are woven on antique power looms and dyed with her solar thermal method.

In speaking with Nanne I found that she had no sustainable process issues because she controls the entire supply chain; however she had large scale sustainability concerns, such as climate change, and things that affect her as a farmer, such as coyote depredation, rising costs of land and land management. Nanne also spoke to wanting a path to a better educated consumer, one that might care more about sustainability and why to choose natural fibers over synthetic. Lack of local manufacturing also plays a part of the smaller scale sheep growers’ community to be able to process their fleece to a salable product. Finally, Nanne touched on the time spent on non-creative, tedious but necessary jobs that all small businesses have to attend to, such as maintaining a website, finding the right customer, going to fiber shows, reliable farm care for attending markets and fairs, and having to compete with imported materials labelled as “local”. Overall, Nanne is looking for a partner to handle the social media side of her business, someone who is as invested in sustainable clothing and raw goods as much as she is – someone who will want to grow new products with her and encourage local production. I will be focusing on helping Nanne find solutions for growing the social media aspect of her business.

If you would like to see more of Nanne’s products/process visit her at getwool.com. Photo credits to Nanne Kennedy.