Sustainability
At BLANC we try to produce our clothing as sustainable and ethical as possible. Here on this page, we want to give you a deeper insight into how harmful the fashion industry is to our planet.
You will learn more about how production works and what you can do to minimize your ecological footprint.
Factory networks and the transportation between them
The textile industry is a vital part of the economy in multiple Southeast-Asian countries, providing millions of people with a workplace. However, it is widely recognized that such jobs fail to offer decent pay, safety, or reasonable working hours, leaving factory workers underpaid and overworked. Such an environment is exploited by clothing manufacturers to minimize expenses as much as possible, taking advantage of the exploited labor force.
The list of mistreatment workers endure is endless, but nonetheless, it’s important to mention the most prevalent issues. Many manufacturers lack sufficient safety precautions, particularly in processes like sandblasting, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and washing, which pose significant dangers. Workers not only face exposure to hazardous chemicals but also work in aging, overloaded factory buildings, leading to tragic incidents such as the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse, which resulted in thousands of fatalities.
Besides the threat of bodily harm by their own work, factory employees face extreme discrimination by their superiors, and thousands of women and men experience sexual and physical harassment this way.
Materials and waste
Natural fibers, such as cotton, linen, hemp, viscose, fleece, wool, and silk, are derived from nature but are constrained by limited supply. Due to global warming affecting water sources, approximately 73% of the world's cotton now requires irrigation, as rising temperatures increase the water needed for cultivation. Additionally, animal-based textiles like wool contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, habitat loss from deforestation, and the conversion of grasslands, all of which harm wildlife.
Of the 100 billion tons of garments produced each year, 92 million tons end up in landfills. To put things into perspective, this means that the equivalent of a rubbish truck full of clothes ends up on landfill sites every second. If this trend continues to rise, the number of fast fashion waste is expected to soar up to 134 million tons a year by the end of the decade.
The worst aspect of our wasteful habits is that the vast majority of clothes being tossed each year are not recycled. Globally, only about 12% of clothing materials are recycled. This issue largely stems from the complex composition of our clothes and the inadequate recycling machinery available. The fabrics we wear are intricate combinations of fibers, fixtures, and accessories, made from challenging blends of natural yarns, synthetic filaments, plastics, and metals, which complicates the recycling process.
Consumerism
Consumers are bombarded daily with cheap garments and new trends. If more thought went into these purchases, we could significantly reduce unnecessary waste.
Consumerism plays a major role in fast fashion. Buyers often don’t reflect on the purchases they make, which results in mindless purchases of billions of garments, all over the world.
As a result, consumers often overlook that fast fashion brands produce low-quality garments at extremely low costs. Unknowingly, they contribute to issues such as low wages, long working hours, and child labor in developing countries like Bangladesh.
In the United States alone, an estimated 11.3 million tons of textile waste—equivalent to 85% of all textiles—end up in landfills annually. This amounts to approximately 81.5 pounds (37 kilograms) per person per year, or about 2,150 pieces of clothing discarded every second nationwide. (USA)
Consider your wardrobe as an investment in a better future.
Garments
Garments are a major source of microplastics, as many are made from durable and inexpensive materials like nylon and polyester. Each washing and drying cycle, particularly drying, sheds microfilaments that pass through our sewage systems and end up in waterways. It is estimated that half a million tons of these contaminants reach the ocean annually, equivalent to the plastic pollution of more than 50 billion bottles.
Sustainability – BLANC
At BLANC, we firmly believe that fashion should have a positive impact on the world. Nowadays, we are faced with countless issues regarding the fashion industry, which are detailed above. We want to strive towards an ecological future by counteracting the concerns that the fashion industry has caused.
The goal of being a sustainable brand has accompanied us since the day of our creation; The following shows how we fulfill this purpose, and how our first two drops came to life.
Constructing a brand-new fashion brand has its hardships. Lack of investments, connections to ethical producers, and low demand often drive new brands to go for the popular cost-effective route: Production in low-cost factories that are often accompanied by ethical concerns. However, we at BLANC, decided to opt for a different route, due to our main principle: Sustainability.
Having invested in a screen-printing machine and all of its assets, we could take control over the Eco friendliness and ethical background of our garments. Our first drop was printed via on-demand printing, therefore avoiding overproduction and unnecessary waste. In addition, working from home provided us with good working conditions and allowed us to deliver you good-quality handmade products.
Not only did we pay attention to the principle of sustainability for the process of printing, but also for the production of the blanks. These were the products of our manufacturer, Labwear Studios, a company that produces garments with a factory network in Braga, Portugal. Due to Labwear Studios’ focus on creating ethical and sustainable clothing, even more so in a regulated and controlled environment such as Portugal, this was the perfect fit for BLANC.
In contrast to our first drop, Labwear Studios played an even bigger role in our second drop. This time around, they not only manufactured our garments but also printed them for us. This however only regards our T-shirts and tank tops.
If you’re interested, you can discover more on the following button
Our second drop also includes our caps, which have a completely different origin. Our hats fully consist of recycled/upcycled materials: The cotton was sourced from curtains, the button material from aluminum cans, and the brim from recycled plastic buckets.
The manufacturer, Topiku, sources such materials from landfills all over Indonesia, turning items destined to rot away into good-quality hats.
For more information, check out their website on the following button
