What is EarthPositive
®
?
EarthPositive
®
Apparel is made to demonstrate the highest
possible environmental, social and ethical standards in one
of the world’s most environmentally damaging industries,
and to provide the promotional wear industry with a
familiar product with which to promote awareness and
take action on climate change. Now, the humble T-shirt,
the most basic canvas for communicating a brand name, identity, or political
slogan, has become
the
environmental product.
EarthPositive
®
Apparel is made in manufacturing facilities in India powered
by wind turbines, from low-impact organic cotton. EarthPositive
®
Apparel is
a 100% organic product, produced under the Global Organic Textile Standard
(GOTS) and certified by Control Union and the Soil Association. EarthPositive
®
is GMO-free.
Organic Standard
The Global Organic Textile Standard for organic textiles covers the production,
processing, manufacturing, packaging, labelling, export, import and
distribution, to ensure the organic status of textiles from harvesting of the raw
materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing up
to labeling and supply, in order to provide a credible assurance to the end
consumer.
We offer both natural and colour reactive-dyed organic cotton garments, and
to achieve organic certification only azo-free dyes that are permitted under the
Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) are used.
Fair Trade Practices
Under the organic standard, farmers and agricultural workers are protected
by stringent social criteria, total traceability across the entire supply chain, and
also by the ban on the use of poisonous chemicals that can severely damage
the health of farmers and their families. These standards also free poor farmers
from third world debt to chemical companies on the “pesticide treadmill”.
Justice for Workers
To help tackle the social injustice often seen in manufacturing, commonly
known as sweatshop labour, EarthPositive
®
goes further, making transparent
the manufacturing supply chain through an independent audit by the Fair Wear
Foundation, which promotes fair labour conditions in the clothing industry.
Pick Your Cotton Carefully
We guarantee that we do not use cotton from Uzbekistan while the use of
forced child labour is endemic. This follows the recommendations of the
Environmental Justice Foundation’s
Clean Cotton Campaign
. The complete
traceability of certified organic cotton allows us to make this guarantee.
Low Water Impact
According to PAN UK, it can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce
1kg of cotton, equivalent to a single T-shirt and a pair of jeans. That’s why
we chose to work in a region that receives up to 95% of its water from the
monsoon rainfall. This was an important consideration for us, as the monsoon
rain reduces the need for large-scale irrigation normally associated with
conventional cotton farming, which often deprives local villages of scarce water
resources by draining lakes and rivers, and adds significantly to the product’s
footprint.
Environmentally Friendly
EarthPositive
®
is certified by the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard, Class I. The Oeko-
Tex Standard is a guarantee of the safety of textiles and dyestuffs to human
health and to the environment. It also means we take more care in adopting
environmentally friendly production methods throughout the manufacturing
process.
Wind Powered
Thirty dedicated wind turbines provide the primary energy source for
EarthPositive
®
Apparel’s manufacturing processes from spinning the yarn
through to finishing the garments. The wind turbines turn wind power into
clean renewable electricity.
Transportation
EarthPositive
®
has
No Airfreight
policy. We use containerised ocean shipping,
thus the carbon footprint generated by transporting our apparel to Europe,
Japan and the USA is negligible, more like a fingerprint [less than 1% of the
product’s total footprint]. We cannot solve the world’s transportation and
energy security issues, but we can ensure that our own methods do nothing to
contribute to environmental damage, social injustice or climate change.
Biodegradable Packaging
EarthPositive
®
Apparel is packaged in biodegradable PVC-free packaging, and
in 100% recycled cardboard boxes.
What is “Climate Neutral”?
Climate Neutral means our industrial greenhouse gas emissions have
been reduced to pre-industrial levels through low-impact (low-emission)
organic agriculture and carbon neutral industrial manufacturing achieved by
substituting electricity from fossil fuel power stations with clean renewable
energy generated by wind turbines.
Choosing EarthPositive
®
Apparel is a practical and
immediate solution for businesses to take direct
action to combat climate change and address
environmental, social and ethical issues in a
comprehensive and meaningful way.
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