Further to our recent blog about Tom Dixon and his collaboration with Lacoste on the ‘Eco Polo vs. Techno Polo’ project, we went to see him recently to ask him about the project. Click here if you’d like to read about the project itself. We sat on some of his fab wire chairs in his bustling office in Holborn while he talked us the through the project.

The challenges Tom found himself facing were very similar to the ones we’ve come up against, namely the complexities of the global supply chain, difficulties accessing large quantities of organic cotton and the many challenges of working with industrial textile production. The latter issue led to many compromises being made during the eco shirt’s journey to fruition. As with most large clothing manufacturers, Lacoste’s processes are highly industrial and complex, presenting Tom with a challenge when it came to integrating his ideas. Initially he planned on getting the shirt dyed naturally with indigo in Africa but it was impossible for the natural dyers to do the large quantities that they wanted. Also, some reels of cotton that Tom sent to them to dye were returned wound around twigs, presenting some compatibility issues with Lacoste’s machines, somewhat unsurprisingly. They eventually settled on 1,000 dyed by hand in India, marketed as ‘special edition’, with another 3,000 dyed in Lacoste’s factory in France.

Even the Lacoste factory itself presented challenges. Tom wanted to dye the yarn before knitting it to give a ‘hand dyed’ colour quality, but the fermentation process caused a large cloud of indigo particles to spread through the dye house. They finally had to settle on dyeing the yarn after knitting. “Working with industrial processes can be quite a challenge,” says Tom. “I was trying to go from a very conceptual idea to a big industrial production process. Lacoste have spent 70 years trying to perfect colour consistency and there I am saying I want everything to be dyed differently”. Even so, it turns out that Lacoste are very pleased with the project’s outcomes and have gained some valuable learning into more sustainable production processes.

When we asked Tom for advice relating to our project, he said his biggest lesson is to start thinking about industrial-related questions very early on, rather than concentrating on ‘softer’ issues such as certification. He is also not completely convinced about the eco credentials of natural indigo dyeing and says that if you want to make the world’s most eco t-shirt , ‘the easiest thing to do is probably just to do recycled t-shirts’. There goes the recycled issue again!

Further to our recent conversation with the fabric researcher about recycled yarn, we thought we should try and look into it ourselves from a UK perspective. One idea was to make a t-shirt made locally with cotton yarn that had been reclaimed from old t-shirts collected in London. However, there doesn't seem to be any recycled yarn manufacturer in the UK who is able to spin the recycled yarn fine enough for t-shirts. Apparently, the fibre length of reclaimed cotton is often too short for reuse. There are companies who are recycling textiles but only for use in low quality products such as stuffing for upholstery or rags for cleaning.

In North America however, there are several companies who are creating recycled yarn for clothing: Jimtex Yarn for example. Generally, the yarn they produce is thicker than t-shirt weight yarn, being used for socks, sweaters and upholstery fabric. It is possible for them to produce yarn for an average weight t shirt by creating a blend of around 80% recycled cotton with either polyester or acrylic. The company did say that it would take a considerable amount of investment to come up with a yarn which was fine enough for lightweight, softer t-shirts, probably costing more than a project of our size could afford. Fortunately, the major clothing retailer we spoke to a while ago are committed enough to sinking enough of their much larger budget into developing such a yarn. Although a lighter yarn may require a blend made of less recycled yarn and more polyester or acrylic, we could opt for polyester that had been acquired from recycled plastic bottles, highlighting another forward-looking manufacturing method and diverting valuable resources from landfill.

Before we put our exploration of recycled and reclaimed textiles to bed, we have a few facts we’d like to share with you: if all 60 million UK residents bought one reclaimed woollen garment instead of a new one, we’d save an average of 371 million gallons of water (the average UK reservoir holds about 300 million gallons) and 480 tonnes of chemical dyestuffs. At least 50% of the textiles we throw away are recyclable, however, the proportion of textile wastes reused or recycled annually in the UK is only around 25%. To find out more about reclaimed textiles, click here. So although it’s theoretically possible to turn old garments into new ones, due to cost limitations and location issues, our hope of a recycled t-shirt with minimal ‘garment miles’ is not looking very promising at this moment in time. But with a bit of help from our forward-looking Stateside friends and their bigger budgets, we’re hoping to see it become more viable in years to come.


It struck me this week that the current environmental options being explored within textile production seem to fall into two distinct categories: the first being the old-school, small-scale approach which includes organic cotton production (and production of other alternative fibres such as hemp), the exploration into natural, eco-friendly dyes and the aim to make more fibre fairly traded. All of these embrace the traditional way of producing fibre and yarn which include the nurturing of small scale enterprises in developing countries and ideally even in the developed world.

The second category, which has come into its own more recently, is the research and development of new, high-tech eco-fibres, often taking place in laboratories, factories and manufacturing plants in Europe and Asia. The Austrian company Lenzing and Rohner Textil of Switzerland are two leading players in this area, with many of their developments focusing on producing more advanced forms of regenerated cellulose fibres such as Tencel, which is a fully biodegradable fibre made from wood , or on recycled polyester fibre.  These factories are also proving to be very innovative in the cleaning up of their industrial methods and processes.

The Lenzing factory, for example, is an amazing example of energy efficiency. Only 17% of the energy they use comes from fossil fuels. The rest is mainly generated from biogenic fuels, which are produced from waste materials like sawdust and sludge. As well as self-generating all of its own steam and hot water, it’s also responsible for generating 94% of its own electricity. Their trademarked fibre Tencel, known in the unbranded world as lyocell, is made in a completely closed-loop system where all the water used is retrieved, purified and recycled. It is the first fibre manufacturer in the world to have been given the EU flower certification for environmental performance. If you want to know more about the pros and cons of Tencel, click here.

Researching all of this has made me realise these two approaches are worlds apart from each other: the high-tech fibre production is quite impersonal and secretive but is demonstrating true innovation while the small-scale, more traditional approach appears more human and accessible, but can also be slow, inefficient and lacks new developments.

The feeling I’ve been left with is that the contrast between the two areas speaks volumes about the complexity and lack of coherence of all the different solutions currently being explored by those interested in sustainable textiles.

And just to confirm my theory, this week we came across Tom Dixon’s current project with Lacoste. He was asked to challenge Lacoste’s production methods and processes and has come up with two different types of polo shirts, ‘Eco Polo  vs. Techno Polo’. The Eco Polo is made from organic cotton and dyed with natural indigo dye (using a traditional fermentation process) and the Techno Polo is made from a high-tech steel and lurex fibre mix. The debate continues!

Posted by Clara

Possibly the biggest excitement of last week for the perfect project was a surprise email from an enthusiastic supporter of the project, who also happens to be a fabric researcher and developer. Much to my delight we managed to arrange a teleconference with her in order to pick her brains.

However, I found the conversation reopened old wounds of mine: back in the spring, I had my heart set on making a new t-shirt from the yarn of old, unwanted ones, but a meeting with a product designer at Muji managed to destroy all hope. I was told Muji’s shirts are made from individual pieces of reclaimed yarn which are then tied together to make a new, infinitely long yarn. However, it’s only efficient to reclaim yarn from the ends of rolls of fabric, which are on average 3 metres in length. The side seams on most shirts mean each ex-shirt yarn is around 50cm in length, requiring six times the amount of knotting. And as we all know, the more work involved, the higher the cost, and thus it seemed that side seam t-shirts were too expensive to pursue any further. There was talk of unravelling circular spun t-shirts (ones knitted in a tube shape, hence a lack of seams and the ability to reclaim one really long piece of thread), but a quick investigation of our wardrobes revealed that only a tiny minority of t-shirts are made like this. Tracking the right shirts down would be so labour intensive that, again, the price would simply be too high.

Due to the above thorough investigation and reasoning, I finally felt I had worked through my issues to find acceptance that we’d have to make a t-shirt another way. But the discussion with the American fabric researcher sent my world into a tailspin. According to her, not only is it possible to make new t-shirts from old, the huge clothing retailer she works for is seriously considering manufacturing 100,000 of them.

‘But it can’t be done!’ said I, listing all the reasons above. ‘Oh yes it can,’ said she, telling us that the Canadian factory they’re working with shred and pulverise old t-shirts into a pulp, add virgin cotton to the mix, and then respin it into new yarn. ‘But isn’t it horribly expensive?’ said I. ‘It’s actually pleasantly reasonable,’ said she: her recycled yarn is about a third more expensive than conventionally acquired, 100% virgin yarn, but as the recycled yarn is already coloured, the need for, and thus the cost of, dyeing is eliminated, making the end price per shirt hearteningly similar. ‘Wow,’ said I. And then looked stunned but rather happy.

Of course, despite the slightly emotional rollercoaster this type of t-shirt has taken me on, it’s amazing news. It’s amazing to hear that it can be done, and it’s amazing to hear that such a large clothing company is taking it seriously. There are still a few issues that need ironing out, such as working out where the old t-shirts come from, the greenest type of power the Canadian factory could use and what to do with the Plastisol designs on the shirts that wreak havoc with this recycling process. At any rate however, it can be done, and if we keep our fingers crossed, a hundred thousand people will be wandering around in them pretty soon.

Posted by Cate

Hi, I’m Clara Vuletich and I am going to be taking over from Sarah on this project's internship. Sarah has done an amazing job on intensively researching natural dyes so I will be taking all her research and moving forward to the next exciting stage!

I am a recent graduate of printed textiles from Chelsea School of Art & Design and am really excited to be part of this unique project. Originally from Australia, I have a very diverse work background – from working with indigenous Australians on community arts projects to working in the film industry – but my most recent experience before going back to college was as a buyer in the fashion industry. It was while studying textiles at Chelsea that I realised what a huge environmental challenge faces the textiles and fashion industries. I decided that I was only interested in re-entering the industry if I incorporated these  challenges into my work as a textile designer.

There are many areas of this project still to be explored, but I’m going to start by a) rounding off Sarah’s research into natural dyeing so we can decide on how our t-shirt will be coloured and b) finalising the jersey fabric to be used, whether it be bamboo (the new kid on the block!), organic cotton or recycled yarn.

That’s all from me now, I’m off to visit the eco-textile resource at Chelsea School of Art & Design (my old stomping ground). I’ll continue to keep you up to date on all our developments.


We benefited from a marvellous piece of good luck this week: whilst making a routine phone call to a potential cotton supplier, I discovered that a lady who could design and manufacture our t-shirt was holidaying in London! A few phone calls later and we’d arranged to meet her in Soho on Saturday morning, catching her hours before she jetted off on her travels again.

I don’t know whether she intended on meeting us when she left her home country or whether she carries them with her wherever she goes, but at any rate, for some reason she’d brought her sample t-shirt with her to London, and brought it to the café to show us. It was an exciting moment: she spends most of her time making upholstery samples (see the Aug 7 blog for more info) so holding a prototype t-shirt was a small moment of success. It was also exceptionally satisfying to see the super-eco, Fairtrade, organic cotton we’ve sourced in a form you can wear, and undyed, at that.

However, the fact she normally makes upholstery fabric and accessories rather than t-shirts had inherent problems. Everything she manufactures in her factory is handwoven. This is great for the environment as people power is a form of green power, but bad for people who expect a conventional looking t-shirt as hers, sadly, is too far from the norm. Normally, t-shirt material is knitted by machine, making it soft, comfy and slightly elastic. The handwoven t-shirt has a pattern that’s visible, has no elasticity and is a lot scratchier than a conventional shirt. Mark has kindly modelled the shirt for your viewing pleasure on the left. Its non-elasticity presented him with a problem as his shoulders were straining against the back, but if it were cut a little differently this wouldn’t be a problem. And he didn’t have a problem with the scratchy texture either. His view is that people need to change their mindset, appreciating the features that arise from more ethical ways of manufacturing, and the rest of us agree but don’t think the average person on the street will be thinking this way yet. So, at present, we think this shirt represents too much of a departure from most people’s definition of a comfy t-shirt, and we’ll need to continue researching manufacturers who can knit material in an environmentally sound way.

And another downside of manufacturing methods that are better for the environment: we discovered that handspun yarn is much, much coarser than the industrially spun stuff. Our sample, handwoven with with mechanically spun yarn, was scratchy enough for our liking, so we’ll need to find a factory that can power its spinning machines with green power in order to produce an acceptable end result.

We also ended up thinking of an issue that we hadn’t fully considered before: that of certification. Although the designer’s factory is socially sound, to get it officially certified costs £2000. As we’re thinking of making 500 t-shirts for our first run, the cost of certification would add £4 to each t-shirt, hiking up the price massively and making this manufacturer quite unattractive to us. We’ll have to find another way round this problem without cutting corners.

Posted by Cate

Hello, its Sarah Murphy, the intern girl, and my last hour at better thinking is now here. This is my last blog entry, and I wanted to use it to say thanks so much to everyone who made it such a great placement.

Thanks to my colleagues for helping and supporting me throughout my time here, and thank you to all the people who have helped the perfect t-shirt project along in the past two months, as well as to those who contributed before I began.

Hard work truly does pay off so I have no doubt in my mind that as the project powers on along its rather long journey, each and every one of us will have something be very proud of.

I wish the perfect t-shirt luck, I have learnt a great deal, so much it feels like there's too much to tell, but I know it’s all in there somewhere. Thanks again for everyone’s help and thank you for reading.

Over and out, Sarah Murphy x


As I mentioned before, we got some pretty good dye results with the samples I mordanted with iron water. Knowing it performs well in terms of colouring fabric, it was time to find out how it performs in terms of its effects on the wearer and its effects on the environment.

Humans need iron, but too much of it can harm or even kill. There are 24 different elements thought to be essential to the human body. The largest elemental compounds’ are oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. The other elements are known as trace, or mineral, elements. These include calcium, copper, phosphorus and iron. Iron makes up 0.008% of the body’s mass, and like the other minerals, must be present in the proper amounts to keep the body operating correctly. We’re unclear about how much iron will be absorbed into the t-shirt or how much of this the wearer could absorb through his or her skin, but it sounds like it wouldn’t be harmful. If we’re horribly wrong about this, do let us know at perfect@betterthinking.co.uk. But don’t worry, even if no-one helps us, we’ll make sure we’re sure that this option is the best one available if we decide to pursue it any further. 

With regard to the environment, iron is essential to most living organisms. Animals, plants, and even bacteria require the metal for proper metabolism. According to Ian Bowers from George Weil & Sons, iron has been in our environment for centuries without any reported hazards, and is the third most common element on the planet. However, if human activities alter the iron levels within an ecosystem so the geochemistry becomes unnatural, iron quickly becomes a cause of many insidious environmental problems.

One example of this is the acid mine drainage (AMD) problem affecting the mining industry. Open pit mines uncover and expose layers of metal ores that are washed away into the water and soil when it rains, wreaking havoc with aquatic ecosystems if it occurs in harmful levels.

Despite the awful effects of excessive iron levels in the environment, I feel my experiments are excused, as I’ve only practiced mordanting with iron water on a very small scale. The leftover iron water doesn’t need to be wasted: it can be used as a fertilizer on roses or fruit trees, which is great. If we decide to use this method to mordant the shirt, we should reuse the solution as much as we can, and when it’s no longer effective, we should bottle it up properly so it can be put to good use elsewhere instead of being left to affect waterways.

A quick note on performance: each time the fabric is mordanted with the iron water, it becomes slightly brittler. Worth noting, but it shouldn't upset many people.

So we know that, in the right amounts, iron can be good for the body and good for the environment. I am glad I know this as it has been a really useful mordant to use, and given some successful results. My final task before I leave is to dye Cate’s t-shirt (the one she’s wearing in the previous entry) twice using logwood and iron water, so she can see how it holds up to everyday life. Watch this space to here how it goes and keep your fingers crossed!

Posted by Sarah

Cate models the t-shirt Yet another landmark moment in the project has happened this week. At last, the samples from a potential supplier in Europe came through… After months of waiting and numerous phone calls to chase them up, twenty-odd undyed, organic cotton and linen mix t-shirts were sitting in front of us. And happily, some of them were delightfully soft and desirable.

After one more pinch to check we really weren’t dreaming, we tried them on. Although they looked good when they were in our hands, there were a few flaws that made themselves apparent when the shirts were on our bodies. The cut of mine was okay, but I had issues with a few of its features, as its arms were strangely tubular and it was a bit baggy.

The cotton was nice and thick though, which earned the shirt extra brownie points given the circumstances: not expecting the shirts to arrive on the day they did, I’d worn a black bra to work, and was pleasantly surprised it was hardly visible through the shirt I had to model. Sorry, this may be too much information for you, but for any woman with a remote sense of class, there’s nothing worse than a flimsy t-shirt that everyone can see your bra through. It’s an important issue that we’ll have to get right if we’re going to create the perfect garment.

The package included a number of shirts that didn’t seem to qualify for the ‘Extra Extra Large’ category. It seemed more suitable to be name a new category for it: possible ‘Ridiculously, Laughably Large’, as they were wider than they were long. Badly shaped samples shouldn’t be the end of the world though, as we can send a design we’d like the supplier to follow.

The main problem with this supplier’s t-shirts was that, although the majority of them were stitched perfectly, a considerable number had parts that were somewhat wonky… a far throw from perfection. It’s something we can’t afford to compromise on, as the most environmentally unfriendly thing we could possibly do would be to put our time and energy into growing, spinning and weaving the material for a garment that was stitched so badly it was binned as soon as it reached the consumer. Actually, it’s even worse than that: producing an ‘eco’ t-shirt that’s shoddy in any way will discourage people from buying green products in the future, which is extremely irresponsible and needs to be avoided at all costs.

After what we’ve learnt about how difficult it is to dye something without harming the environment, it felt good to be wearing something that hadn’t been dyed, and it’ll feel even better to supply shirts of this kind to others. We weren’t sure other people who hadn’t been exposed to the issues like we have would feel the same though, so we’ll still need to supply conventional colours too.

Posted by Cate

Although the dyeing experiments themselves are almost completed, the process is far from over. We’ve still got the painstaking process of seeing how the colours withstand washing! We decided to see how the samples held up to hot water washes, except for the first wash which was in cold water. We thought we’d better do it that way in case the samples were so fragile they’d be destroyed by hot water.

In order to see whether the colour was fading, I’ve made a board where I’ve pinned unwashed samples next to the latest washed version. Disappointingly, some swatches have faded lots only four washes in, but some are holding up better than that. The best results were from the samples mordanted in iron water. Which I’ll tell you more about below…

As I can see what’s working and what’s not, I’m deciding what I’d like to do for the next round of dyeing. I want to use the same products and dye stuffs as before, but change the mordanting techniques and dyeing process. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I’ll have time to do all of them, as my placement is coming to an end. I’ve just got time to label all my experiments and organise all my research for the rest of the team so they can pick up where I left off. I’m about head off to Peru to see my sister get married. Hooray!

Posted by Sarah

It's been an extremely long process, but a worthwhile one… I can finally say I’ve completed all the dyeing required at this stage, and have decided on the samples to take to the next stages of experimenting with wash fastness. The logwood and brazilwood tests were by far the most successful, in combination with the iron water and vinegar mordants.

I found out some interesting historic facts whilst researching the impacts of these tests… Just some of what I learnt: English dyers who specialised in black were able achieve a good results using tannin and iron but it took an awful lot of work. Logwood was easy and cheap to obtain, threatening the dyers’ way of life, and hence was just as unpopular. The dyers managed to persuade Queen Elizabeth to introduce "An Act for Abolishing of Certeine Decitful Stuffe Used in the Dyeing of Clothes" in 1581, claiming logwood had poor colourfastness and banning its import.

As for facts on the ecological front, it turns out that logwood is fairly scarce. It grows naturally in the Caribbean Islands and the coast of the Yucatan and Belize, and used to be abundant, but deforestation has meant supply has suffered a great deal. Due to its market having been very small for quite some time, trade channels have been broken, and cultivation and harvesting have been neglected. However, there’s a good supply in the Dominican Republic, possibly to the degree that it could sustain an ‘art dye market’. If you would like to find out more, Mama D.O.C.’s Logwood Project is really interesting: click on www.mamadoc.org.

Brazilwood (posh name caesalpinia echinata) is pretty rare and is actually listed on the UNEP Tree Conservation Database, along with 8000 tree species which are threatened with extinction. One typical example of its endangered status is its presence in the Atlantic Coastal Forest, of which only 8% remains.

Although it would be wrong to use a threatened species to dye the shirt, we may raise awareness about its critical state through using it for our t-shirt, leading to an increased demand for it to be grown commercially and for it to be protected in the wild. Logwood and brazilwood were used in huge amounts in the past, but since it has become less common, the skills and knowledge on how to process and use it has been lost over time. Programmes such as the Logwood Project join communities, increase knowledge and improve forest coverage. Good in so many ways it can’t be a bad idea.

Posted by Sarah

Well, where do I start? Since the last blog I have been doing quite a few different things so my brain is a little scrambled as to an order of the events gone by. But here goes…..

I’ve been experimenting with logwood, brazilwood, walnut husks, black walnut husks and coal. The experiments preparations involved mainly crushing, measuring and soaking the above.

I searched for ways of dyeing with coal but could not find any guides, so I did two different testers. I crushed the coal and left it to soak for 24 hours in water. For the first test I boiled the coal with water to see if I could extract any colour but this was unsuccessful. I added the fabric samples anyway and brought to the boil then let to simmer for 2 hours. In the second test I used a mixture of crushed coal and cold water, and left the sample to sit in the mixture overnight. The samples look like they were left in a wet ashtray. Nice. I then conducted some tests with walnut husks, as well as black walnut husks (some might say hulls), but after some unsuccessful results I’m going to try a different method and hope for the best.

The best results so far have been with brazilwood and logwood. I’m doubt these have the most impeccable environmental performance compared to some of the other things I tried, but I included them in my experiments as I was told they’d yield a good black. I have to say I was really pleased with the dye results. Their great potential was visible even from the initial stages of soaking the woodchips in water. I knew I could alter the colour the brazilwood and logwood chips would create by adding acid or alkaline substances, so I conducted a very simple and enjoyable test, shown on the left. I used soda crystals as the alkali additive, and vinegar as the acidic. Of all the experiments I’ve done during my placement, this was one of my favourites as the change in colour was so quick and dramatic. Maybe in the future when I have a little more time to discover other areas of natural dyeing I will play around with lots of different natural colours. Yippee!

Posted by Sarah

We’ve been researching the best packaging options for the perfect t-shirt and, remaining true to the project’s principles, have scoured the world for the best and most innovative packaging materials, taking every stage of the t-shirt’s life into account, from how the raw cotton is packaged to get to the processing plant to how the garments are shipped in bulk to how each individual shirt reaches the consumer. We’ve been receiving samples of some pretty ground-breaking environmentally aware materials, from the super-high-tech to the downright bizarre. Can’t wait to tell you about it all in full!

According to cradle-to-cradle principles, we should be aiming for packaging that is either completely non-toxic and compostable, or 100% recyclable without degrading the material at the other end. Let’s look at our options in both areas.

Ever wanted to watch a man eat plastic? Well give John Bray from Plantic a call, we’re sure he’d be more than happy to oblige. He’s so dedicated to his job and proving that his biodegreable non-GM cornstarch plastic packaging material is non-toxic that he softened some in boiling water and ate it in front of us. It’ll degrade on a compost heap in 12-16 weeks, a magnificent improvement on conventional plastic’s 5,000-10,000 years. It’s only 5% more expensive than PET plastic and is being used quite extensively in Australia. If you’re UK-based and want to take a look at it, go and buy a box of Dairy Box or Black Magic chocolates. It’s great to hear about such a cool material being used for such everyday applications.

Plantic’s not very appropriate for us to use to package our t-shirt however, as we need to use a material that protects the shirt from water, and John’s material breaks down when it comes into contact with it. We could laminate the Plantic with oil-based plastic to make it waterproof, but we feel this complicated solution will ultimately confuse customers so we’d rather go for something simpler.

Using recycled material to package the shirt is a more conventional option, but nevertheless an attractive one. Not only does it divert material from landfill but it provides a market for recycled material: our society seems able to recycle, but not buy recycled, and unless it does both, the potential of recycling to save the planet is somewhat limited. And if we design a recycled package that can be re-used after it finishes accompanying the t-shirt on its journey, we’ll be creating synergetic benefits: not only will we be reducing the footprint of our product’s packaging, we will be eliminating the need to create other packaging materials from scratch, as well as all the required energy to produce and transport it.

The use of recycled plastic sparked up an interesting debate: is it ethical to use a product that symbolises an unsustainable society based on fossil fuels? Even though we will be using the most environmentally sound option we can find if we go down this route, consumers may become confused and think that the use of virgin plastic, responsible for large amounts of pollution and the use of 8% of the world’s oil in its manufacture, is acceptable. The plastic recycling process is notoriously energy-intensive and produces material of lower quality than its virgin form. But the argument that recycling reduces the amount of waste plastic products is a sound one. According to ‘Recycle: The Essential Guide’ (Black Dog Publishing) and Recoup, the leading authority on plastics waste management, the sale and production of plastics is increasing faster than recycling. And with the UK's landfill space predicted to run out in the next six to seven years, some may argue that recycling all this excess plastic is the only way forward despite its indirect support of the oil industry. We’re going to have to do a bit more research into the pros and cons of this process and carry on with the discussion during lunchtimes.

Recycled aluminium may be a viable option, as its recycling requires a minimal amount of energy, the least of all recyclable materials. One of its big advantages is that, unlike plastic or paper, it doesn’t degrade through being recycled. It’s really important to tell people we’ve used recycled aluminium though, as vast areas of Brazil and Australia are being torn up to mine the raw material. The mining leads to huge amounts of poisonous chemicals mixed in with the earth, which is then left to pollute surface and underground water. It takes comparatively large amounts of energy to convert the raw material into useable product and even more to ship it between numerous countries for each stage of its production process, making virgin aluminium highly energy inefficient.

Recycled cardboard is another possible option, as it saves 28% - 70% of the energy used to pulp wood. This is a particularly attractive option, as it can be composted or recycled. Ultimately, we cannot control what the consumer does with their unwanted packaging, so providing a material that is more environmentally sound however it is disposed of is a wise move. To maintain a high quality material, some virgin material does need to be added in, but if the virgin material is organic, comes from managed sources and is processed using solar energy, this shouldn’t be a problem.

So, the perfect packaging is either 100% degradeable or compostable, is produced without the use of harmful chemicals or excessive amounts of water, is carbon neutral and has multiple uses once delivered. Does it exist? We’re not sure yet, but we’re getting closer to finding out…

This week, there was another exciting moment in the t-shirt’s progression into reality, brought about by viewing samples of a potential supplier’s super-eco-and-ethical woven cotton. They were upholstery fabric samples, but they were of a high quality, and, with a bit of luck, the workers should be able to transfer their skills across to clothing.

We’ve got a choice of factories where the shirt could be manufactured, and need to discuss the pros and cons between production quality, ease of getting in touch and vicinity to where the crops are grown. The shirts can be handwoven near where they are grown, made in a factory in a nearby city, or made in a highly professional factory across the border. We have been told that there is no way any factory in the area would use solar energy: it’s just too poor to invest in green technologies. If we want to use solar energy, we can handweave the shirt, giving it a noticeably different aesthetic, or we can transport it to a different continent where it can be made in a solar-powered factory. Although there may be no actual reduction in the shirt’s footprint because of the distance travelled, it could be worth it in order to support principles we believe in.

Of course, from an ethical perspective, we would love to go for the handwoven option, as this uses no fossil fuel for production, keeps things local and provides employment for local people. There are tradeoffs however, namely increased cost, and running the risk of decreased quality, extreme difficulty getting in touch with the weavers and goods delivered behind schedule. It’s interesting; although doing things for money alone does so at the expense of the environment and quality of life,  we can understand why large manufacturers go with these less-than-ethical companies. If money is your sole motivation, you have a big incentive to deliver on time to a high standard. If you have the bigger picture in mind, it’s possible to be more laid-back about returning people’s calls and less likely that you’ll work yourself or your staff to the bone to meet a deadline. But hopefully there’s a halfway house, and we’ll be able to find an environmentally aware, socially sound textile production system that’s also highly professional. Fingers crossed!

So, if we do opt to produce the handwoven shirt, not only will we be on our way to producing a shirt that’s organic, fairly traded, locally made and naturally dyed, but one that’s more ethical in a number of other ways as well. We’d love to tell you more but…

…During the week, we’ve been having some interesting discussions of the ethics of how much we tell people on our blog: how much information can we share before this project shoots itself in the foot? We’ve had abuse because we’ve been withholding a few key details in order to make the shirt more competitive, but the point is, we’re not ever going to make a profit on this thing, we’re sharing as much as we can at the moment and we’ve a view to tell all as soon as the project is completed. So please bear with us, we’re doing the best we can!

Posted by Cate

Finally, the scouring with soda crystals and wood ash water has been completed! The mordanting process is near completion. I’m just waiting on the 48-hour rhubarb solution and iron water mordant bags which will be ready tomorrow. I had a few problems with the iron water, or, rather, its ventilation. Part of the mordanting process involves boiling the solution with the fabric submerged in it. Unfortunately, the boiling process gave off some nasty smelling fumes, and, due to a slight torrential downpour, I had to shut the windows, meaning the fumes couldn’t escape. In order to prevent myself feeling sick I had to stop until the rain had stopped and I could continue the process with all the windows and doors open.

ClothWorks were kind enough to give me a sample of organic unbleached cotton that can be used for t-shirts. This is great, as it is the first piece of fabric I’ve been using that is similar to the fabric we’re intending on using for the finished piece. I incorporated it into my tests as soon as it arrived.

You may already know that we are looking to produce a black t-shirt and a coloured t-shirt. I have been looking into plant dyes to find out what colours are produced by which plants and which mordants they require. I have found a number of natural dyes that grow in America but, although it is possible, they are much harder to obtain in the UK. I found out that pokeberry produces an instant red and that brazilwood, logwood and fresh black walnuts help to produce black. Luckily I have been able to purchase brazilwood and logwood on eBay, but as black walnuts are only fresh once a year I will try the other two colourants first. I did a test with normal walnuts on cotton with the different scouring and mordanting methods, but all that resulted was yet another tea stain colour.

I also selected raspberries, blueberries and beetroot from the fridge and began to boil them in water with the unbleached organic cotton. Wanting to minimise the impact as much as possible, I didn’t scour or mordant it, but I’ll carry out some test on scoured and mordanted cotton to see if the results of these processes are worth the extra environmental impacts. The beetroot and raspberry did not work as well as I expected: I thought the colour achieved would be a bit darker or richer, but instead a pale strawberry pink colour was produced. With the blueberries it took a while for the cotton to accept the dye but eventually a beautiful purple was achieved. Although the colour is not as deep now the fabric has dried out, and the colour may wash out over time, it was a fun test to carry out.

Further research re-confirmed what we had already decided: the simpler the process, the better, as it’s more likely to be more ecologically sound, and the easier it is for people to understand the story. One of the books I read said that some companies use thousands of chemicals in their products, making the overall impact almost impossible to calculate.

And a few more interesting things I found out during the week:

As well as the organic cotton book, I’ve also found the Yahoo! Natural Dyes group extremely informative. One last thing: I’d like to say thanks to Ian Bowers of George Weil & Sons Ltd for his help in providing me with such detailed information.

Posted by Sarah

So far, so good, in all aspects of the project and my time at better thinking. There’s so much to learn in such an unknown area, or should I say there’s so many areas with so much information to put into use. One of the highlights of last week was taking a crash course in supply chain education with the help of the people at THTC, The Natural Store, The White T-Shirt Co, ClothWORKS, Howies, Green Cotton… the list goes on. More on this later, but thanks to everyone for their help and advice!

I’ve also spent this week reading up and comparing information and technical advice on natural dyeing and more specifically safe natural dyeing, although I am aware that just because something is natural it doesn't mean it cannot be dangerous. A great example of this would be rhubarb leaves, which contain oxalic acid, a substance that is just as toxic as a man-made chemical acid.

It is proving a little difficult to figure out what harmful gunk and goo the natural world provides. But every now and again I find an all-important sentence somewhere which cuts out the questions.

At present I am trying my hand at natural dyeing, well, more like the pre-dyeing preparations. The particular processes I will be using are scouring and mordanting, which, I’m informed, will increase the chances of the dye fixing to the fibre and possibly brighten the colour. As the project prevents any harmful chemicals being used, I will be experimenting with some little-documented scouring and mordanting methods, six in total: I’ve got a large number of tests to do.

Scouring is the process of getting rid of all the oils, wax and dirt on the yarn or fabric. The first scouring method uses the more conventional soap flakes and soda crystals, and the second, more traditional method makes use of wood ash water. I found out about these through a number of books, the most interesting of which was ‘Natural Dyeing without Chemicals’ by Jenny Dean. It is not obvious as yet which is more effective or which uses more water in the boiling and rinsing stages. I am also unsure of the effects of each method on the environment, but before I post my thoughts on this I want to do the experiment first and some more research. In the meantime, if anyone can provide me with any information or leads, feel free to drop me a line at sarah@betterthinking.co.uk. To make wood ash water, the more natural mordant of the two, I made a very small fire last week and once it had burnt out and cooled, I took the ash it produced and mixed it with water in a bucket. The solution will be ready on Wednesday or Thursday for use, as it needs some time to do its chemistry. This method is still used in developing countries where chemicals are not commonplace. As well as possibly being environmentally sound, it can actually make use of waste: one possibility might be to use the remains of cooking fires in the villages where the t-shirts are dyed.

For the mordanting process, I have gone for two less traditional mordants: wine and vinegar. I’m also experimenting with a plant mordant, made from boiled rhubarb leaves, and iron water solution: water, vinegar and rusty nails, left in a bucket for a week or so. Commonly used mordants are alum, chrome, copper and iron: heavy metals which can be toxic to aquatic life and pose health threats to workers who have not been properly trained. I opted for the mordants I did following the logic that if wine and vinegar are safe enough to be consumed by humans, they cannot be that harmful to skin or the water system… but I’m going to double check this to make sure. Extracting acid from leaves is much more natural than buying man-made oxalic acid and making iron water is such an easy process that I had to give it a go. I will also soak the fabric in the mordant for different amounts of time to see if it makes any difference in how it accepts or keeps the dye.

Let's see how it goes...

Posted by Sarah

Hello, I’m Sarah Murphy, that's me in the picture. I’m just beginning 3rd year, my placement year, of a 4-year degree in Women’s Wear Design at Central St Martins. I’m very excited about the perfect t-shirt project and have already learnt quite a lot in my first week. So far I have begun research in four different areas: organic cotton, dyeing, packaging, and distribution.

When I was younger I was a sales assistant in a large retail company. At the time I knew the company was having issues with regards to its standards during production, and found the whole shipment and production process really interesting. I wondered where the clothing came from, how many places the shipment had been to before arriving in the shop and why I was the only one concerned about the large amounts of waste produced. That's why being taken on for the perfect t-shirt is ace, because it gives me the opportunity to look at and learn from everything that the people at better thinking have already researched, as well as adding what I've found to the equation to see this project come to fruition.

During last week's research I was delighted to learn about a variety of companies who made it their vision, whether it be to offer a service or product, to provide other companies and end users with an alternative to what's available. It may have been made from recycled material or have the ability to be recycled, biodegraded, reused, or pulped. For example, one of the companies I found offers pallets made from paper, which are recycled, recycleable, and biodegradable whilst still being super light. I'll upload details of these companies in time.

With regard to dyeing, I was trying to find ways of which to lighten unbleached organic cotton naturally. One method was sun bleaching, which means pretty much what it says: lightening a garment using light. Nice and natural but, with the English weather, a little unpredictable. I'll need to look into the other natural bleaching method a little more. Despite its natural origins, it contains high amounts of magnesium and sounds like it could be environmentally hazardous, as it's used to clean soldiers who are contaminated with chemical weapons (!). However, it's also used to treat oily skin and acne so it could be perfectly safe. I'm off to find out - more later!

Posted by Sarah


It's here! 'Dyeing for a change: Current conventions and new futures in the textile colour industry', better thinking's report on the impacts of textile dyeing, has been uploaded! Click here to download it!

The report summarises almost everything we read and found out about all the different ways to colour fabric. Although a lot of what we waded through was highly scientific, we've tried to simplify it for you.

The report looks at why we need to address the environmental impact of dyes, then goes on to list the impacts, advantages and disadvantages of conventional dyeing techniques and possible alternatives. Other treatments and chemicals used to treat textiles are also covered, and some interesting things we found out are contained in six appendices.

Many of the methods we looked at involve complex processes and machinery, turning impact reduction into a set of complicated tradeoffs. However, we found out about a little-known ancient dyeing method which is brilliantly simple, eliminating the need for scary chemicals, complicated equipment or super-thirsty dye and rinsing cycles. Although not every colour will be available, we will be able to choose from a varied palette, which includes some really bright, punchy ones.

To ensure that the performance of our chosen method lives up to the hype, we'll need to carry out some experiments. And we've taken on an intern to help us: as of next week, Sarah Murphy, a fashion student at Central St Martin's, will be coming in solely to focus on the project, so expect developments to speed up a bit and keep checking back to see how it's all coming along!

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How happy can a colourful t-shirt make you? Tricky question, it depends on who you are and what you like. A better question might be how much happier can it be make you if it’s made in a environmentally considerate way? This month, we made it our mission to find out everything we possibly could about colouring a t-shirt. What’s surprising is that even though we still don’t know everything there is to know, we seem to be well on the way to uploading one of the most comprehensive documents on dyes and their environmental impacts onto the web.

We felt it important to research this issue because the negative impacts of dyeing take on many shapes and forms; conventional dyes are made from finite resources such as petroleum, require large amounts of water, pollute waterways and kill aquatic life, as well as presenting health risks to factory workers and end users. Not good. And sadly, this part of the story is often overlooked, even by traditional ‘eco’ clothing manufacturers. It felt especially important draw attention to the issues, find out what we could and share this knowledge with as many people as we can.

So we found out everything we could about every applicable dyeing method… direct dyes, fibre-reactive dyes, sulphur dyes, vat dyes, natural dyes, dirt dyes, naturally coloured cotton, sunbleaching, closed loop systems… and were disappointed to find out how few people could point us in the right direction. It’s understandable, given how little information currently available and how confusing all of it is. But knowing our t-shirt couldn’t be perfect unless we tackled the issues head-on, we had to do the best we could. Even though there wasn’t enough information to fully weigh up the pros and cons of every dye method, we feel we’ve come up with the most informed, considered approach offered by any garment maker to date.

This approach follows a rule of ‘the simpler, the better’. We’ve decided to offer a limited selection of colours, as the more colours available, the more complicated the footprint calculation and supply chain. We narrowed the choice down to three types of shirt: the first being for the most hardcore eco-types, avoiding the impacts of dyeing altogether by being completely undyed. For those with environmental interests but also aesthetic concerns, we want to offer one bright colour, such as deep red or sky blue. And for business or more formal occasions, we also want to produce a black version.

In terms of what to use to obtain these colours, a good principle to stick to seems to be keeping it as natural as possible. Even if it’s not perfect now, we’ll be providing a boost to this area, meaning it’ll improve and become a more viable competitor to scary chemical dyes in the future. With these decisions made, we can take on our next set of challenges: firstly, the most socially and environmentally sound way of producing and dealing with this dye. The next challenge is to work out how to make these colours stay bright or strong – they may be better in environmental and social terms but synthetic dyes still outperform them aesthetically. And the challenge after that challenge is who can actually dye the shirts for us – as we keep discovering, what’s theoretically possible, what’s actually possible and what’s realistic in the world of functioning businesses are many, many worlds apart.

The document’s not quite finished yet but you can send your email address to perfect@betterthinking.co.uk and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s done. And in the meantime, as per usual, if you have anything to add, we’d love to hear about it – this project’s all about improvement through involvement.

Ok, so the blog has seemed a little quiet recently, but things have been very very busy doing paid work for exciting clients. We've put the rare, spare moments we've found to good use though, in the form of sourcing more factories as well as putting together a major report that simplifies extremely complicated information on the impacts and effectiveness of various dyeing methods. We'll upload it as soon as we're confident we know all the details... watch this space!

The perfect t-shirt has entered a new stage of life! We always knew that the perfect t-shirt would involve not one, but several different possible approaches to minimising the footprint of the world's most universal garment. We've mapped out four very different types of perfect t-shirt, all with various pros and cons. Take a look at each one, cast your vote and join in the discussion here.

We've had so many posts on the forum that we summarised what's been uploaded to make it easier to read. To catch up with what was said, go take a look. Thanks very much for all of your contributions, they've really pushed our thinking along.

My mother has had her fingers crossed all week, and today her wishes for me came true: I got to meet Katharine Hamnett! For those of you who don't recognise the name, shame on you: she's the lady behind the infamous 'Frankie Say Relax' and 'Choose Life' t-shirts worn by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Wham! respectively. And it gets even better: she's very well known for her political and ethical stance, which, as you might expect, she's incredibly passionate about.

We were led to a garden table surrounded by hordes of 100% organic cotton t-shirts and nuzzled by enthusiastic dogs as Katharine told us about her perfect t-shirt. Which, somewhat unsurprisingly, is a Katharine Hamnett t-shirt. More specifically, it fulfils her essential criteria of paying farmers a fair wage, spinning, knitting and stitching the shirt in the same area to reduce 'clothing miles', being comfortable, and avoiding being 'too fashion'. Organic cotton's the only material for her, as, in her opinion, even the finest hemp is too scratchy for a t-shirt and the process used to turn bamboo into fibre uses too many harsh chemicals.

We then moved onto a small discussion about cotton, which challenged one of my thoughts on the subject. Recently, I've been thinking that if we're to set a blueprint for the industry, we should use a crop that can be just as sustainable on a global scale. Even though we've found almost entirely sustainable rain-fed organic cotton, as all the cotton in the world cannot be rain-fed, I've been having doubts about using it for our shirt. However, Katharine stated that 100 million farmers work with cotton and it's responsible for 10% of agriculture and 25% of its pesticide use. As cotton is such a classic, comfy t-shirt material, wouldn't it be great to help turn such a massive industry round? I ended up thinking I'd be happy for us to use organic, rain-fed cotton at this point in time as long as someone can develop a method of irrigating the oh-so-thirsty cotton (20,000 litres of groundwater per kilo of harvested fibre) by the time pesticide-free cotton begins to be used on a global scale. As well as growing her fabric in India, Katharine's cotton is also spun and stitched there, as it produces the most advanced jersey fabric in her opinion.

We found out it costs about £4,000 for a farm or co-operative to be certified as organic, which must be discouraging farms from becoming certified. Katharine passionately believes that the developed world should pay this cost: after all 'it's one world'. And then, somewhere behind one of the rails of trendy t-shirts, a phone rang, Katharine had to carry on with her busy, glamorous life, and we had to return to the real world.

Posted by Cate

And the Darth Vader phone began to spill out a wealth of information on all things ecological… Yes, it was Kate Fletcher at the other end of the line, telling us she’s been impressed with the rich variety of opinion uncovered by the forum so far, and giving us some definitive answers for things we’d been looking into.

She began by shattering our dreams: there’s no hemp being grown in the UK that’s of a sufficient quality to be used for garments. She told us of the many hurdles she went through trying to make clothing locally for a project in the 90s, involving weeding and cutting a hemp crop by hand, transporting the crop to the closest processing plant (in Belgium!) where it had to be adapted to fit into a machine designed to process a different crop, and then transported to Northern Ireland, the closest place where spinning could occur, all to be transported back to Southern England.

A quick masterclass in how hemp is processed was next on the schedule. The useable fibre of the hemp crop grows in the centre of the plant, and is accessed by rotting away the unwanted parts, more attractively known in the industry as ‘retting’. There are lots of ways to do this: using chemicals, something exciting called ‘steam explosion’, water retting and field retting. Despite sounding pleasant and ecologically sound, water retting is actually responsible for polluting waterways. Hence field retting, where the crop is left out in the field to decay naturally by dew and bacteria, is the best.

And in passing, another exciting thing was mentioned: sunbleaching! Understandably it doesn’t lead to as bright a whiteness created by nasty chemicals, but it’s a possibility that we definitely need to look into.

Before she had to rush off and carry on her hectic schedule, we were thrown one more factlet. If the t-shirt doesn’t take to the air but is instead shipped using, erm, a ship, its carbon footprint for transportation will be minute. That means we can look further afield to find the factories and farms that we feel are making the biggest difference.

So with a few more avenues of exploration to wander down and a clearer idea of how to navigate them, we disconnected from the world’s ugliest telephone to continue on our epic journey…

Posted by Cate

Having declared that we’re going to take every positive and negative social or environmental effect into account whilst making the t-shirt, we decided it was about time we actually wrote down what they might be. They’ll help us compare our t-shirts to other companies’ to make sure we’re really pushing the boundaries. Resisting the temptation to neurotically question what the employees in the factory eat and how many dogs they own, the list of core questions takes up four A4 pages. We’ve listed some of them for you below, but we’re aware there’s probably a whole load of other issues we’re still missing. If there’s anything you think we may have overlooked, please get in touch.

What material(s) is the t-shirts made from?
What environmental certification(s), if any, does the farm have?
Where is the material grown/formed?
How quickly does it grow?
What happens to the parts of the crop that are not sent off to be turned into t-shirts?
How much water is needed to grow the crop and where does this water come from (eg irrigation, rain-fed, etc)?
How much pesticide and fertiliser is required? How is it disposed of?

What social certification(s), if any, does the farm have?
How much does the farmer receive for his crop? How much do other farmers in the region receive?
Are farmers educated about the dangers of any chemicals and machinery that they use?
What is the age range of the workers? What is the average age?

How is the material transported to the processing plant? How is it prepared for transportation (eg What is it packed in? Is it sprayed to protect against pests?)
How is the plant powered (eg conventional electricity, on-site solar power, green electricity tariff)?
How much water is needed to process the material and where does this water come from?
How is the material processed? What chemicals or treatments are involved? How are these neutralised and disposed of at the end of the process?
What dyestuffs are involved? What chemicals and treatments are involved in the production of these dyes?

Does the site adhere to Ethical Trading Initiative Labour Standards?
How much are employees paid, on average? What is the regional average?
Are employees free to join trade unions and groups?
Do employees receive regular, comprehensive equipment training?

Is there a decoration on the t-shirt?
What is it made of? How are the colours added? How is it produced and how are this process’s wastes dealt with?
How is it applied? How is this machinery cleaned?
How long will the decoration remain attractive?

Where are the t-shirts sold?
How are the t-shirts transported to point of sale?
How are the shops powered?
How are the t-shirts displayed? What are the hangers made from?
How is the t-shirt packaged? Can it be reused or recycled?
Are customers discouraged from using a bag?

How many times can the t-shirt be worn before it requires washing?
How is it washed? Is any effort made to reduce how much the customer washes it?
How does the fabric behave? How comfy is it?
How desirable is the t-shirt? Is it popular?

What happens at the end of the t-shirt’s life? Is this considered when the t-shirt is designed?
If it goes to landfill, how quickly does it break down? What is released during the decomposing process?
If it is recycled, how is this done? How is it transported to the recycling plant?
What is the material turned into and what processes and chemicals are involved in this?

How are the business’s offices powered?
Which of the companies financial services (eg banking, pension and insurance) are provided by an ethical banking service?
What has the company prioritised for how it can improve its products and the way it does business?
Is any part of the business carbon neutral?
What does a t-shirt sell for? How does this break down (workers’ wages, transportation, marketing budget, profit and so on)?

Posted by Cate

What do dead sparrows have to do with t-shirts? Nothing whatsoever. But sadly, what to do if you find one in your garden was the most precise information we managed to uncover during several phone conversations with organisations that we thought should and would know better.

The perfect t-shirt is now at a stage where we need specific companies and individuals that could help us to put the t-shirt in production once we've committed to a final specification. So we contacted the Carbon Trust, DEFRA, the DTI and the Sustainable Development Commission to find out: Are any factories in the UK (or Europe) that make t-shirts and are powered by renewable energy? Preferably not just a green tariff but on-site renewables like wind, solar or wave power. Is anyone in the UK making yarn from flax or hemp that's been grown organically in this country? Surprisingly, across all these organisations no definitive answers where forthcoming. We were simply redirected from one web site to another, full of positive principles but no practical advice whatsoever.

It ironically seems far easier to answer questions about sustainable practice in Japan than in the UK. From our earlier research for example, we already know that there are factories in Japan powered exclusively by on-site renewables where you can buy fabric made from organic cotton and bamboo. It's bad enough that the UK economy probably doesn't have such glowing eco-credentials - it's even worse that you can't find anyone to give a definitive answer as to what sustainable resources are available here and who's providing them.

The most helpful people by far were the Sustainable Development Commission. Their main focus is advising Government, so I won't give you the name of the kind and informative person I spoke with there or he'll be inundated with the wrong kind of questions! He still couldn't provide definitive answers to our questions, but he didn't try to pass the buck and he also offered to forward an email to their 'roundtable' committee. So fingers crossed we might get some tangible input soon.

It seems that if UK PLC is to adopt a truly sustainable mindset and get beyond short-terms tactical solutions and greenwash, we would all benefit from a one-stop sustainability shop. A place where you can find out how to turn your positive principles into positive actions. But with enough specific details that you don't have to waste half your life on fruitless phone calls trying to find the small number of suppliers who are actually already set up to operate sustainably. A resource like this certainly doesn't exist at the moment - maybe someone should set one up? Tony, Gordon, David - if you're interested you can mail us for some ideas: help@betterthinking.co.uk. Or maybe there's already something in the pipeline we don't know about?

Posted by Mike

Our t-shirt project gained us access to Development House, a building full of NGOs doing all sorts of wonderful things. We were led past the only Fairtrade vending machine I’ve ever seen to meet Damien Sanfilippo, Cotton Project Coordinator for Pesticide Action Network UK. He pointed out that in addition to having the world’s smallest eco-footprint, our t-shirt could also be used as a force of positive change. Turkish organic cotton is great, but growing it in West Africa will be more socially beneficial, as it has more potential to boost income and quality of life whilst promoting gender equality, biodiversity and food security. Damien felt these benefits justify the extra energy required to transport it a bit further to its point of sale.

One of the benefits of organic cotton grown in West Africa is that it is entirely rain-fed. This means that no irrigation whatsoever is needed, not even ground water, making the crop very close to being completely sustainable. The cotton in West Africa is often hand picked and transported on animal carts instead of relying on the fossil powered machinery more common in the US and Turkey. Damien is in touch with small scale organic cotton farmers in Senegal, who would also be able to spin and knit the fabric there, providing environmental benefits in the form of requiring less travelling, and mental health benefits for us in the form of a simpler supply chain.

Another interesting part of the meeting was the realisation that even though organic cotton is grown without any chemicals, caustic soda is needed to remove the wax so it can be spun and woven. The waste water produced during this process then requires more chemicals to be added to it so it can be neutralised. This rather shocking discovery made us realise there is a long way to go before the true organic t-shirt, which uses no synthetic chemicals at any point in the production process, is brought into existence.

We were also shown some examples of naturally coloured cotton grown in Peru which eliminates the need for nasty dyes. Damien told us natural dyes are pointless as these fade after three or four washes. He showed us some that’s made in Peru. We were shown a range of samples of naturally coloured cotton. They looked alright; if we used different shades of cotton to put a funky design on the shirt then it could be considered trendy, despite using colours traditionally only worn by hippies. The only problem is the naturally coloured cotton is grown in Peru, and the socially beneficial farms, which grow cotton that requires dye, are in Senegal. The best solution’s in there somewhere, but where?!?

Posted by Cate

OK, it doesn't really, it's a very sustainable, low-impact crop with many incredible applications - but at the moment we're not convinced that it's right for the perfect t-shirt. (It won't count as perfect if only hippies want to wear it, will it?) We have busy been uncovering some other sustainable possibilities though. From locally-sourced (linen woven from Scottish flax) to socially-beneficial (organic cotton produced with zero emissions in West Africa) there are many considerations to assess and evaluate.

We're now starting to build several different scenarios for fabrics and logistics, and the next step is to identify potential design and manufacturing partners. And we can already imagine the equal measures of fun and frustration in store when we get to think about cut, colour and styling!

Posted by Mike

It’s a shame, hemp is an extremely sustainable crop that can be used for clothing, paper, housing insulation and biomass fuel, but it’s never really taken off because most of those involved in the industry spend far too much time being stoned! Gav Lawson, a refreshingly down-to-earth businessman and one of the owners of THTC (The Hemp Trading Company) told us that once he’d found our studio after a long walk in the cold.

Although hemp may not be the most comfortable or fashionable material to use (it looks a bit rough and ready, though I’m yet to wash my new shirt a few times), it's an extremely environmentally friendly material: hemp fibre is very strong and durable, and requires no pesticides or herbicides due to its natural resistance to insects and weeds. And it gets better – hemp can replace a proportion of cotton used in many instances, reducing the frightening levels of chemicals cotton production is responsible for: the crop is the most pesticide-intensive on the planet, occupying 2.4% of arable land yet requiring 24% of the world’s insecticides. But it doesn’t stop there! We could even pack the t-shirt in hemp: research is being carried out using hemp in biodegradable plastic products. Talk about succumbing to hemp-tation…

Posted by Cate

We're getting stuck into the real nitty-gritty details of sourcing and standards. We're now in contact with an American University who have developed a fabric treatment that repels dirt and odours. And we're working our way through the Soil Association's list of certified organic textile manufacturers and importers. It's great to get a very hands-on perspective of some of the difficulties and trade-offs - but it wasn't entirely reassuring that my first phone call to an organic textile manufacturer was to someone who only makes tampons! Well, it certainly lightened up our Thursday afternoon! Let's see what next week brings...

Posted by Mike

I’ve spent the past week trying not to get too starstruck as I’ve gone about meeting more of the people of my ‘impressive eco people’ list. Friday afternoon was spent in Cyndi Rhodes’ shared studio space in Angel, finding out about her Anti-Apathy project and hearing how she collaborated with Terra Plana to bring the super trendy yet more ethical Worn Again shoes in existence. And yesterday we had a coffee with Karin, Blake and Kate from Interface, the world’s leading carpet tile design, manufacturer and seller, both in terms of sales and sustainability. It was fantastic just to meet these people, let alone have them share their knowledge learnt whilst developing and producing industry-changing products and business models.

However, the meetings did make me feel the fear again, as we learnt that both companies have had to make compromises in order to bring their products into existence. These compromises were clearly worth making because they meant their pioneering products could be brought into reality, a crucial step to setting an example to other businesses and making them begin to change their act. The problem with our project is that every impact must be considered, meaning we have to justify each and every tradeoff we’ve made. My sense of dread at this complex task was justified when Blake said that ‘measuring tradeoffs is like comparing apples to oranges’: there are thousands of variables affecting each potential impact, taking years to accurately assess, at the end of which the state of play will have completely changed and you’ll have to start again.

It was a strange relief to hear confirmation that calculating tradeoffs is such a world of pain, although it didn’t help to think we were now undergoing an impossible task. But Mike pointed out if there are so many complex calculations to be done, what we need to do is simplify the system. He suggested making everything in this country, instantly minimising the distance materials and products need to travel, eliminating the need to audit factories due to the UK’s strong laws and automatically ensuring workers have a much better quality of life. It’ll be interesting to see what price this t-shirt will be, but as the guys from Timberland pointed out, although we may be used to t-shirts costing between £5 and £25, if the cost of ensuring every process is ethically sound results in a £200 price tag, then that is what’s reasonable.

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I think it feels hard at the moment because we want to do so much. We want to get tangible results reasonably quickly, to help this feel like a real working project with a real outcome. But we also recognise that every aspect of the project needs to be considered in infinite detail. It’s about getting the right balance between pragmatism and idealism. Of course, we don’t even know yet how people will respond to the perfect t-shirt once it’s available. Will they really appreciate something that is produced in a markedly different way to a more conventional t-shirt?

We’ve established some basic principles of our methodology. We want to end up with a real t-shirt that people can buy. We don’t want to be hide-bound by convention. We need to engage people at every step. We need to retrace our steps and challenge everything again at every point. We want to make progress. We want to break the mould. We need to end up with more than just an art project. This isn’t (only) about just proving a point.

Possibly the way we can reconcile these diverse and conflicting goals is to pursue more than one avenue at the same time, as if they could all exist in perfect harmony. So, we can imagine the most perfectly incremental t-shirt at the same time as envisioning the most perfectly radical t-shirt.

One thing that stands out at this point in our journey, is that we need to be scared. If we aren’t in awe of the scale and volume of the challenges facing us, the incredible amount of knowledge that we need to absorb and process — then we’re doing something wrong. Well, by this measure, for the time being we’re on the right track.

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We're in the Observer... take a look!

A couple of discoveries that make any t-shirt, or any garment for that matter, more sustainable… First of all, Ecoballs! The mineral pellets inside these balls produce ions which lift dirt away without damaging the fabric. At £35, they’re quite an investment, but that buys you 1,000 washes - 3.5p a go, which can’t be bad. By avoiding detergent, you’re not releasing harsh chemicals into the water supply, and doing anyone with skin problems such as eczema a favour.

And another eco-tip that can be applied to your entire wardrobe: 80% of the energy used to wash garments is needed to heat the water. The colder you can wash something, the more energy you save and the less damage you do to your clothes. Washing in cold can save you between £30 and £100 a year in fuel bills – enough for those Ecoballs.

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Mark loved the grey one cos of the shape, I loved the blue one cos of the colour and the cool design! Ecojiro is the quirky character used to promote Kirin Beer’s environmental activities. He’s ridiculously cute, making me feel proud to wear a positive symbol of reducing my impact – exciting and ethical all at once. These shirts remove the common issue that fun must be sacrificed for ethics. If we can make a t-shirt that makes people feel good by being more ethical, the shirt will move one step closer to perfection.

Back in the real world, it does seem that being as ethical as you can be does come at a personal cost, at least for now. In the nature of being completely good rather than less bad, we want to use only treatment products that are completely free from any concerns about causing birth defects, genetic mutations or cancer. Of 8,000 chemicals used in fabric manufacture, only 38 currently meet our standards. And of 1600 dyechemicals available, only 16 are approved by the EPEA as sound for health and environment, enabling us to produce shirts in red, purple, orange, white and a load of pastel shades in between.

Which brings us to the question of sacrifice: will people object to brilliant blue, green, yellow and black being unavailable? A lot of this is based on the consumer’s mindset. If people really begin to value ethical living, a combination of understanding and the availability of other positive options should mean they won’t miss certain colours. We could make a selling point of the fact it’s not available in blue, green, yellow and black, helping people be proud not to wear these colours through our own positivity.

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Our ideas have taken another interesting turn after reading ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things’. The book states that if things are designed so their materials are kept in a completely closed loop or degrade completely safely, there is no reason why we can’t keep acquiring the latest, most stylish objects. It suggests designing a cup that breaks down quickly and safely, that contains nutrients that would fertilise the ground. You’d be able to feel good about throwing it out of a train window, and councils would want the nutrients on their land to the extent they’d put up little signs saying ‘please litter’. Of course, there’s no reason why we can’t design a t-shirt according to the same principles. A lot of research and thinking will be needed as to the best ways to implement them: should people be able to chuck it into their gardens? Should they return it to us where we put it into a special ‘t-shirt wormery’? Might it be available in non-tree hugging shades? We’re also quite disbelieving that this solution is really so simple, and expect to hit problems as soon as we explore the options available to us, but it’ll be interesting to find out how many obstacles there are and whether we can help remove them.

Another thought we had is that one way to get around the issue of users disposing of their garments when they get bored of them is to think outside the conventional system of buying clothing. What about a t-shirt bank, a system in which users rent t-shirts they like and return them whenever they feel like trying something different? This would involve fabrics that could withstand multiple washes, users who understood the t-shirts may not look brand new the first time they wore them and a realisation that some years there may be a lot of demand for one type of shirt, and in others they may just gather dust in the warehouse. The main advantage over personally owning one perfect t-shirt is that the t-shirt bank doesn’t eliminate the concept of fashion and change, and gives users a bigger wardrobe than they could ever achieve single-handedly. Issues of ownership and personalisation also come up: how do you say a t-shirt from the t-shirt bank is ‘you’? Maybe it just requires a different attitude to clothing; understanding that if we are to live more ethically we have to use things differently and therefore think differently about them.

After the initial discussion of materials and dyes, we got into somewhat less technical issues: what would our perfect t-shirt look like? To avoid the number one threat to t-shirt longevity, that of being thrown away because the user doesn’t like it anymore, we need to make sure it’s a staple of the user’s wardrobe. One after another, everyone at the table described their perfect shirt, at which point we realised it was different for each of us. Mark wanted a basic, baggy, black, square shirt that he’d never have to worry about replacing, Kate Fletcher wanted something fashionable and fitting, Mike also wanted something more fitting but masculine. I didn’t know what I wanted but I felt I’d know when I saw it. We figured each user’s perfect cut is as individual as they are. Kate felt the perfect t-shirt is also the most personal t-shirt: it needs to be individually designed and produced, to make the shirt truly appropriate to the user’s needs and give him or her a sense of attachment to the object. However, Mike and Mark want to make the t-shirt available to as many people as possible at a reasonable price: they felt mass production was needed and that the choice should be limited to a men’s and women’s cut available in both white and black. Maybe the title of the project has now changed to ‘The Perfect Mass-Produced t-shirt’.

Well, we never said it would be easy, and the first stage of our perfect t-shirt project proved this to be somewhat of an understatement: more than making each stage of the product lifecycle as environmentally sound as possible, the project is going to involve challenging every assumption we’re tempted to make. We met Dr Kate Fletcher, an expert in the field of more sustainable textiles, who armed us with some excellent information and reminded us a design’s impacts are sometimes not where you’d expect them, for example, by telling us laundering accounts for 85% of a garment’s impact. Hence one possible solution is a t-shirt which only requires occasional washing. Kate also suggested a range of exotic sounding materials: instead of organic cotton, bamboo, ingeo and lyocell were shortlisted.

As we continued, we realised our product will never truly be the perfect t-shirt: each material and production method still has an environmental impact. Some materials need less energy to grow than others but more chemicals to process them, some less impactful materials are less tactile and so on. The t-shirt needs to be a favourite: rather than shirts wearing out, most t-shirts are discarded because the user gets bored with them. Hence it may be worth the more resource-intensive process of dying or bleaching a shirt rather than leaving it a more natural but unconventional ecru colour. It’s about understanding the tradeoffs and making the most appropriate choice from what’s available at this point in time.