RAW Materials
I want to ensure we're as transparent as possible with all our customers, so this section is an overview of the materials I use. They're not all 100% awesome for environment, but it is my primary consideration, and if you think there's a better way I can be doing it, please let me know.
Wood
Wood is an awesome material, and my first products were almost entirely created from... wood. But you need to be a little bit careful as there is wood you can use which is fine for the environment, and wood that really isn't.
Usually wood from managed European sources should be OK to use, and actually, getting wood from British managed woodland is usually a really good thing to do. It keeps woodland functioning and actually acts as carbon capture. Far too much wood in the UK is chipped and burnt, and then when we want to build something we import it in, most Oak furniture sold commercially in the UK is imported from the US or France!
Exotic woods are also ones to be very careful of.
Rosewood is beautiful, and can be purchased from sustainable managed woodland. But in reality a lot of wood from sustainable woodlands outside of Europe, is not actually sustainable. It has the label but basically comes from Tropical regions where the wood is endangered, and the company or country felling the trees may not have the best intentions.
(https://globaltrees.org/projects/tackling-illegal-rosewood-logging-in-belize/)
Zebrawood is another one which has become very popular, it's an awesome looking wood and an awesome looking tree which can stand at 40 meters tall. It provides whole mini ecosystem within rainforests. But is critically endangered and when one tree if lost, and that ecosystem is lost too. Unfortunately it has become really popular.
(https://globaltrees.org/threatened-trees/trees/african-zebrawood/)
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The bottom line with Exotic wood, is avoid it. All wood has a character and trees when grown locally or in Europe can be usually be harvested sustainably which is good for the environment, good for jobs and minimises transportation.
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Textiles
You've seen the news. The fashion industry, or 'Fast Fashion', is responsible for 10% of greenhouse emissions world wide!
That's huge!
But it doesn't stop there, pollution in waterways and acidification of soil, microplastics, exploitation of workers, waste materials, the list goes on. The industry has decided 'cheap' means to cut every ethical and environmental corner out there to give us a new jazzy pair of jeans or throwaway t-shirt for the price of half a cup of tea.
This is wrong, this industry is really wrong, and if you're not thinking about the materials you buy, you really should be, there are some amazing environmentally beneficial textile out there that just need more people to buy them.
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Cotton, this genetically modified super crop is pretty high on the to avoid list, taking 2,700 litres of water to produce one t-shirt, it's pumped full of chemical fertilizers and insecticides, environmentally it's really not a good thing to buy. (https://kleiderly.com/blogs/kleiderly-magazine/how-much-water-is-needed-to-make-a-t-shirt). Organic cotton uses 91% less water (https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/oct/01/cotton-on-the-staggering-potential-of-switching-to-organic-clothes), less or no pesticides or insecticides as it is more resistant and must be fed with organic fertilizers, which is a really good thing.
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But instead of cotton you could go one HUGE step further and start buying organic hemp textiles. Hemp uses less water, needs no insecticides, grows like a weed in most places, needs less fertilizer and lasts longer than cotton. I don't smoke weed myself so won't praise this plant through a haze of smoke, but the benefits of Hemp are outstanding! (https://hemptology.co.uk/benefits-of-organic-hemp-as-a-textile/)
Linen also is a really eco-friendly a home grown product, not quite as soft as hemp but it has some great qualities, it's very strong and gets stronger with washing and the flax seed is also an uber super food.
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Leathers (Plant not Plastics)
Leather... Well I don't use animal leather, but that's not to say I wholly disagree with it. If an animal is treated well, and is killed anyway for meat the leather itself is an awesomely versatile material. However, a majority of leather is not certified, is terrible for the environment and the health of the people working with it. Leather tanning is a horribly polluting process and although natural vegetable tanning is better when was the last time you checked the type of tanning used on a wallet? I hate how widespread the use of leather is, do people really need a leather phone charging wire? The easy way to ensure you're harming the planet as little as possible is to avoid animal products, thus animal leathers.
Vegan Leathers (Pleather), is awful stuff. Vegan leather is shouted about as a green product, but literally means, made of plastic. Please avoid this at all costs and look out for plant based leather.
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Since the green revolution started people have been looking for materials which could replace leather, the problem with finding a direct alterative to leather is that it is a super versatile product and is used (and abused) for a huge number of applications. Getting something to work equally as well and cost effectively in all the areas leather works, is next to impossible. But this isn't all bad news, far from it.
People are making comparable materials from countless different plants and fungus's, each of the materials has various strengths which make it a viable alternative to leather in some ways. Take cork (sustainably and regeneratively harvested from the Cork Oak tree), it has a brilliant abrasion resistance, it dyes well, and it has a beautiful character in the grain. However, it's not particularly strong, but if you back it with hemp, which has the strength, you have an amazingly versatile product. Both materials are carbon sinks (take CO2 out of the environment), are renewable, and produce green jobs. Look out for cork backed with Polyurethane though as you may as well just use plastic!
I've spent the past 2 years researching different plant based leather alternatives (it's become a bit of an obsession), sourcing and purchasing samples of eco friendly, ethical materials to see how they stack up against leather. I'm happy to say, they all have awesome qualities and I sell a few as sample products in the store.