Eco-responsible consumption and clothing is a vast topic!

This applies to everything we buy, of course, but what about the clothes we wear, and what do we know about them? Let's try to provide some answers and understand where the clothes we wear come from, how they are made, and their cost.

Cotton pollution

Cotton has been cultivated for over 3000 years BC, which speaks volumes…..

Today, most cultivated cotton comes from the United States, China, or India. Our current civilization is educated to consume more and more: Americans throw away over 14 million tons of clothing each year, which is about 40 kilos per person. Over 80% of our clothes end up in landfills and incinerators worldwide, so we shouldn't complain and wonder why it's necessary to produce more and more to satisfy brands whose only credo is to satisfy their consumers. But at what cost?

It takes about 5,000 liters of water to make a cotton t-shirt and a pair of jeans. It is the crop that uses the most pesticides on our planet: 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of all insecticides. The textile sector has become the second largest polluter in the world. It generates most harmful toxic waste, pollutes groundwater, rivers, then oceans, and ends up in our food chain....

In addition to being "water-greedy," new "synthetic" fibers, based on petroleum, such as acrylic, polyester, and nylon, have appeared. They are not biodegradable or take several hundred years to decompose, releasing a harmful greenhouse gas 310 times more powerful than carbon dioxide! Worse, rayon, a synthetic fiber derived from wood pulp, is made with toxic products like caustic soda and sulfuric acid and is not subject to any waste treatment.....

The textile productivity race: towards illusion or disillusion?

Consuming more means producing more, and some have understood this for a long time!

Exerting real pressure on developing countries by dangling the prospect of a perfect solution, which was in fact only an unfinished test phase. It seems that Monsanto skillfully used the distress prevailing at the time in the cotton sector to introduce its product, the famous BT cotton. The contract with Monsanto promised an immediate solution to insect problems in cotton fields, as well as an increase in production per hectare and the number of seeds per cotton boll...

Many countries were misled by this promise, which ultimately constitutes the most appalling pollution of our planet!

Some are making a 180° turn by stopping the "collaborative" experiment of the chemical giant, among them India and Burkina Faso.

Burkinabé cotton was renowned for being one of the highest quality in the world. 10 years of collaboration with Monsanto, and it's a real ecological and human catastrophe. Worse, BT cotton provides extremely short fibers that are of very poor quality and very difficult to weave......

Cotton solution: what to do?

It is difficult to provide a global answer and an effective solution here, but there is increasing hope......

Today, major fashion players use organic, recycled materials or fibers from renewable sources.

Indeed, a label called GOTS or Global Organic Textile Standard has been gaining popularity for several years in various white gold producing countries. It guarantees: the integrity and traceability of raw materials, respect for the environment, consumer health, and social criteria.

As a result, there are 2 levels of certification:

Organic textile: requires that 95% of the fibers come from organic farming (with a maximum of 5% synthetic or artificial fibers).

Textiles made from organic fibers: requires that a minimum of 70% of the fibers come from organic farming (with a maximum of 10% synthetic or artificial fibers, this threshold rising to 25% for footwear or sports items and 30% for recycled, organic, or eco-sourced fibers)

Working with GOTS organic cotton guarantees farmers quality environmental and social conditions and prioritizes respect for nature and people.....

It is our way of buying that we must review today, and everyone can contribute:

Buy less. Buy quality, sometimes second-hand. Support fair trade. Buy organic and recycled products from post-consumer waste. Read labels. Boycott brands and retailers who use sweatshops..... and it's a ruthless world!

And us?

At Workshop, we made the commitment to respect this ecocert label as part of our approach as a small local business.

We are demanding because we want to create products that are both original and long-lasting. Quality is a priority in our daily work, both in terms of our printing inks and our flocking materials.

Our main supplier is committed to being responsible for our environmental and social impact throughout our entire production chain, starting with raw materials that only use organic cotton, wool, Tencel, Modal, or recycled polyester. They work with 7 factories, which allows for daily quality controls and ensures that our socio-environmental standards and norms are respected.

In addition, other certifications are currently verifiable:

OEKO-TEX Standard 100: an independent control and certification system for raw, intermediate, and finished textile products at all stages of processing.

REACH Compliant: improve the protection of human health and the environment by identifying chemical substances and using strictly authorized substances.

Canopy: an environmental association dedicated to protecting forests, wildlife, and the climate. In collaboration with businesses and the public to help create environmentally friendly supply chains and provide innovative solutions to environmental challenges.

The Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) is an independent non-profit organization that works with companies and factories to improve the working conditions of textile and garment workers.

Obviously, no one is perfect, but the small commitment we have made is part of a long-term approach to protecting our environment for everyone, with the aim of passing on a slightly less polluted world to our children......

That's why you'll find all these specificities in our shop. We also want to believe that our approach is not in vain and that we can sell the cleanest possible textile items. Moreover, you will notice that our prices are reasonable compared to well-known brands that do not always meet these criteria......