Our Footprint: sustainability in practice
Local Production and Manufacturing
Although we import raw materials (fabric and dyestuff) for our line, all our merchandise design and production is carried out locally in Portland, Oregon and we are intimately connected to every aspect of production, marketing, and sales.
We design patterns for our garments, prototype them ourselves for fit and shrinkage, and when we’re satisfied that the pattern is perfect, we contract with another small, local, woman owned business for our production sewing needs. Each garment is sewn in its undyed state and then hand-dyed in our Portland dye studio using materials and extracts from trees, roots, plants, and insects.
We handcraft all the colors ourselves by mixing and overdying different dyestuff, such as indigo, osage, cochineal, acacia wood, madder root, and logwood. By choosing to manufacture our clothes locally, we reduce our fuel consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We even drive biodiesel-fueled and hybrid vehicles! Local production also generates local employment and ensures that the people making our clothes are paid a fair living wage.
Shop Infrastructure
Our dye studio is located in an otherwise vacant basement space and uses gas-powered water heater, stoves and dryer. We choose to use electricity from a renewable energy supply mix (wind, geothermal, and low- impact hydro). We use exclusively natural dyes (see dyestuff) and non-toxic mordants that are harmless before and after entering the water table. For more information about the mordants used, please go to http://earthues.com/aboutmordants.html .
Each day in the dye studio, we choose a particular color range and run baths continually to ensure that dye pots are only dumped once at the end of the day. We are committed to raising awareness of environmental impact through outreach and education and seek increasingly sustainable choices. We even donate our dryer lint to a local artist!