Patagonia has launched Truth to Materials — a capsule collection for Fall/Winter featuring seven styles of jackets, sweaters and scarves made from raw, reclaimed or alternatively sourced materials. The company says the collection represents “radical new methods of manufacturing” — it features fabrics such as undyed cashmere, and reclaimed cotton, wool and down.
Truth to Materials features:
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Reclaimed wool — from an Italian company called Calamai, which is dedicated to producing reclaimed wool. The finished product uses garments and manufacturing scrap and blends them into a variety of knits, weaves and weights as well as textures. The reclaimed wool used by Patagonia is made from discarded wool sweaters that are shredded into usable fiber and mixed with polyester and nylon for strength.
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Reclaimed cotton — Thanks to a partnership with the TAL Group, one of the larger garment manufacturers in the world, Patagonia has been able to take cotton consumption and twist it closer to the elusive closed-loop. Since 2011, the TAL Group has been saving hundreds of tons of cotton from the landfill by sweeping the floors of their factories in China and Malaysia, and spinning this cutting-room scrap into new fabrics. This reclaimed cotton is neither bleached nor dyed and is traceable from raw material to retail store.
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Undyed cashmere — Patagonia's undyed cashmere is hand-harvested by Mongolian goat herders who brush their flocks as they shift grazing grounds according to the seasons, resulting in natural whites, browns and tans. The lack of dyeing lessens the environmental impact and gives the material an even softer hand.
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Reclaimed down — Patagonia has partnered with designer and artisan Natalie Chanin, of Alabama Chanin, for a one-of-a-kind reclaimed down project: The company’s quilters have taken irreparably damaged down jackets that have been collected for years through Patagonia's Common Threads Partnership recycling program and created a set of numbered, limited edition down scarves.
This is just the latest in a wide range of initiatives from Patagonia dedicated to ensuring the sustainability of its materials — in the past year, the outdoor apparel company has committed to using 100 percent Traceable Down, starting this Fall; developed a biorubber replacement material for wetsuits from guayule, a renewable, non-food crop that requires very little water, is grown domestically in the US, uses no pesticides, and has a much cleaner manufacturing process than traditional, petroleum-based neoprene; and invested in CO2Nexus, a company that has developed a sustainable method of processing (cleaning, disinfecting and coating) textiles and garments using liquid carbon dioxide — which uses zero water, consumes less energy and generates very little waste.
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Published Oct 3, 2014 5am EDT / 2am PDT / 10am BST / 11am CEST