Did you know that every second, a truck load of textiles is put in landfill or burned!
What can we do? We cannot stop buying clothes, clothes are important for our modern lives, from basic cover to express ourself.
In Asteraki we are working towards the circular economy and supporting our customer to contribute. Circular economy is based on the concept of keeping material and items in use, regenerate resources and limit waste. First of all we consider what we buy, use the clothes longer and think of recycling and repurposing them.
It differs from the current system where we take resources from nature, make something out of it and throw it away when it is not longer of use. That is what is called a linear system.
So in the circular economy, we think about sustainability in fashion reduce, repair, reuse, repurposed and recycle. Let's look into how this applies to our kid's clothes.
Material and manufacturing
We choose our brands carefully and only source those that are committed to use material and methods that are not harmful to the environment or the staff hence reducing their environmental footprint. All our brands offer only natural clothes and dyes, not realising plastic microfibres to the environment. Among our brands are Serendipity and Elodiee that have their entire chain GOTS certified, Vild house of Little that uses innovative material such as seaweed. Others only use factories that are GOTS certified. We also demand that our suppliers have transparency in their production.
Wear and tear
We contribute by offering curated boxes and guarantee buyback of every item we have sold.
We assist in making the capsule wardrobe of the children, items that can be easily mixed and matched. The items are durable, and often the material can be spot cleaned (for example wool) minimising washing cycles and impact to the environment.
And when the child outgrows the outfits, we guarantee buying them back avoiding unnecessary waste. We will then repair if needed and resell the second hand item as preloved. We estimate that the average item can be reused by 3-6 children (depending on the age of the child) before it would be repurposed.
Recycle
Some of our brands, such as DUSQ, uses recycled material in their products. The canvas in the bags, bottle holder and changing mat are made from recycled PET bottles, keeping them away from the oceans.
Other brands have designed their items in away that they can be fully decomposed.
Just remember that every steps matters, so if you are only part of one, you are already doing a lot.
If you want to learn more about the circular economy, just click here.