Sustainability is not an option. It’s a necessity.
Sustainability is not an option. It’s a necessity.
CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL AND IS HAPPENING BEFORE OUR EYES. WE ARE EXPERIENCING MORE INTENSE AND UNPREDICTABLE SEASONS. OUR RELIANCE ON FOSSIL FUELS IS POLLUTING THE AIR WE BREATHE, THE WATER WE DRINK, THE LAND AND OCEANS.
Sustainability. Just mentioning the word can trigger passionate debates and set yourself up for endless criticism and analysis. It is a complex concept and an ever-shifting target. What we know, is that the reality of climate change cannot be ignored, and that there are steps we can make now that can point our industry in the right direction.
Complete sustainability is a long way off, however we are committed to working towards that goal by utilising emerging technology and processes to help minimise our environmental impact on the planet, whilst also maintaining a commitment to social responsibility and the welfare of all those who are part of our supply chain.
To do this, we need to analyse all aspects of our business, set clear targets for the future and report on our progress. Read on my friend, and let’s work together for the greater good.
80% of a product’s environmental impact
is determined at the design stage.
DESIGN LIES AT THE HEART OF A SUCCESSFUL CIRCULAR FASHION INDUSTRY BY ENCOMPASSING BOTH DURABILITY & RECYCLABILITY.
I’m a designer. My life’s work revolves around creating products that solve problems. Our aim with Ghosts is to give passionate skiers and boarders the opportunity to choose products that suit their performance requirements whilst answering their demands for reduced environmental impact and greater social responsibility.
Every decision that is made during the design process is considered from the perspective of what the subsequent impact will be on the environment; the person building that product; the supply chain and so on.
This takes time, knowledge and experience.
“We have 11 years to rectify the impact we’ve had on our planet and keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
EVA KRUSE – PRESIDENT AND CEO OF GLOBAL FASHION AGENDA AND COPENHAGEN FASHION SUMMIT
These words scare me. I’ve lived in the mountains for over 20 years and I’ve experienced first hand how our climate is changing. Winters are getting more unpredictable and more intense. This is having a massive knock-on effect for everyone in the snowsports industry, and for the demands placed on the products we need to continue to enjoy seeking freedom in the mountains.
As a designer and a skier, this means that I am driven to create outerwear that has a greater level of versatility, both in terms of movement as well as comfort over a wider range
of temperatures and conditions. My average day on the mountain might mean driving snow, wind, rain, sleet or hot sun. The pieces I create need to be able to handle anything that is thrown at them.
At the same time, I need to have the experience to understand the implications of the decisions I make in terms of materials, technology, function, trims and accessories to know what I design is durable and as environmentally friendly and achievable by the factories we work with. It’s complex, and I love it.
These words scare me. I’ve lived in the mountains for over 20 years and I’ve experienced first hand how our climate is changing. Winters are getting more unpredictable and more intense. This is having a massive knock-on effect for everyone in the snowsports industry, and for the demands placed on the products we need to continue to enjoy seeking freedom in the mountains.
As a designer and a skier, this means that I am driven to create outerwear that has a greater level of versatility, both in terms of movement as well as comfort over a wider range of temperatures and conditions. My average day on the mountain might mean driving snow, wind, rain, sleet or hot sun. The pieces I create need to be able to handle anything that is thrown at them.
At the same time, I need to have the experience to understand the implications of the decisions I make in terms of materials, technology, function, trims and accessories to know what I design is durable and as environmentally friendly and achievable by the factories we work with. It’s complex, and I love it.
EVERY YEAR WE USE 7 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL TO CREATE POLYESTER, AND 2.4 TRILLION GALLONS OF WATER TO DYE FABRICS. IT HAS TO STOP.
In the last few years, we’ve witnessed the entire supply chain shift towards sustainability. It’s fantastic to watch, and as a designer I can choose from a wider assortment of environmentally-friendly materials and processes than ever before. Post-consumer recycled and post-industrial recycled PET and nylon yarns, Bio-yarns, PFC-free Durable Water Repellant coatings, Organic cotton. Bluesign, Oeko Tex, Global Organic Textile Standard certified materials and more. All the while, recycling and end-of-life processes are becoming more finely tuned to ensure products are repaired or upcycled back into new pieces.
There is so much plastic waste that has been generated that there is literally no need to ever use virgin plastic material ever again. While the position we are in is desperate, this is all positive news for finding solutions for the future.
So why aren’t more brands adopting these technologies?
Fabric dyeing is a 250-year old process which just isn’t suited to technical fabrics.
Let’s switch topics briefly and talk about water. To dye a single yard of fabric using traditional methods takes around 3 gallons of water. Given our existing supply chains, there is currently no way to oversee what happens to that water, the chemicals involved and the greenhouse gas emissions produced.
Greater than the impact that producing virgin plastics has on our planet is the need for clean water – and while using recycled plastics is a fantastic step forward, the impact on our waterways of dyeing is the next frontier.
It’s incredibly hard to change direction once a supply chain is established. It costs huge amounts of money and impacts the profit margins to change fabrics, or materials, or a step in the process of making a garment. So, big businesses that are often publically owned simply won’t do it. They’re not going to abandon investments they’ve made over decades.
The only way that I have found working within the industry, is to work outside it. To start again with a clean slate and setup those supply chains from scratch with sustainability as the end goal. There sadly is no other way.
Let’s switch topics briefly and talk about water. To dye a single yard of fabric using traditional methods takes around 3 gallons of water. Given our existing supply chains, there is currently no way to oversee what happens to that water, the chemicals involved and the greenhouse gas emissions produced.
Greater than the impact that producing virgin plastics has on our planet is the need for clean water – and while using recycled plastics is a fantastic step forward, the impact on our waterways of dyeing is the next frontier.
It’s incredibly hard to change direction once a supply chain is established. It costs huge amounts of money and impacts the profit margins to change fabrics, or materials, or a step in the process of making a garment. So, big businesses that are often publically owned simply won’t do it. They’re not going to abandon investments they’ve made over decades.
The only way that I have found working within the industry, is to work outside it. To start again with a clean slate and setup those supply chains from scratch with sustainability as the end goal. There sadly is no other way.
Sustainability starts with transparency.
FOR DECADES, FACTORIES AND SUPPLY CHAINS HAVE BEEN HIDDEN IN SECRECY. THIS HAS MADE BASIC STANDARDS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, WORKING CONDITIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IMPOSSIBLE TO MANAGE.
The first stage is to be open about where products are made, who makes them, where the raw materials come from and where they are shipped to. Once this is done, we can then use a set of standards to assess each stage’s impact, like Bluesign, Oeko Tex, BCSI and GOTS (see below).
Groups like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition are working to create tools such as the Higgs Index to analyse and create a set of standards for the environmental and social impact of different materials, factories, energy use and regional considerations – shipping products and raw materials from one country to another has a massive impact and needs to be reduced.
Our raw material, trim and cut & sew factories are all located within 300 km of each other – greatly cutting down on emissions due to other brands shipping fabrics from other countries.
Our Supply Chain
Accreditation
BLUESIGN
The bluesign® system is the solution for a sustainable textile production. It eliminates harmful substances right from the beginning of the manufacturing process and sets and controls standards for an environmentally friendly and safe production.
www.bluesign.com
OEKO-TEX
Oeko-Tex textiles and fabrics are certified free of harmful chemicals and are safe for human use. They have been tested and certified to be free from harmful levels of more than 100 substances known to be harmful to human health.
www.oeko-tex.com
BCSI
The Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) is a leading supply chain management system that supports companies to drive social compliance and improvements within the factories and farms in their global supply chains.
GOTS
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) ensures the organic status of textiles from harvesting of the raw materials through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing all the way to labelling.
www.global-standard.org
BUILDING A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Ideally, every material we use and item we produce would be returned after its useful life has ended and turned into a new product. With traditional recycling methods this is hard – generally you can only ‘downcycle’ a material into a lower-grade plastic for example. New chemical recycling methods have helped create new solutions to this problem. More about this on the Fabrics page.
Our aim is to ensure that every product we make has as minimal an environmental impact as possible during production, and to find ways to repair, re-use or collect and recycle into new products or donate to those in need.
Over the coming year we will be working on all these elements to create a long-term plan that helps build a circular economy.
Change starts at home.
EVERY ASPECT OF A BUSINESSES IMPACT NEEDS TO BE ASSESSED, AND IT NEEDS TO START AT THE BEGINNING – OUR PERSONAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE, OUR OFFICES, OUR ENERGY AND MORE.
It’s easy for us to look at our supply chain and ignore our every day challenges to recycle, reuse and reduce our impact in our every day lives and in our working environment.
We are committed to finding ways to measure and lower our impact across all aspects of our business, from our energy provider to our warehousing our shipping and more.
FW19/20 COLLECTION
G13LJ-X8/SR
3-Layer shell Jacket
20,000mm/20,000gm
Waterless dye
Recycled yarn
G13LP-X8/SR
3-Layer shell Pant
20,000mm/20,000gm
Waterless dye
Recycled yarn
G1DML-X4/SR
Down Mid Layer
Recycled down
Recycled yarn
Waterless dye
FW19/20 COLLECTION
G13LJ-X8/SR
3-Layer shell Jacket
20,000mm/20,000gm
Waterless dye
Recycled yarn
G13LP-X8/SR
3-Layer shell Pant
20,000mm/20,000gm
Waterless dye
Recycled yarn
G1DML-X4/SR
Down Mid Layer
Recycled down
Recycled yarn
Waterless dye
NEWSLETTER
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© Ghosts Apparel Studio 2019
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