Mindful Fashion have launched their Full-circle t-shirt project with leading NZ designers. Images supplied.
Mindful Fashion New Zealand was created two years ago to help tackle the ethical and sustainability issues in the fashion industry collectively, and this week launched the Full-circle T-shirt project, which highlights solutions to some of those challenges. The t-shirt is available online now and was created in collaboration with designer brands Twenty Seven Names, Wynn Hamlyn and Kate Sylvester who are all members of Mindful Fashion New Zealand. Each designer created an exclusive print that reflects their connection to the cause.
It’s been well documented both here and overseas that textile waste, raw material impacts and traceability are some of the challenges the fashion industry is struggling with trying to solve. Now, more than ever before consumers are demanding traceability and accountability from brands in regards to the environmental and human impact of the fashion industry. Addressing climate change and sustainability are at the front of mind for many designers and something that Mindful Fashion New Zealand also addresses with the Full-circle T-shirt pilot, which illustrates how some of these challenges can be addressed when an industry comes together for the greater good.
“The story behind these T-shirts demonstrates what it truly means for a garment to be circular and responsibly made,” says Jacinta FitzGerald, Mindful Fashion Programme Director. “Each T-shirt is made from organic cotton grown and produced in a fully certified supply chain. They are manufactured, printed and finished in New Zealand with a pathway to be recycled back into new fibre at the end of their life once they are no longer repairable or wearable.”
“This project has highlighted for us the importance of knowing your supply chain. We’ve traced the organic cotton back to the spinning mill in India, and know they bought it from an organic Indian farm. We know our New Zealand manufacturing partners by name. This traceability gives us assurance of responsible practices for the entire production of the T-shirt. With an end of life solution in place, we hope to educate industry and consumers about the issue of textile waste, and how this can be addressed through the way products are designed and made.”
Proceeds from sales of the Full-Circle T-shirts will go towards supporting sustainable fashion development for the New Zealand clothing and textile industry. That will include funding workshops led by Mindful Fashion to provide the industry with tools to advance work on carbon reduction, low impact materials and social sustainabilty and to develop further circular initiatives. Those funds will also enable the organisation to advance their goal to work with government on pathways for skilled workforce development and increased job opportunities within the textile and garment industry in New Zealand. Both of these things are important for the future survival of the local industry.
“As an industry organisation, we are uniquely placed to bring the industry together in a pre-competitive way to take action on sustainability challenges, many of which are too large for any single business to tackle alone. Now we have started to see the results of this sort of collaboration, we are excited to see what else is possible that will contribute to a thriving future for New Zealand fashion and textiles”, adds FitzGerald.
Currently more than 220,800 tons of fibre, fabric and textiles are sent to the landfill every year in New Zealand, and alarmingly this number keeps rising. It is projected that by 2040, textiles will make up a massive 14% of all Auckland landfills. That wastage comes from many things but over consumption and over production are both big issues that need to be tackled too.
Mindful Fashion’s Full-circle T-shirt project shows that positive change can come from thoughtful collaboration with circular solutions and is an example of what the industry can achieve by coming together with a common goal. The organisation exists to facilitate collaboration and collective action which benefits businesses, the industry and all New Zealanders, now that’s something we can all get behind.
Images supplied.