The textile industry is rife with sustainability problems: from the use of toxic inks and wasteful practices for materials and water, to a race to utilise the cheapest materials such as vinyl—no matter the environmental impact.
Our print-on-demand process is designed to minimise fabric and ink waste.
We began with a holistic approach that addresses three key issues:
Reducing the use of materials, energy and water by choosing a pigment printing process instead of reactive dye
Minimising fabric waste by only printing what is needed, plus recycling and transforming any fabric waste
Ethically sourcing materials from a small group of trusted vendors
A Cleaner Approach
Here are some areas where we strive to make a difference in the textile industry.
he textile industry is one of the largest polluters of freshwater in the world.
How many 2-litre bottles of water does it take to produce 5 yards of conventional fabric? 100
How are we different?
Our process uses less than a thimble full of water to print the same amount of fabric.
Water Conservation
Our printing factory's pigment printing process consumes very little water to begin with, making it an eco-friendly solution in the textile printing industry. Our pigment inks meet the Oeko-Tex 100 requirements to be free of restricted chemicals and are mixed from 4-8 basic colours as your fabric is printed, so unlike screen printing, there’s no mixing of colours in advance.
Clean Ingredients
To ensure products are safe, we select the best-in-class fabrics, inks and dyes. All of our wall-coverings are printed with water-based latex inks that carry the GREENGUARD Gold certification. We avoid fabrics with any flame-retardant applications, and our fabrics pass tests ruling out harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde and lead.
Organic and Earth-Friendly Fabrics
Eco-Conscious Wallpapers
Cutting Down on Carbon
We invests in sustaining a healthy environment by working to reduce our ecological impact in everything we do, from recycling and composting in our office to printing packing slips on recycled-content paper.
About the slow fashion approach.
At Barbeline London we wholeheartedly approach fashion with creativity and a sustainable mindset. We advocate for slow fashion manufacturing in respect to people, environment, and animals. As such, contrary to industrial fashion practices, our collections are designed & produced in the UK using eco-friendly and recycled materials with the goal of preserving crafts, the environment and, ultimately, providing value to consumers.
Our progress includes amongst many the use of 100% sustainably sourced recycled textiles, our first ever vegan leather and Repreve recycled canvas - ten recycled bottles in every yard of fabric!
We want to reduce the environmental footprint in the fashion world and are working to do our part by engaging only in circular and sustainable slow fashion practices. We cooperate with experts within the recycling field and rely on our customers to recycle with us.
Recycling and Reusing
Fabric remnants are also donated to our local schools and playgroups for projects local artists and makers, children with Learning difficulties.
Marketplace fabric that is returned to the factory is donated to programs such as theCongo street kids a grassroots outreach initiative for homeless kids in Congo Kinshasa.
