Looking at True Cost of Sustainable Clothing with Starseeds
As consumers, we’re faced with making decisions well-nigh what to purchase every day. We weigh our needs, upkeep and upstanding views as we squint to strike a wastefulness between sustainability and style. Anyone browsing upstanding malleate will have noticed that the suit financing more, but why? We reached out to London-based brand, Starseeds, a ‘slow fashion’ trademark at the forefront of the upstanding suit movement to ask: What really finance for the price of sustainable clothing? Mateusz Zawada, CFO of Starseeds, responds:
The fabrics are increasingly expensive
Wanderlust TV guide, Pip Elysium in Starseeds
“The prices of sustainable fabrics are, on average, two and a half to four times increasingly expensive in comparison to increasingly wontedly used fabrics. This rise in price is partly considering they’re increasingly expensive for the manufacturers to produce. For example, organic cotton needs to be grown on soil that’s been cleansed for at least three years to indulge it to return to the level of biodiversity which allows the yield to grow naturally, without toxic fertilizers. It is stuff picked by hand and doesn’t grow as efficiently as the one with use of toxins, but the quality is much higher and increasingly durable which should make it pearly for the forfeit to rise.
Moreover, the eco-friendly dyes and prints are moreover increasingly time and cost-consuming which adds up to the price.”
Eco textiles are in lower demand
“While they are growing in popularity, as it stands, eco textiles simply aren’t in as much demand as cheaper, mass produced fabrics like polyester or (non-organic) cotton. The greater the market demand there is for a product or service the increasingly competition, the increasingly that drives lanugo prices when manufacturing in higher quantities.
The same principle moreover applies to eco dyes (natural dyes made from plants, animals or minerals) —the demand is not as upper and thus the manufacturing processes are expensive. Natural dyes require a vast zone of land for them to be sourced in any quantity, and you moreover need increasingly of the dye itself (for example 100g of wool would need virtually 50g of zestless madder root to dye it).”
The finishing touches
“One of the many advantages of choosing sustainable malleate is that the suit is often of a much higher quality, right lanugo to the small details. As well as largest quality fabrics and manufacturing processes, sustainable suit focuses on upper quality details, such as the threads, reticulum tags, hang tags, fastenings, and packaging.
Our garments are packed in biodegradable foils which are then stored in big wafer-thin boxes. And as much as we can we try to reuse all the materials involved in storing. While posting to you we use an eco-friendly paper with water-based glue tape and recycled paper boxes. Our suit tags are made of a reusable seeded paper- which you can plant and add to your home garden.”
How the pandemic offered silver linings
The garment industry endured huge repercussions when the global pandemic arrived, and we asked Starseeds Founder and designer, Natalia Zawada, how this era will create a new relationship to suit for this generation. “During the pandemic,” says Natalia, “people had no nomination but to slow down, turn inwards, which naturally affects our decision-making process. Collectively, we became increasingly conscious and shielding well-nigh consuming. The pandemic offered a endangerment for people to start caring well-nigh sustainability.
Starseeds provided the garments for Insiya Rasiwala-Finn for the Wanderlust TV 10-Day Gentle Reset shot in Bali
On a practical level, stuff locked lanugo in our homes made us increasingly enlightened of the space that suit takes up in our households. And on a increasingly global level, many factories worldwide were sealed or working with a minimum staff which unauthentic the production spritz massively. Here at Starseeds, our new hodgepodge made in Bali was elapsed by months. The import-export became way increasingly expensive. The parcels were not arriving on time.
However, as a sustainable merchantry with responsible production philosophy, at Starseeds we are used to facing delays, as we are yawner to the inherent limitations that come with producing in an upstanding and sustainable way. Finding materials and waiting for them to be produced and dyed is one. Also, wearing and sewing at normal pace—instead of pushing people to work without hours—makes the whole process slow in comparison to fast malleate businesses. But for us it’s crucial to segregate the wellbeing of all people working in our supply chain.
The majority of the consumers don’t have patience to wait. But we know from the wits that our loyal clients are worldly-wise to wait for quality products. We truly hope the pandemic taught the consumers a bit increasingly patience with suit purchase.”
Before You Buy, Ask Yourself…
We asked Natalia what questions consumers should ask themselves surpassing purchasing a garment. “The same questions we ask ourselves surpassing we diamond a piece:
- How much do I desire this item?
- What would I do if I get bored with it or no longer need it?
- Will it last increasingly than a season or two? (Consider both aspects of the longevity: the quality as well as whether the diamond can last)
- What is the functionality and versatility of use? Can I wear it outside the yoga studio?
- How would it make me feel? (Consider few aspects: the fabric, the verisimilitude and the style)
Yoga vastitude the Mat
When we asked how the yogic mindset expresses itself in choices we make outside of our asana practice, Natalia shared how yoga has entwined itself with her career and lifestyle inextricably. “My journey with yoga started well-nigh 15 years ago, but it was right without leaving Alexander McQueen malleate house in 2010, when I thought well-nigh improving my wellbeing and got increasingly serious well-nigh the yoga philosophy as a whole. Ever since then, yoga became my way of living. Starseeds was a natural outcome of merging those two words- malleate and yoga. My practice wasn’t just well-nigh feeling good in my soul anymore, but well-nigh finding healthy and well-turned life flow. Thanks to my daily morning rituals and expressly meditation practice I can say I finger very present and guided by my intuition. Couple of months surpassing the pandemic, I made a visualization to move our merchantry to e-commerce and relocated in Bali. Thanks to that, we were worldly-wise to slowly transition our production to Bali. The time was certainly challenging, expressly for niche brands like us, but we learned that we can survive. I simply cannot imagine my life without yoga anymore.”
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Natalia Zawada is the Founder and Art Designer at Starseeds. She received her Fashion/ Tailoring stratum at London College of Fashion, her Fine Art stratum at Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, and is a certified Hatha, Yin and AcroYoga Teacher. Natalia’s malleate journey started over 15 years ago, while she was working at printed luxury malleate and lifestyle magazines in Warsaw, including Elle Poland. Without relocating in London she took work placements in several malleate houses, and worked at Alexander McQueen print department and completed tailoring degree, pursuit the footsteps of the Master. While on her yoga journey Natalia left the luxury malleate to start her slow malleate trademark Navada, and shortly without Starseeds was born. Natalia is moreover a defended lifetime Yoga student and practitioner.
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