SUSTAINABILITY

Environmental issues sit at the forefront of all SilkLiving operations.

The very nature of silk production is a regenerative eco-system and is therefore earth-friendly. The mulberry leaves that silk caterpillars make their cocoons from are a renewable and sustainable crop. Silkworms themselves demand the purest and best quality leaves as their food, ensuring that no pesticides can ever be used on our mulberry trees.

We don’t add any treatments to improve anti-static, flame retardance, wash-and-wear or anti-bacterial properties; there is no need as silk is naturally endowed with these properties. The silk fibre is highly absorptive, so our fabrics are easily coloured using low-impact fibre reactive dyes. Silk requires minimal washing, saving water and reducing the amount of detergents entering our waterways. It is a hard-wearing fabric and if treated with care all SilkLiving products should give years of service; however, at the end of its life silk is biodegradable, decomposing easily in landfills.

The wool used in our Silkspun fabric is fine merino sourced from North China where they do not practice mulesing of sheep. The cotton used is also sourced from China.

The factories that transform the cocoons into beautiful, affordable products are required to meet international standards for social compliance in the supply chain of commerce. Social and ethical standards are maintained in all SilkLiving factories, and employees are paid reasonable wages. SilkLiving management personally visit the factories regularly to ensure our standards are being met. Once our garments are ready, they are sent to New Zealand via boat to save on Carbon emissions.

Our attention to sustainable detail carries through to our packaging. We constantly seek ways to reduce the individual packaging of goods, and where it continues to be required, we use recycled materials wherever possible. Any box packaging is made of recycled cardboard and our printed material is printed on paper from sustainable forests using biodegradable inks. Our courier bags are made from 100% recycled materials.

Wherever possible we employ local and national businesses for a range of services such as logistics, packing, printing and communications.

We are proud to do our bit to give back to the earth, and to offer our customers the natural and sustainable garments that we do. We truly believe that investing in high quality garments, made from entirely natural fibres will help achieve a more sustainable world.

SUSTAINABILITY

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