ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY
Here at Zoe Glencross we a care about our environmental impact. We are currently making every effort to improve our impact and promote sustainable practices.
SUSTAINABILITY
We are working with our suppliers to be as informed as possible and as transparent as possible with our customers as to the ways in which our business and product can be evaluated for sustainability.
LINEN
Our brand is centred around printed linen fabric. 63% of our fabrics are pure linen, the remainder are linen blend. Relatively speaking linen has an extremely low impact on the environment. It comes from the flax plant which is grown in Northern France, Belgium and Eastern Europe, meaning it has relatively low road miles to get to our UK market. The plant itself requires rich soil, and plenty of sunshine and rainwater to grow. Very little in the way of fertiliser and pesticide is required. The seed is sewn in April, and harvested in July/ August. Once ready, the entire plant is pulled out of the soil, roots and all. It is then laid out flat in the fields for retting: This entirely natural process helps separate the long Linen fibre inside the stalk from the exterior stalk itself. The plant is organically broken down and reabsorbed back in to the soil by a combination of rain, dew, sunshine and naturally occurring bacteria and fungi, leaving the internal linen fibre exposed for harvesting. So this whole process gives the goodness back to the earth that the growing plant has taken from it, ensuring the soil remains rich and loamy, and keeping the whole process cyclically sustainable.
The ecological footprint of flax is extraordinary: One hectare of flax absorbs 3.7 tonnes of CO2 each year. The plant requires no irrigation and almost zero chemical input. And once this fibre is spun into yarn and woven, it produces a natural fabric called linen!
RECYCLED YARNS
Currently 20% of our total linen fabric is made of 50% re-cycled linen yarns (a snap shot as of 22nd October 2020). The manufacturer of this yarn is an expert in re-cycling off cuts from industrial and garment manufacturing (as well as end use garments) into re-cycled yarn which can then be woven into new fabric. The factory has a roof spanning the size of two football fields, which is covered in solar panels.
We are committed to making significantly more of our fabrics using re-cycled linen yarns in the future and will update this information here as to how we progress over the next 12 months (Oct 2022-Oct 2023)
UK PRODUCTION
All of our fabrics are printed here in the UK working in accordance with British standards on print processes and inks. All of our manufacturers are currently re-evaluating their environmental impact. One of our manufacturers is moving towards being carbon neutral by 2030 with a major focus on reducing energy and water consumption. Zoe Glencross is a UK-based business using solely UK-based suppliers meaning lower carbon emissions (by contrast to overseas production) involved in the logistics of our fabric leaving the factory to reaching our customers. We only partner with UK based printers who have low staff turnover, treat staff fairly and with respect.
PACKAGING
Our packaging materials (currently aside from tapes) are made from recycled materials and the polythene is ‘regrain’ recycled. We are currently seeking an even more sustainable alternative that is robust enough to transport our goods for fabric by the metre. We have switched our swatch dispatch envelopes to board-backed 100% recycled, recyclable and plastic free (easy to recycle in household recycling).
WASTAGE
In the design development and making up process for products made of fabric, many remnant off cuts of fabric are put aside and could become waste. We either make these off cuts into swatches for samples or hold these pieces at our head office and sell them off as remnants through our instagram sales. We have also started making (in house) accessories from the smallest remnants as part of our ‘Every Last Scrap’ project where we aim to ensure that even the tiniest scraps of fabric are re-made into something beautiful to be used.
ONE TREE PLANTED
We are committed to supporting re-forestation through ‘One Tree Planted’ with whom we plant one tree for every online wallpaper order received! One Tree Planted is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to global reforestation. They plant trees to restore nature and biodiversity. They also raise awareness about the importance of trees, offering businesses like ours a simple sustainability solution, and motivating younger generations to do something positive for the environment
WALLPAPER
Our wallpaper is made from a non-woven base - 45% natural fibre which is completely bio-degradable and printed in the UK using water-based inks. The fibre comes from FSC certified forests (well-managed forests) and they operate a zero landfill site whereby the printing systems water is treated and returned back to the process. All solid waste is separated and reused for building products. All waste paper, cardboard and any waste from non woven products is re-cycled and used to generate energy
Our fabrics and home products are of the highest quality, are timeless designs and made to last. This makes them a great long term investment rather than a fast fashion, high turnover option.
We are committed to continuing to improve our environmental impact for 2022 and will update this statement accordingly.
