About us
How it all started?
EcoSew started out as "Snoods by Karine" in October 2020, pretty much overnight when I realised after making a snood for my son, then friends and family that it was really nice and I could sell them. Sewing has been my hobby since I was a child and I decided to turn that hobby into an income source, and see what happens!
After researching fabrics my focus has soon turned onto using natural fibres rather than synthetics and heavily chemically processed fabrics so I decided to rebrand and concentrate on making zero waste products using sustainable natural materials such as organic cotton and hemp.
Why all about natural fibres and organic?
The textile industry is a rather polluting one. Non organic and man made fibres require a lot of unsustainable, non recyclable and chemical ressources, cause danger to wildlife, pollute the environment, for example fleece fabric release micro plastic particules every time you wash them in your machine that are release into nature. It is also a concern from a health point of view, especially for clothes worn directly onto the skin that absorbs the chemicals used in the garments that could result in allergies or other unexplained health conditions. Especially those of babies and children who have ultra delicate skin. Also worth mentioning is the working conditions of the laborers in the textile industry directly impacted by these harmful substances and often paid very little and with doubtful ethical practices, think sweatshops!
Therefore some the benefits of using organically grown natural fibres include reducing wastage and the need for more production and use of unsustainable resources, reducing the negative environmental impact on nature and wildlife that synthetics generate, reducing chemical use which equals in a healthier lifestyle and participating in a more ethical consumerism.
International standards and certifications are in place to safeguard the manufacture of textile using organically grown crops such as GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) that ensure all processes from the origin of the fibre through to the end product including dying respect environmentally friendly practices avoiding harmful chemicals, products made in an ethical way for examples. Oeko Tex 100 is another reliable certification guaranteeing that no harmul chemicals are used in the making process.
It is very important to me and I think to the world for the sake of the next generations to use organically produced items for environmental reasons but also for health reasons.
So in brief this is the reasoning why I decided to mainly use organic and natural fibres such as cotton and hemp. I even try to use organic cotton thread or recycled polyester ones whenever I can.
And what about bamboo?
You might be expecting to have my products made out of bamboo as it is increasingly used due to its very soft and absorbent qualities for example however few people know that it is a “false” ecological textile that leads to "greenwashing". While we can argue that it is a natural fibre and one of the fastest growing trees, the process of transforming the bamboo tree into textile is extremely long and goes through many steps involving a large number of chemicals treatments. This is also for this reason that bamboo fabric cannot be GOTS certified. So for this reason I decided not to use bamboo.
I much prefer to use organic cotton but above all hemp which I love. Hemp is the most eco-friendly choice of fabric and has amazing qualities: uses 80% less water to grow and provides 3 times more fibre per acre than cotton, no harmful pesticides, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-allergenic, biodegradable, vegan, durable, absorbent the list goes on, I love hemp!