When we talk about sustainability, we put a lot of focus on the materials being used to make our garments from Tencel to Cupro to recycled materials. But have you ever thought about what the garment labels donning your favorite brands are made with?
It is estimated that 1 billion garments are produced per year. Each garment has a brand label, a size label, a “made in” label and a laundry care label. That is an estimated 4 billion labels that are produced each year.
Additionally, many brands include at least one hangtag, sometimes upwards of three!
So what are these components made of? Generally plastic, polyester that is.
So is your 100% recycled cotton t-shirt really 100% decomposable? Not if the labels are not made of decomposable materials.
Why do so many brands still use polyester labels? For a couple of reasons. 1) There are a lot more companies to choose from who are producing labels made of polyester 2) Labels made from polyester are much cheaper than labels made of recycled or biodegradable materials.
It's no surprise that recycled and decomposable options are more expensive. As sited on Wanderlust.com “The prices of sustainable fabrics are, on average, two and a half to four times more expensive in comparison to more commonly used fabrics.”
At Yomisma, all of our labels are made with 100% recycled yarn and are OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 Certified (this means yucky harsh chemicals are removed.)
This was a conscious decision that we made when we launched our brand. Being planet friendly comes with a cost to the bottom line but not being planet friendly comes with a cost of deteriorating the earth. We’ll take the former please.