Sustainable
Sustainable economy is of urgent importance and in our opinion the only chance. We have to be in a constant process of development of finding and realizing options and alternatives.
Even the design is affected by the thought of sustainability. Intenionally, slowmo products don't follow seasonal trends, they are rather clothes with a story and have a clean style. We put the focus on quality, that is for the design, material or manufacture.
Slowmo collections are made for the most part out of cotton. The points below show why there is such a high importance to choose certified organic cotton. But they also reveal why it is important to keep an eye open for alternative resources. Natural material like linnen, hemp and kapok or chemical fibers like cloth made from recycled plastic bottles will gain importance in the near future for slowmo as well.
Some facts about cotton
Cotton is raised on (only) 2.5% of the global agricultural land but still 11% of all herbicides and 25% of all insecticides are used on these fields. No plant is treated with more dangerous insecticides and uses more water. A dramatic example of the consequenses of this way of cultivation is the Aral Sea.
Ecosystems are threatened and ground water is polluted. More then 20 million people are being poisoned every year only by working on these fields. Even the consumer can develop health problems through residual pesticides in cotton products.
The great economic interest in the high profits of cotton production comes along with child labor, the lowest wages and the lack of any workman's compensation.
This is just a short section about a long sad story of textile production taking lots of sacrifice.
Certified organic cotton
Certified organic cotton cultivation is being done in crop rotation and without any synthetic fertilizers. This avoids monoculture and helps the fields to recover. The cultivation of other plants (e.g. peanuts) gives nutrients back to the soil and allows a new branch of trade for the farmers.
Pests are treated in a natural way without herbicides and insecticides and the harvest is done by hand. There is a renouncement of defoliants which reduce the quality of the fiber. No genetically modified crops are used. The farmers get fair prices and trade conditions. The factories have controlled limits for dust and noise as well as wastewater and exhaust fumes treatment. Besides high safety standards at work there is a strict prohibition of child labor.
Linen
Linen has a long and richt history. The fiber is extracted from flax, a plant native to Europe. Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, and other civilized peoples cultivated flax as early as 5000- 4000 B.C. Aside from wool, linen was the main material used for clothing through the European medieval times. Bit by bit it was replaced by cotton and almost vanished in the 1950's.
Organic agriculture cultivates flax in a comprehensive crop rotation system due to the fact that it can only be planted on the same field once every 7 years. The danger of monoculture is therefor naturally eliminated. Weed regulations are solved mechanically and there is no environmental harm or damage caused by nitrogen fertilization because flax is the only cultivated plant not able to tolerate nitrogen.
Linen is enormously tear-resistant and has an excellent moisture regulating quality. The fiber has very little allergic potential and is therefor very mild on skin. Because flax fibers are generally fairly long when spun, it creates a very smooth surface which gives linen its characteristic sheen.
slowmo uses certified organic flax from the north of France, Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. Further processing and finishing are located in Germany.
