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      Earth Hour

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    Saint BasicsSaint Basics
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    The difference you make

    We're not saving the planet, you are.

    Tell me how

    The basics of life

    We live on a crazy colourful planet with an amazing abundance of life. In fact, we're all part of the same ecosystem. We depend on it. So let's celebrate the basics of life. Take care of it. Make happy, conscious choices every time you buy a new piece of clothing. Because with every little purchase, you're making a big difference to all life. How big? Get ready for some numbers!

    why it matters

    Kicking bad habits

    The clothing industry is one of the most polluting, cruel and unfair businesses in the world. Most of the world's clothing contains water spill, pollution, pesticides, animal cruelty, sweatshops, child labour and unfair trade. All these things don't feel good on your skin. So why do we allow it, or even buy it? It's time to kick some bad habits. Luckily, you can!

    check the numbers


    Last year you saved

    21017580
    L water
    140117
    Bath tubs
    37614
    Fossile KWh
    250762
    E-car kms
    54645
    Kg CO2
    2277
    Trees
    1871
    Ha farm land
    3741
    Football fields
    1066
    Kg plastic
    19071
    Rubber duckies

    Our goal is to improve these numbers by 10%

    how we calculate

    1. From each of our products, we know its environmental impact.

    We know the same about conventional products, so we can calculate the difference.

    2. We multiply the impact of our products with the number of products actually sold.

    Now, we know the positive impact that our products are having in the real world. Day by day, hour by hour.

    3. So our impact doesn't count until you have made a purchase.

    Because we don't make a difference just by having products in our warehouse. Only when you choose them over other products in your life, we're making an impact together.


    Saving big on water

    Our eucalyptus fabric saves

    0%

    of water

    tell me how

    How much we want to save
    23119338 L
    How much we're saving
    16218831 L

    Why water counts

    With our planet heating up, fresh water is becoming scarse. Rivers dry up, the land withers and large forest fires rage in many places. Still, cotton is the most used material for clothing. Why is this bad? Because on average, 1 kg of cotton absorbs 10,000L of water*. Every year, a tiny country like the Netherlands uses 2,912 sextillion** liters of water in clothing alone. Luckily, we have a solution!

    how you can save

    Source: the waterfootprint report


    **) 2,912 sextillion liters of water =

    116500 billion

    olympic swimming pools


    Conventional cotton
    10520 L
    Organic cotton
    6908 L
    Eucalyptus
    424 L
    Recycled PA/PE
    200L

    You can save up to 95% of water

    Apart from cotton, there are several innovative, water-efficient fabrics for clothing. Like eucalyptus, which has been our main material since 2015 and makes for about 85% of our sales. Eucalyptus saves about 95% of water during cultivation and yarn production. The trees grow on wetlands and don't need irrigation or fertilisation. And recently we added recycled polyamide which hardly uses water at all. On top of that, we save 36% water in our dyeing process.

    energy

    Sources: the Soil Association, Lenzing AG



    How much we want to save
    41375 KWh
    How much we're saving
    28543 KWh

    Renewable energy

    We eliminate

    0%

    fossil energy and use

    6x cleaner energy

    6x more renewables

    Relatively, we use about just as much energy as most other brands. The difference is in the energy source. In our processes, we use 68% solar power and wind energy, which is over 6x more than the world average (11%). We also use around 60% less fossil energy like coal or gas. Our suppliers reuse their process heat to save power.

    reducing fossils

    Sources: Lenzing AG, Cool Cotton Report
    supplier information



    Our enegy mixRenewableConventional
    Eucalyptus87.3%12.7%
    Organic cotton51.2%48.8%
    Manufacturing65.9%34.1%
    Average68.1%31.9%

    Conventional footprint
    168 KWh
    Our footprint
    65 KWh

    Our fossil footprint

    If we add up the fossil part of our energy consumption for all our products combined, we get a total of 64.8 KWh. If we would make the exact same products from conventional cotton, the total of fossil energy would be 167.8 KWh. This means we're reducing the fossil footprint of our combined products by over 60%.

    CO2

    Sources: Lenzing AG, Cool Cotton Report
    supplier information


    Say goodbye to CO2

    We reduce CO2 by

    0%

    in our process

    we're CO2 negative

    How much we want to save
    60109 Kg
    How much we're saving
    41671 Kg

    -67,400 kg CO2

    How we're CO2 negative

    In our process, we save 86% on CO2 emissions. You can read about that next. But the really good news is: we're CO2 negative! Together with our customers, we have bought trees at a small forest In Nepal. These trees compensate for 75400kg CO2 each year. This is a lot more than the 8000kg we emit in our process. In fact, we are 67400kg CO2 negative. You can fly 35 times back and forth between Amsterdam and New York for this amount of CO2, but we urge you not to do that.

    how we save

    How we calculate our savings

    Our CO2 footprint consists of emissions at fabric production, manufacturing, packaging and transport. If we add up all these emissions for our products (one of each style), we get a total of 23.6 kg. If we would make the exact same products from conventional cotton, the total would be 168.8 kg. This means we save 86% on CO2 emissions.

    land

    Fabrics footprint

    Manufacturing and transport


    Conventional footprint
    169 Kg
    Our footprint
    24 Kg


    How much we want to save
    2058 Ha
    How much we're saving
    1426 Ha

    Helping the earth

    We save about

    0%

    on agricultural land

    tell me how

    Farm land for farmers

    For cotton cultivation, a lot of land is needed. And its intensive use is depleting the earth. Our eucalyptus only needs 23% of the land for the same yield. And since it grows on wetlands that cannot be used for anything else, we actually don't use agricultural land. In this way, we save space for farmers to grow wheat, rice or corn. In fact, in one year it adds up to 1871 hectares. That is the equivalent of 3741 football fields.

    Our organic cotton (15% of our products) saves 62% of land. And our newly introduced 100% recycled PA uses no land at all.

    plastics

    Sources: lenzing AG, Textile Exchange


    Conventional cotton
    1566 Ha
    Organic cotton
    595 Ha
    Eucalyptus
    360 Ha

    Avoiding plastics

    We save about

    0%

    on new plastics

    tell me how

    How much we want to save
    1172 Kg
    How much we're saving
    806 Kg

    49% of our products if made from plastic
    1172 Kg
    49% of our products in our own materials
    114 Kg

    Plastic fantastic

    In this report, we have compared the impact of our products to that of conventional cotton. But at least 49% of underwear, and most sexy lingerie, is entirely made of new plastics like polyester, polyamide or nylon. It's soft, stretchy and durable, but made in a massively polluting process.

    how we make it

    Reference: fast fashion plastics report


    49% of our products if made from plastic
    1172 Kg
    49% of our products in our own materials
    114 Kg

    Plastic fantastic

    If we were to make 49% of our underwear entirely out of plastics, we would need 1157 kg per year. But since we use only 5% elastan, we actually use 114 kg per year. This means we are making similar products with 90% less plastics. To give you an idea how much that is: with the amount of saved plastics, around 20,000 bath duckies could be made!

    our packaging

    Reference: fast fashion plastics report

    Our mailing bags

    Currently, we use a biodegradable mailer bag. During production the 'normal' plastic gets mixed with a small portion of pro-degradant additive. This means that when the plastic comes into contact with light, water, heat or pressure, it will start to biodegrade. The micro particles are eaten by bacteria and do not end up in the environment.

    toxins

    References: biodreg.org
    Oxo Biodegradable Plastics Association




    No toxins on your skin

    Our basics are

    0%

    free from harmful chemicals

    tell me how

    What's in your clothes

    Textile production processes make use of a large amount and variety of chemicals. The production of 1 kg of cotton T-shirts, for example, requires about 3 kg of chemicals (KEMI, 2014).

    These include cyanide, dicofol, naled, propargite, and trifluralin which are known cancer-causing chemicals. Chinese studies have found pesticide residues in cotton textiles – of nine different organochlorine pesticides at levels of 0.5 to 2 mg/kg.

    what we do different

    Sources: textile & environment p. 26
    Pesticide residues in cotton fibres


    What we do different

    None of these harmful chemicals will be found in our clothing. No pesticides or fertilizers are used at the growing stage. Our eucalyptus fibre production takes place in a zero-waste process, our organic cotton is made in or a GOTS-certified process. Fabric production and confection is done using sustainably certified and controlled processes, completely eliminating the use of harmful chemicals. The OEKO-TEX certificate on all our products ensures that you will have no toxins on your skin.

    how it's made

    Happy, healthy, safe and fair

    Our basics are

    0%

    made by happy hands

    show me

    Made by happy hands

    Our basics are 100% made in a happy, healthy and safe workplace in Portugal. All people in our process are paid a fair living wage. There is an on-site fitness programme and the children of the workers are offered scholarships and internships.

    a zero-waste process

    Fitness routine at the factory


    A zero-waste process

    Our eucalyptus fibre is made at Lenzing, Austria in a zero waste process:

    from FSC certified wood chips

    in a closed-loop system

    99.5% of the solvent is re-used

    with 88% renewable energy

    No agressive chemicals like sulphuric acid are used (as is the case with bamboo and other rayons).

    we're animal friendly

    No animals harmed

    We respect all life on our planet. So naturally, all our products are made without animal ingredients. Very occasionally we use wool, but only recycled. So no sheep are sheared for that. All our basics are animal friendly and thus PETA approved. 

    how you can help


    How you can help

    We're doing our best, but we need your help to meet our targets! The easiest thing you can do is:

    shop - the more you buy, the more you save!

    But even a Saint can have enough underwear at some point. Luckily, there's lots more you can do!

    show me!

    Be a Saint. It's easy!

    Do what a Saint does best: spread the word

    tell a friend - send your friends a 20% discount

    show your Saintly self on Instagram

    like, share and follow us on social media

    sell us in your shop, promote us on your blog or channel

    There's a handsome reward for all of these things, but first and foremost we need to reach our mission goals. Will you help us do that? Thanks for being a Saint!

    back to top
    ×

    Global water footprint

    We get the average water footprint of cotton from the Water Footprint Report by Prof. A.Y. Hoekstra et al. of Twente University in the Netherlands. This a comprehensive study into the water footprint of many crops in different parts of the world. We discussed the Saint Basics water footprint with Prof. Hoekstra personally.

    Water footprint CONVENTIONAL cotton
    Finished product10.850page 23- table 4.4
    Containing:
    fertiliser dilution622page 22 - table 4.1
    bleaching30page 19
    dyeing-140page 19
    printing-190page 19 (N/A)
    finishing-140page 19
    Average10520
    References: waterfootprint.org, the water footprint report
    ×

    Our energy footprint

    Our energy mix is made up of fabric production, manufacturing, packaging and transport. About 85% of our fabric is sourced at Lenzing AG in Austria:

    Energy ratio at Lenzing
    Renewables87.3%
    - Oil0.8%
    - Coal5.7%
    - Gas6.2%
    Conventional12.7%

    Our manufacturer Impetus in Portugal reports 25% use of solar panels and 75% use of the Portuguese power grid. This grid delivers 54.6% power from renewable sources (Eurostat). The weighed average of renewable energy use is 65.9%.

    We estimate the renewable energy part of our organic cotton, which is a small part of our production, at 51% (based on CO2 emission data).

    References: Lenzing sustainability report page 35, cool cotton report
    ×

    Global water footprint

    We get Lenzing's energy and CO2 footprint from a study by the Universities of Utrecht and Geneva. Since this study dates from 2012 and Lenzing has announced zero CO2 emissions by 2030, we use the 'future' projections from table 4.4:

    TENCEL™ Lyocell CO2 footprint
    MJKWhKWhkg CO2
    Energy per kg fibre215.090.74
    CO2 per kg fibre0.05

    The Cool Cotton report gives us the CO2 emissions (page 2) and energy consumption (page 6) for organic and conventional cotton fibre production. An American study estimates the energy consumption at the ginning stage at 35 KWH per bale of 200 kg.

    Cotton energy and CO2 footprint
    ProcessConv. KWhConv. CO2Organic KWhOrganic CO2
    Crop production4.171.801.610.99
    Ginning0.1750.180.1750.08
    Total4.341.981.791.07
    Eucalyptus: Life cycle energy and GHG emissions of manmade cellulosics - page 8 table 3 row G
    Cotton: Cool cotton report, Cotton ginning energy
    ×

    Manufacturing footprint

    Processsupplierconventionalunit
    confection0.423.26kg/style
    fabric knitting0.011.22kg
    elastic knitting0.0040.03kg/m
    dyeing0.080.67kg

    We estimate the CO2 impact of our mailer bags at 0,026 kg per product. Transport from Portugal to our warehouse in the Netherlands is calculated at 0.19 kg per kg of clothing.

    Manufacturing: supplier information, Textile energy Denizli area - table 4
    Packaging & transport: Plastic bags & bottles CO2, LDPE bags energy, Carboncare emissions calculator
    ×

    Our land use

    The Lenzing sustainability report compares the required acreage of agricultural land for TENCEL™ Lyocell and conventional cotton. The Textile Exchange report gives us numbers for certified organic acreage and the yield per hectare.

    Required acreage for fibre production
    The Lenzing sustainability report (p 36) number for TENCEL™ Lyocell0.24
    The Lenzing sustainability report (p 36) number for conventional cotton1.07
    Textile Exchange: 249153 tonnes organic cotton produced on 588425 ha0.42
    References: Lenzing sustainability report page 36, Textile Exchange report
    ×

    Eucalyptus water footprint

    We get the water footprint of our eucalyptus (TENCEL™) fibre production from the Lenzing sustainability report 2015 (page 37). To the 263 L/kg process water, we have added 90L/kg for dyeing. Also, we have added 20% as a safety margin for fibre-to-fabric inefficiency. This adds up to 424 L/kg.

    Organic cotton water footprint

    According to the Soil Association, organic cotton is approx. 91% more water efficient due to being grown in rain-fed areas and better soil efficiency. This percentage is widely quoted. However, Prof. A.Y. Hoekstra of the Water Footprint report, found this percentage highly overrated. In a personal call with Saint Basics, he estimated the efficiency between 30-70% depending on the producing country. We're going to be conservative and use 30% water savings as a more accurate percentage.

    References: Lenzing sustainability report, thirsty for fashion
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