The EarthPositive® Philosophy

EarthPositive® is a ‘wholly ethical’ textile brand that is certified under the Global Organic Textile Standard (by Control Union and Soil Association) and by the Fair Wear Foundation for ethical labour practices throughout its supply chain.

It is also, crucially, low carbon, having reduced the CO2 and other green-house gases emissions by some 90% through the use of green renewable energy in its production – a claim verified by the Carbon Trust within its pilot carbon-labelling initiative.

The brand launched in the UK, Europe, USA and Japan in January 2008 with a range of blank imprintable T-shirts, sweatshirts and polo shirts. A line of tote bags was added in November. Further product expansion is expected to follow.

EarthPositive:  Ethical, Environmental & Sustainability Specification

100% ORGANIC PRODUCTS
EarthPositive® is a 100% organic product, produced under the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and certified by Control Union and The Soil Association. The certification encompasses the farming, production and distribution, ensuring full traceability of every product. EarthPositive® is free from genetically modified organisms.

FAIR TRADE PRACTICES
Under the organic standard, farmers and agricultural workers are protected by stringent social criteria, total traceability across the entire supply chain, and also by the ban on the use of poisonous chemicals that can severely damage the health of farmers and their families. These standards also free poor farmers from third world debt to chemical companies on the ‘pesticide treadmill’.

JUSTICE FOR WORKERS
To help tackle the social injustice often seen in manufacturing, commonly known as sweatshop labour, EarthPositive® goes further, making transparent the manufacturing supply chain through an independent audit by the Fair Wear Foundation, which promotes fair labour conditions in the clothing industry.

LOW CARBON
EarthPositive® is made in manufacturing facilities in India powered by wind turbines, from low-impact organic cotton, and is distributed through carbon neutral warehouses and offices in that use only renewable green electricity.

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
EarthPositive® is certified by the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard, Class I. The Oeko-Tex Standard is a guarantee of the safety of textiles and dyestuffs to human health and to the environment. It also means we take more care in adopting environmentally friendly production methods throughout the manufacturing process.

LOOK AFTER OUR WATER
The processing of the dye effluent takes place in a controlled closed-loop purification system that uses treatment ponds, sand filtration and reversed osmosis to convert the waste water into clean water.

LOW WATER FOOTPRINT
It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton, equivalent to a single T-shirt and a pair of jeans. That’s why we chose to work in a region that receives up to 95% of its water from the monsoon rain. This was an important consideration for us, as the monsoon rain reduces the need for large-scale irrigation projects normally associated with conventional cotton farming, which often deprive local villages of scarce water resources by draining lakes and rivers.

PICK YOUR COTTON CAREFULLY
We guarantee that we do not use cotton from Uzbekistan while the use of forced child labour is endemic. This follows the recommendations of the Environmental Justice Foundation's ‘Clean Cotton Campaign’. The complete traceability of certified organic cotton allows us to make this guarantee.

TRANSPORTATION
EarthPositive® has ‘No Airfreight’ policy. We use containerized ocean shipping, thus the carbon footprint generated by transporting our apparel to Europe, Japan and the USA is negligible, more like a fingerprint, less than 1% of the total. We cannot solve the world’s transportation and energy security issues, but we can ensure that our own methods do nothing to contribute to environmental damage, social injustice or climate change.

CARBON LABELLING
EarthPositive® apparel has reduced the carbon footprint of a T-shirt by 90%. However, consumers require an independent verification process and a label to confirm the claims of individual companies. The Carbon Trust is trialling such a label with select pilot partners. EarthPositive® was granted the first such label for a textile product. The Carbon Trust's footprinting methodology is to become the single standard for greenhouse gas footprinting.

This is a wholesale collection for trade customers only.