Sustainable, recycled, fairtrade fabrics, that feel great on.
Tencel
Silky-smooth, breathable and biodegradable, made from cellulose found in raw wood pulp.
Learn moreBamboo
Buttery soft and hypoallergenic, this fast-growing crop is a brilliantly sustainable resource. Treated in a closed-loop process to make our fabric.
Learn moreOrganic cotton
We only use GOTS certified, Indian Organic Cotton. Healthier for farmers, healthier for the planet, and the most buttery soft cotton you can buy.
Learn moreReclaimed fabrics
Sourced locally in East london, because nothing is wasted until we waste it.
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At Birdsong we either use compostable, naturally derived fabrics (our Tencel and Organic Cotton) or reclaimed fibres that would otherwise take hundreds of years
to biodegrade.
We've also continued to cut down on waste by doing limited editions, an entirely pre-order collection, and turning scrap fabric into bags and scrunchies.
Our items are wrapped in recycled packaging materials and we are looking into switching to a provider who also offsets their carbon usage.
Altogether, we are constantly trying to improve and diversify our use of innovative materials, and ensure we generate as little waste as possible, contributing to the reality of a circular, closed-loop economy.
Organic cotton: more than a fabric, a movement
We only use GOTS certified, Indian Organic Cotton. Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) ensures factories have met strict social and environmental criteria. For example, organic farmers don’t use toxic hazardous pesticides and artificial fertilisers, which helps keep waterways safe and clean, and workers' rights are safe and protected.
Organic cotton supports biodiversity and the wider environment by supporting healthy soils, mitigating the effects of climate change and by preventing toxic substances from polluting habitats.
Tencel: from the forest to your wardrobe
The fabric is made from cellulose found in natural, raw wood which has been sourced from FSC-certified, sustainably managed forests. The wood pulp is dissolved into a solvent and the mixture is then pushed through small holes to form fibres, which are then treated and spun into yarn. In order to keep waste to a minimum, the water involved in the production of the TENCEL™ is recycled, while the solvent is reused to form new fibres.
All TENCEL™ Lyocell and Modal fibre types have been certified by the Belgium certification company Vinçotte as biodegradable and compostable, and can thus fully revert back to the natural cycle from which they were originally, and thoughtfully, sourced.
Bamboo: certified bamboo yarns made with sustainable practices
Bamboo is the fastest growing grass, and it can grow up to a metre a day, making it a brilliantly sustainable resource. On top of that, bamboo can store 4 x times the amount of C02 than other trees its size, and produces 35% more oxygen.
Sounds too good to be true, right? The part to watch out for when sussing out the sustainability of bamboo is the processing. Like most bamboo, ours is treated in order to make bamboo viscose yarn.
Our supplier uses a sustainable, closed loop system to ensure none of the chemicals used in this process are dumped into waterways, and the chemicals are instead fully recycled to make paper and soap. The yarns used in our clothing are certified by OEKO-TEX 100 as being free from harmful chemicals.
Reclaimed fabrics: giving new life to plastic waste
There are pros and cons to any sustainable material, and unless entirely circular (it can be composted, give back to the earth, rather than poisoning it, and somehow offset all the energy, water and carbon used to fabricate it), then no fabric is 100% sustainable, and we don't trust any brand that says otherwise.
At Birdsong we either use compostable, naturally derived fabrics or reclaimed fibres that would otherwise take hundreds of years to biodegrade. With £140 million worth of textiles going to landfill every year in the UK, we're proud to be diverting precious resources back into circulation, where they can be worn and loved.