The apparel industry is considered one of the world’s top polluters, which is not cool. Literally. It produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, leading to higher temperatures around the world. So, as an Earth-First apparel brand, we wanted to calculate our impact and how to not only reduce it, but make it a positive one.
We partnered with Greenstep, a specialist in sustainability and carbon management to do a side-by-side comparison of our items against the current industry standard. Greenstep helped us dig into the three main factors of environmental impact for every product we offer: water, waste, and CO2 emissions.
Our findings not only created an opportunity for us to improve our supply chain sustainability but also gave way to our Eco-Log. We made the Eco-Log so that you can see what’s behind our product in real numbers, giving you the transparency you need to make the most eco-friendly purchases. If you’ve seen our Eco-Log on some of your favourite products, you’ll know that tentree apparel saves the planet some much-needed water waste, CO2 emissions, and overall waste.
Those are the stats you’ll see measured on our Eco-Log. We take emission and waste digits from the average product hanging in your closet and compare them to our own, giving you the amount of negative output you’re saving the planet when you shop with us.
But our partnership with Greenstep didn’t stop there. We wanted to find out exactly what our products’ resource usage was from fabric to end use. Greenstep collected all kinds of verified data from us. They REALLY got to know us; what materials we used, how much material we used, the weight of each garment, what we used to package and transport the garments, and how we stored the apparel in our warehouses and retail spaces. They also took into consideration what happens to our apparel once it leaves our hands and makes its way to you; studying how products withstand normal use, washing and drying, as well as the energy impact of washing and drying the product. While we don’t know exactly how you wash and wear your tentree products, we made some educated guesses based on the norms.
The final piece of the puzzle was determining how tree planting fit into this equation. tentree plants 10 trees for each item purchased, and those trees all have a positive impact on the planet. So in addition to the water, waste, and CO2 emissions saved by our sustainable manufacturing, each tree planted provides additional carbon sequestration and community gain. When we say we make the greenest product in the world, we’re not exaggerating. We’ve put in the work to make sure we’re doing everything we can, and we want you to feel great about the impact your choices make. Want to know more about the math behind our project with Greenstep?
You can read the full report on methodology and findings here.
