We’re delighted to present our second annual update, setting out those projects and actions we’ve undertaken this year under our programme of continuous improvement, and introducing those we have planned for the next.
Each of the activities we undertake under our continuous improvement programme is focussed on supporting and strengthening our commitment to our three enduring core values:
You can read more about our core values, and exactly what each one means to us here.
As we did in our last report, we've measured each of this year's achievements against commitments we made in the previous year, and we've looked forwards at what we’re planning on tackling in the coming year.
And as always, we'd love to hear your feedback and your ideas. We hope that you'll continue to help us shape ColieCo, our collections and our future.
In the three sections below, each focused around one of our core values, you’ll find details of the activities we’ve completed in the past year under our continuous improvement programme, and activities we have planned for the coming year.
Completing the switch to 100% renewable energy
Last year, we committed to transitioning to 100% green energy tariffs to power both the ColieCo Studio and ColieCo office, and in March we completed the switch with the help of our energy partner, EDP Commercial.
Our energy mix for 2023 to date has comprised 73% hydroelectric power, 9% wind power, and 18% from other renewable sources, including solar power.
The ColieCo Studio remains naturally air-conditioned.
Materials - expanding our TENCEL™ Intimate collection
Last May, we launched our TENCEL™ Intimate collection, and in last year's report, we committed to expanding our use of TENCEL™ Lyocell to represent a growing proportion of the natural-origin virgin fabric we use.
Following our 2022 report, we launched a new TENCEL™ mini-collection, featuring our REMI romper and ZOEY french knickers, and introduced three new colour options across the rest of our TENCEL™ Intimate collection. We have also continued the switch from organic cotton and bamboo jersey to TENCEL™ Lyocell gussets.
TENCEL™ Lyocell is widely considered to be one of the most sustainable organic origin fabrics available to the fashion industry.
The fibres used to produce TENCEL™ Lyocell are derived from sustainably grown wood harvested from certified and controlled sources, and processed using a unique closed loop system which recovers and reuses the solvents used, minimizing the environmental impact of production.
Our commitment to TENCEL™ Lyocell supports our Pledge on Sustainable Fabrics, which guarantees ColieCo customers that each and every fabric used in the creation of their lingerie, underwear and swimwear will meet one of our three criteria defining sustainable fabrics.
You can learn more about the environmental credentials of TENCEL™ Lyocell here.
Other components - elastics
Last year, we committed to increasing the proportion of our elastic which is manufactured locally, and we have continued to work with our new OEKO-TEX STeP programme-certified manufacturer here in Portugal to achieve this.
All of our strapping elastic, with the exception of the elastic used to produce some of our suspenders and harnesses, will now be manufactured in Portugal. The rest of our elastic continues to be manufactured in Germany by another supplier carrying OEKO-TEX STeP programme certification.
Circularity - support and advice for customers
As introduced in our 2022 report, this year we have been working on various activities with the aim of helping our customers understand how they can best care for and dispose of their garments from an environmental perspective.
We have already added more information for customers to the care instructions in our product pages and published a respective blog post, and we are actively working on a more extensive care guide for coliecolingerie.com, as well as providing a material-specific end-of-life guide for customers with each order we ship.
Our targets for next year include:
Code of Ethics and Conduct
In December last year, we published the first version of our Code of Ethics and Conduct (CoEC; we're currently employing version two of the Code, published in April this year and which you can read in full here.)
The CoEC sets standards which all of those working for and on behalf of ColieCo must follow. It includes sections defining our values, principles and responsibilities, and our standards for third parties acting in partnership with and supplying ColieCo.
The Code is also used to guide our Programme of Continuous Improvement - the programme that Greener, Fairer, Better reports on - and in the assessment and ongoing reassessment of the suitability of third party partners and suppliers.
In addition to setting out standards for both ColieCo and our suppliers with regard to workers' rights and working conditions, the CoEC also covers both environmental and social responsibility.
You can read the latest version of the CoEC here.
Supply chain assessments
In accordance with the requirements set out in our Code of Ethics and Conduct, we have begun the assessment of all of our virgin and recycled fabric manufacturers against the Code's standards, and completed the reviews of all of our virgin fabric manufacturers satisfactorily.
We've dedicated a huge amount of time to this activity this year, and whilst we have found most suppliers and manufacturers to be exceptionally helpful and transparent in their responses to our requests for information and evidence, others have been less forthcoming to the point of obstruction.
Whereas large, multinational brands may able to make direct demands of their manufacturers and other suppliers in such circumstances, leveraging the much more significant financial threat of the withdrawal of their business, SMEs like ourselves are not.
Nevertheless, transparency is critically important to us at ColieCo. There is no way for us, let alone our customers, to begin to measure ourselves against the newly reinforced standards we have set in supporting our core values unless we are able to collect and verify the data necessary to measure and monitor our supply chain.
As such, where we are met with obstruction by suppliers who are unwilling to demonstrate a commitment to transparency in their operations, we are left with no alternative other than to seek alternative partners.
More information about the suppliers and supply chains of all of our virgin and recycled fabrics can be found here.
Representation of demographics across our customer base
Further to commitments we made in last year's report, we have redoubled our efforts to ensure that ColieCo represents, supports and celebrates diversity not only through our collaborations with minority-led and minority-championing individuals and organisations, but also in our product photography and marketing, and specifically with regard to our representation of plus-sized customers.
Equity and community - pricing
At last year’s price review, we committed to freezing retail prices across the entire ColieCo range, with the sole exception of some garments using larger amounts of RPET fabric, due to the direct increased cost of this fabric to us.
This year we have again worked to freeze all of the prices across the ColieCo collection, and have been able to reduce the price of most of the items in our TENCEL™ Intimate collection.
The global economic climate remains challenging, and we stand firm in our belief that businesses have a critical responsibility to help wherever and however possible with what is an enduring cost of living crisis facing people around the globe, particularly in controlling retail price inflation.
Equity and community - activism
ColieCo continues to actively campaign for the improvement of rights, conditions and pay for textiles and garment workers in the developing world, supporting Labour Behind the Label and Fashion Revolution's Good Clothes, Fair Pay campaign. This year, for every order placed over the Black Friday weekend, we made a donation to the Awaj Foundation in Bangladesh to support garment workers affected by the violence surrounding their campaign for a fair living wage.
Civic engagement
We continue to actively support the Sagres Beach Clean project, a local volunteer initiative removing plastic waste, fishing gear and other refuse from the shorelines and coastal waters of the Costa Vicentina Natural Park, and aiming to raise awareness of the damage to the environment caused by plastic pollution.
Our targets for next year include:
Garments - sizing
In order to provide a more convenient and standardised service to more of our customers, this year we have extended our standard size range from 2XS to 3XL across the entire ColieCo collection.
We've also extended our standard bra size range to offer cup sizes to F. We continue to offer a custom, made-to-measure service for customers between sizes, outside our standard size range or with specific or unique requirements.
Garments - other materials
From January 2024, all of the hook fastenings, rings and sliders we'll be using across our collection (with the exception of our HEARTBREAKER suspender belt and thigh harnesses) will be sourced in Europe and made from 24K pure gold finished zamak.
This premium quality hardware does not tarnish, is 100% nickel-free, and is also OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certified.
Our targets for next year include:
Thanks for catching up with our second annual update. It has been another incredibly busy year in both the ColieCo Studio and our office, working hard to deliver you the very best collection and services we're able to offer, and, as importantly, in the right way.
If you have any comments or questions about any of the activities in this review, if you'd like further details, or if there are other areas of the business you’d like to hear more about or for us to focus on, please get in touch with us by email at info@coliecolingerie.com or connect with us via social media (you'll find our links under 'Connect with us' at the bottom of the page), and we promise that we’ll get back to you super quick.
Thank you, as always, to all of those who have supported indie brands, local enterprises, activist brands, and organisations representing and championing the slow fashion movement this year. Let's ensure 2024 is another year of positive progress in shaping a more sustainable and fairer fashion future.
Nicole x
We're putting it out there: we don't believe there's any lingerie brand with stronger environmental credentials than ColieCo. In this blog post, we break down eight of the reasons why we're leaders in sustainable fashion.
]]>It's a brave statement to make, for sure. And if you're going make such a grand claim, you'd better have the ammunition to back it up.
Well, we believe that we do. We've spent twelve years refining our products, processes and practices to ensure that we're always offering a collection of lingerie, underwear and swimwear which is as outstanding in its environmental credentials as it is diverse, bold and inspiring.
In this article we've unpacked our unique, eco-centric slow fashion model to examine eight of the most important aspects of our sustainable approach, one which in sum we believe stands out amongst lingerie brands.
So without further ado, let's dive into those all-important details which we say set ColieCo apart from the rest...
The most significant factor contributing to any given fashion brand's environmental footprint is described not by the fabrics the brand uses, nor the raw materials those fabrics are made from, nor where their lines are manufactured. The single most influential variable is the business model for their garment production.
This is the factor which carries the greatest weight in determining the sustainability of any given fashion brand. Put simply, if you're looking for truly eco-conscious brands, the first question you should ask is, "Does the brand mass or batch produce their garments, or do they produce to order?"
There are several compelling reasons why made-to-order fashion is inherently vastly more sustainable than ready-to-wear fashion.
First and foremost, made-to-order fashion tackles the chronic issue of overproduction head-on.
In the traditional ready-to-wear fashion model, brands mass-produce garments in anticipation of consumer demand. This process inevitably leads to an overproduction for one of two reasons.
Firstly, lines very often aren't nearly as successful as ready-to-wear brands' trend forecasters predict, leaving huge stockpiles of garments unsold, even after discounts have been applied and sales have run.
Secondly, even those more successful lines commonly see large numbers of garments unsold, as given their retail pricing models, which see huge markups on the production cost of each and every garment, fast fashion brands would rather be left with additional unsold stock than risk missing out on sales due to stock shortages.
The ready-to-wear fashion model inevitably results in wasteful overproduction
This overproduction, resulting in excess, unsold inventory, has severe environmental consequences. Unsold items are commonly either incinerated or end up in landfill sites, contributing to the pollution of the air, water and land, as well as representing a huge waste of resources.
Made-to-order fashion eliminates this problem by producing garments only when there is a confirmed customer order. This not only prevents the accumulation of unsold stock - which ultimately becomes waste -, it also completely eliminates the environmental footprint associated with unnecessary production.
What's more, the made-to-order model significantly minimizes waste during the garment production process. In conventional manufacturing, batch fabric cutting processes lead to substantial textile waste, as patterns are optimized for mass production, and production speed and cost are prioritised over a more mindful use of fabric.
Made-to-order fashion, on the other hand, employs more fabric-efficient manual cutting methods, precisely tailored to each individual order. This reduces fabric waste, conserves resources, and lessens the environmental impact associated with textile disposal.
At ColieCo, we use intelligent pattern design, share fabrics across our collection, and retain even the smallest offcuts in order to make use of every last possible square centimetre of fabric in the creation of your sustainable lingerie, underwear and swimwear.
Our cutting process reduces textile waste to the very minimum amount possible
There are various ways in which made-to-order fashion encourages responsible consumption, and this is both one of the most fun and one of our favourites at ColieCo.
When customers have the option to customize their garments - for example, requesting custom measurements, small design modifications or fabric substitutions - they are more likely to invest in pieces they will genuinely love and feel an attachment to, and will wear more frequently over a longer period.
When clothes fit us well, they feel good; when garments can be customised with our own colour combinations, they feel special. And when our clothes feel good and they feel special, we're going to wear them more often.
This shift from make-do, disposable fast fashion to thoughtful, longer-lasting choices contributes to a reduction in the overall consumption of clothing - the longer a garment is worn, the longer it will be before it needs replacing - aligning with the principles of the circular economy, where products are designed to have longer lifecycles and are less likely to end up as waste before their time.
Of course, this principle also requires that garments are made with the right materials and are constructed to last. It's for this reason that all ColieCo designs are exclusively made in our own in-house design studio by highly-skilled workers, and are only made with the highest quality materials, from our hand-selected fabrics, through our durable European-knit elastics and RPET thread.
The fashion industry's transition from unsustainable legacy fabrics to more sustainable alternatives is not just a choice; it's an imperative for a sustainable future for the planet.
Legacy fabrics commonly used in the production of underwear and lingerie, such as conventional cotton and virgin polyester, are resource-intensive to produce. Generally speaking, their production requires huge amounts of water, chemicals and energy, contributing to water pollution and scarcity, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions, amongst other issues.
Thankfully, there is already a strong and growing public awareness that transitioning to more environmentally-friendly alternatives is essential to reducing the fashion industry's ecological footprint, conserving resources, and mitigating climate change. But it is important to recognise the spectre of greenwashing.
In recent years, many brands have taken to creating a single sustainable line or collection as a marketing ploy, whilst quietly maintaining their often spectacularly unsustainable business-as-usual practices elsewhere. I'm sure we don't need to mention some of the more (in)famous names involved...
Such strategies, actively designed to mislead consumers, are a threat to genuine progress, and it's important that we work towards holding brands to account for their claims on sustainable practices.
Ahem...
At ColieCo, we have made customers a Pledge on Sustainable Fabrics. Our Pledge requires that every single fabric used to create every single ColieCo garment will meet one of the following criteria:
We have also committed to tracing and publishing details of the supply chains of all of the virgin and recycled fabrics we use. You can find information about each and every one of the fabrics we use to create your ethical lingerie, underwear and swimwear here.
The transportation of raw materials and fabrics plays a significant role in the carbon footprint of clothing production. As we've written about previously, this aspect of the fashion industry's supply chain contributes heavily to industrial greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and energy consumption.
The significance of transportation in the carbon footprint of clothing lies in the long distances materials can travel before reaching production facilities. Raw materials for textiles originate from all corners of the globe, and can travel from place to place during the various stages of fabric production, requiring extensive shipping and transportation. This can involve freight by truck, ships and other modes of transportation which rely heavily on fossil fuels. These journeys generate substantial emissions, contributing to man made climate change.
To mitigate this environmental impact, brands can adopt a more conscientious approach to sourcing fabrics. One effective strategy is to trace supply chains during the procurement process and prioritize local sourcing whenever possible. By working with closer raw material suppliers and producers, brands can significantly reduce the distances materials need to travel.
At ColieCo, we endeavour to work with local manufacturers and suppliers as much as possible in order to limit the transit of materials from source to the point of production, and 90% of our virgin and recycled fabrics are now manufactured within Europe.
This includes all of the TENCEL™ Lyocell used in our TENCEL™ Intimate collection. The raw material for this fabric - wood harvested from sustainably managed forests - is grown in Central Europe. The harvested wood travels the short distance to Austria, where the wood is pulped and cellulose fibres extracted from the pulp using an environmentally-friendly closed-loop system are processed and spun.
The process Austrian company LENZING AG uses to produce TENCEL™ Lyocell
And the final stages of the fabric production process, in which the spun fibres are woven and the resulting fabric is dyed, is undertaken in ColieCo's home country of Portugal.
This means that from the very birth of the source material to the completion of our TENCEL™ garments, the fabric's constituents have travelled in the region of only 3,000km. This is a shorter distance than cotton can commonly travel as a baled raw material, before it is even spun into thread.
Because the details matter, our commitment to using eco-friendly materials to produce your sustainable lingerie, underwear and swimwear reaches beyond the fabrics we use.
All of our elastics are manufactured in Europe by suppliers carrying OEKO-TEX STeP certification. OEKO-TEX STeP, which stands for Sustainable Textile & Leather Production, is a gold-standard certification system for environmentally-friendly and socially-responsible production.
The STeP programme employs an holistic assessment of six discrete attributes of production - chemical management, environmental performance, environmental management, social responsibility, quality management and workplace safety - and aims to continually improve production conditions and health and safety in all business areas across supply chains. You can find out more about OEKO-TEX STeP in our blog post on the programme here.
The six elements of the STeP programme by OEKO-TEX
And in 2021, we began the transition to 100% recycled polyester thread.
The super high quality, Global Recycled Standard-certified thread we use is manufactured in Europe from recycled PET plastic drink bottles, ensuring that even the stitches in your garments have been placed with the environment in mind.
This year, with the help of our energy partner, EDP Commercial, we completed the switch to 100% renewable energy to power both the ColieCo Studio, where each and every ColieCo garment is made, and the ColieCo office.
This means that the cut-and-sew production of all of your cherished ColieCo pieces is powered entirely by renewable energy.
Our energy mix for 2023 to date has comprised 73% hydroelectric power, 9% wind power, and 18% from other renewable sources, including solar power.
ColieCo works with Carbonfund.org to offset all of our shipping-related emissions, leaving the delivery of your order carbon-neutral.
Carbonfund help us calculate these emissions, which we offset by funding their reforestation and forest preservation programme. All of the projects supported by Carbonfund are subject to their Quality Assurance Protocol and subject to third party certification standards, including Gold Standard and Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standard.
What's more, all ColieCo orders are shipped directly from the ColieCo studio, further limiting their transport footprint.
The fashion industry's extensive use of plastic packaging poses several well-documented problems.
Most plastics take hundreds of years to decompose, contributing to long-term environmental pollution. And when not disposed of properly, these plastics often find their way into waterways and eventually oceans, causing significant harm to marine life. More widely, the persistence of plastic pollution disrupts ecosystems, as well as posing risks to human health through the food chain.
Transitioning to eco-friendly packaging alternatives is crucial to mitigate these environmental and ecological impacts, as plastic waste remains a pervasive threat to our planet.
At ColieCo, we exclusively use recycled paper and card across all of our supplies, and we ship your sustainable lingerie, underwear and swimwear in lightweight, reusable, recycled-and-recyclable packaging.
And all of our packaging is proudly 100% plastic free.
Because sustainability is a process, and not an outcome.
At ColieCo, we've always been driven to learn and discover, to innovate, and to push ourselves further and harder in meeting our three equally-important core values.
In the last twelve months, we've formally launched our Free Repairs service - a sister to our Free Alterations service - with both resources designed to help extend the lifespans of your favourite ColieCo garments.
We've also entered into a new partnership with our friends at LANGBRETT to offer customers GUPPYFRIEND washing bags, which we believe are *the* leading solution to microfibre shedding during washing machine cycles.
And as always, we will continue to follow developments in textile science and manufacturing closely to ensure that we continue to source environmentally best-in-class virgin and recycled fabrics for the ColieCo collection.
So think of this as a work-in-progress list!
To keep up with developments at ColieCo HQ, be sure to sign up to our newsletter via our homepage and follow us on social media. And please reach out with your questions and suggestions - we always love hearing from anyone and everyone interested in joining the conversation.
Nicole x
Looking for lingerie-themed Halloween costume inspiration? Look no further than our spooky suggestions, a blend of sinistrous style, devilish dark humour and spine-tingling seduction which will leave all crossing your path spellbound!
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As an ominous moon casts an eerie glow upon the desolate streets, and a chilling breeze whispers secrets of the macabre, it can mean only one thing:
Halloween is creeping closer, and the time for every lingerie enthusiast to unleash their inner enchantress is nigh!
Gather 'round, dear readers, for we are about to embark on a journey through the other-worldly realm of lingerie-themed, Halloween costume inspiration, where the lines between sinistrous style, devilish dark humour and spine-tingling seduction blur like a ghostly apparition in the night!
In this blog post, we present six tantalizing and daring Halloween costume ideas, all inspired by the most supernaturally spectacular of selections from the uniquely enticing, luxurious and (of course!) sustainable ColieCo collection.
If you're a lingerista looking to make a bewitching statement this Halloween, look no further than our spooky suggestions, which offer a perfect starting point for crafting your own sleek and sexy lingerie-themed costumes that will leave everyone spellbound.
In the dimly lit underbelly of the city, where shadows play their wicked games, there exists a presence that defies comprehension, a beguiling enigma whose allure is as lethal as it is irresistible.
With raven hair cascading like a waterfall of midnight, she moves in silence. And beware the quiet ones, for in her demure elegance lies a chilling truth - she is the embodiment of temptation, a haunting spectre of seduction and doom in the realm of shadows and horrors!
Become the quintessential film noir femme fatale with ColieCo's bold and daring JESSICA harness lingerie set. The JESSICA set features a strappy soft cup bra and harness knickers in sustainably-sourced sheer, stretchy reclaimed mesh. Layers of mesh create eye-catching patterns of light and shade, as well as helping shape the bust.
The combination of striking strappy details and lustrous luxury mesh fabric will transform you into an apex seductress!
Pair the set with a slinky black mini dress, fishnet stockings, a vampy red lip and a Veronica Lake wig. Accessorize with either a wide brim floppy hat or a netted fascinator (hunt both down in your local vintage store) and a statement choker for that classic femme fatale allure.
This costume is for those who love to embrace and exercise their inner power and captivate with every step they take.
Amidst the gnarled trees and moonlit glades of an otherworldly forest, a deceptively adorable presence resides. Meet the enchanted forest fairy, a cherubic apparition with sparkling eyes and a mischievous grin.
But do not be fooled by her cute facade, for behind those innocent giggles lies a malevolent cunning. With a flick of her dainty wings, she weaves spells of seduction, ensnaring unsuspecting men in her whimsical trap!
Become the forest fairy temptress and exude an aura of enchantment with ColieCo's CHERRY soft cup bra in the Forest Floor print choice. Like all of the designs in our Reclaimed Prints collection, Forest Floor is a reclaimed fabric rescued by our suppliers from a discarded fast fashion line end. So by choosing the CHERRY bralette, you can be sure that you're living, as well as playing, the role of nature's protector!
Pair with a thrifted flowy and ethereal skirt or for the truly daring, our POPPY high waisted harness panties in the same print.
Accessorize with a pair of bewitching wings, and a touch of eerie green and silver makeup for an otherworldly look, and complete the ensemble with a crown of flowers and leaves.
This costume is perfect for those who like to keep it fun and frolicky, or those with a penchant for ethereal supernatural beauty.
In a gaslit, cobblestone alley of 19th century London, a creature of timeless allure emerges from the shadows. Meet the Victorian-era vampiress, a bewitching beauty with an insatiable thirst for power and blood.
The embodiment of immortal terror, she prowls through the night, enchanting unsuspecting men with a glance. Beneath the layers of corsets and lace, her charm is a malevolent force that controls the hearts and minds of those who dare to gaze upon her!
Step into the enigmatic elegance of a bygone era with this gothic Victorian vamp look inspired by ColieCo's frilly SALEMA lingerie set. Like most of the designs in our Reclaimed Mesh collection, SALEMA is available in six different colours of sustainably-sourced, sheer and luxurious power mesh, so here you could choose the classic black colourway, or opt for our new rich deep purple option.
And as with our Reclaimed Prints collection, you can rest assured that all of the fabric we use in our Reclaimed Mesh collection has been rescued from mainstream lingerie industry line-ends, making it the sustainable option for mesh lingerie.
Combine with a vintage lacy black corset and a flowing velvet skirt, and add dramatic lace gloves, a vintage choker and a velvet top hat for an air of aristocratic allure.
A dark and dramatic makeup look with a hint of red on the lips and the obligatory pointy teeth will complete this timelessly elegant costume.
Beneath the moon's haunting reflection on a still ocean, a siren's song whispers through the night, a mournful melody that spells doom for any sailor who dares to listen.
Meet the seductress of the ocean, a mermaid of unparalleled beauty, her long, flowing tresses glistening with the mysteries of the deep. Her voice, a haunting symphony, lures seafarers to their watery graves with promises of love and solace!
Take inspiration from the deep blue depths and transform yourself into a hauntingly beautiful mermaid, with ColieCo's stunning velvet green ZOEY TENCEL wrap bra as the perfect base.
Our TENCEL™ Intimate collection is hand-crafted from a TENCEL™ Lyocell fabric widely recognised as being amongst the most environmentally friendly options for all clothing. Meaning that your fellow sea-dwelling creatures of all varieties will approve of your choice!
Add a shimmering fishtail skirt or velvet green flares (both vintage store staples!) and iridescent accessories to complete the aquatic allure. For an added touch of magic, adorn yourself with sea-themed jewelry and a mesmerizing makeup look of oceanic greens and blues.
Amidst the neon-soaked decadence of the 1980s disco scene, a new kind of horror emerges - the warrior queen of the night! Drenched in bold and bright colors, she glides through the night on roller skates, an enigmatic siren of the dance floor.
With a Walkman clutched to her chest, she struts to the rhythm of death, her headphones concealing a deadly secret. Men fall prey to her charms, only to be ensnared by those coiled cords, her weapon of choice!
Become the merciless diva of a cult horror nightmare, the Warrior Queen of the Night - a lethal icon of the '80s! Pair ColieCo's LAYLA crop top bra and LAYLA mid rise panties in our funktastic Cali Dreamer print choice with a pair of knee high socks and vintage roller boots to create an empowering ensemble fit for any disco queen.
Barbie costumes are set to be high on everyone’s list this Halloween, but go one better and opt for this authentic vintage style. Get your friends together and match your outfits for maximum effect!
A mischievous seductress prowls the shadows: the elusive Catwoman. Clad in sleek black, head to toe, and armed with an irreverent spirit, she's more playful than predatory, but her claws have a wicked bite...
With a saucy wink and a sly smile, she toys with men who fall under her enchanting spell, making them dance to her tune before meting out her own unique brand of punishment!
Transform into a seductive and subversive feline with this Catwoman-inspired costume. ColieCo's sleek and sensual MIDNIGHT THONG lingerie set is the perfect foundation for this look. Featuring our best-selling, wire-free MIDNIGHT soft cup bra and MIDNIGHT strappy thong in your choice of power mesh colours (here the obvious choice is black, but sometimes the obvious choice isn't necessarily the best!), this set is a guaranteed box office hit!
If you don't have one in your wardrobe already, rent a form-fitting black catsuit, and add cat ears and a whip for that classic Catwoman allure. Play up the sultry mystique with a cat's-eye makeup look and a touch of smoky eyeshadow.
This costume is a classic, which never fails to deliver a purrrrrrfect Halloween night.
We've summoned the creepiest, the cleverest, and the most captivating Halloween attire to ensure that, this year, your costume is the stuff of spine-tingling legend!
These six sleek and spooktastic costume ideas, inspired by our very own enchanting and empowering lingerie sets, have been designed to leave you feeling confident, alluring, and ready to bewitch all those in your path.
As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts too! Join in the fun on our Insta, FB and TikTok channels and show us your own costume creations featuring ColieCo designs. Don't forget to tag our accounts in your posts and use the #ColieCo hashtag so we can share the love.
Happy haunting!
Nicole x
Check out our top five tips on how to keep your most well-loved underwear and lingerie looking its best for as long as possible, whilst minimising the impact of your laundry habits on the environment.
]]>Article contributed by guest writer Rachel Metcalf of Ecothes.
Those with a keen interest in sustainability know that living sustainably is about how we act as well as what we consume. Eco-friendly brands like ColieCo have led the way in offering us beautiful, hard-wearing and sustainably-made garments that don’t cost the earth, but consumers also need to know how to care for these items so that they can make them last.
The clothes we wear and the fabrics they are made from matter, none more so than our underwear. These items are among the most important things we own - we wear them next to our skin every day, we want them to be clean, comfortable and attractive time and time again, and we need them to last in order to help limit our consumption.
That’s why we’ve put together five tips on how best to care for your most delicate and well-loved ColieCo items - those beautiful bras and pretty pairs of knickers that you want to wear for years to come.
Carrie Bradshaw memorably washed all of her designer lingerie by hand in the bathroom sink, suggesting that her underwear drawer was worth a small fortune. We probably all know that pricey silk and lace benefits from a light touch, and is best laundered by hand, in warm water and with gentle detergents. But did you know that modal, lyocell and bamboo can also last longer and look better when washed by hand?
Put time aside once a week to hand wash your lingerie in warm (never hot) water with an eco-friendly detergent and your smalls will last longer and look better for it. Remember to fasten bras and bralettes before washing to prevent hooks from snagging delicate fabric.
Everyone plays favourites with their underwear drawer, but if you find yourself wearing the same few items over and over whilst ignoring 80% of your lingerie, then you need to have a sort out.
Unworn clothes - including lingerie - can be resold, donated or recycled, and these are all far better uses for them than taking up space in your drawers, especially if you have items made from less sustainable materials that might one day end up in landfill.
Once you’re wearing all of your favourite sustainable lingerie regularly, identify the most comfortable and/or practical things and buy duplicates of them whilst you can. You can see this as an investment, as you already know that you’ll love your new pieces, and rotating them with your ‘old faithfuls’ will help them all last longer.
Investing in more adjustable garments - like ColieCo’s super-versatile soft cup bras and the panties featuring their signature waist adjuster - can help you find the perfect fit, both today and in six or twelve months’ time, extending the use that you’ll get from your ethical underwear.
It’s tempting to chuck bras straight into the laundry basket after one wear - hygiene is, of course, an important consideration for all of us - but if you are rotating your bras and bralettes then there is really no need.
Bras will last longer with less frequent washing, and they don’t need to be freshly washed for every wear like knickers do. Aim to wear your bras at least three or four times before you set them aside to wash and you will extend their life by years compared with washing after every wear.
It might help to plan which bras go best under which outfits and ensure you’re mixing it up, rather than relying on the same one or two everyday. Did you know that red is often a better choice under a white t-shirt than a white bra? Once you’ve found your favourite matches, you can even hang bras with certain outfits in your wardrobe to remind you to switch them up.
Using a tumble dryer to dry your underwear quickly is tempting - especially when you’re desperate to wear that perfect set and it isn’t quite dry yet - but it is disastrous for your lingerie’s lifespan as well as the environment.
Tumble dryers contribute to global warming at an alarming rate: a single load of laundry washed in hot water and tumble dried can be responsible for emissions equivalent to 3.3 kgs of carbon dioxide. Hot air and vigorous spinning will also damage delicate fabrics over time, making tumble drying a poor financial as well as environmental choice.
Air drying is both free and ecologically sound, and at a push, the heat of your body can dry a slightly damp item in just a few minutes anyway! Ensure you carefully wring out your lingerie after washing and spread it flat or hang on hangers to dry, leaving a window open for ventilation.
These little bags are a game changer in the war against microplastic pollution.
All fabrics derived from plastics - which include polyester, nylon and acrylic - release microfibres into your washing machine’s water during every single wash cycle. The waste water leaving your washing machine, and still carrying these microfibres, eventually arrives in rivers and oceans, contributing to the pollution of marine environments.
Whilst more and more of us are avoiding purchasing virgin (newly manufactured) synthetic fabrics, many of us will still wear old and second-hand items made from virgin synthetics. And even items made from reclaimed or recycled fabrics and coming from sustainable brands will release microfibres into washing machine waste water during wash cycles.
To give an idea of how much of a problem microfibre pollution has become, research performed by a team at The University of California discovered that a city of 100,000 people would release a volume of microfibres equivalent to 15,000 plastic bags every day.
One new, simple and effective solution to this problem can be found in the GUPPYFRIEND washing bag.
The GUPPYFRIEND performs two functions exceptionally well. Firstly, it reduces the amount of mechanical friction your clothes experience when they’re washed by as much as 86%. This reduces the number of microfibres released during washing, helping keep your garments looking their best and extending their lifespans. Secondly, GUPPYFRIEND captures all of those fibres which are still released, keeping them out of your washing machine’s waste water, and ultimately the ocean.
Simply place your laundry in the bag before putting the whole thing in your washer, and you’ve both protected your smalls and helped stem the tide against microplastics.
ColieCo has teamed up with ethical manufacturer LANGBRETT to make GUPPYFRIEND washing bags available to customers via coliecolingerie.com here.
The fast fashion industry is responsible for a vast amount of fabric waste, with up to 47% of fabric lost before garments even reach customers. We examine the various sources of this fabric waste, and look at how slow and sustainable fashion brands are delivering the solutions we need to combat the issue.
]]>Fashion is a trillion dollar industry which has grown at a phenomenal pace globally in recent decades. But this growth has come at huge cost, with the apparel industry becoming one of the most polluting in the world.
The industry is responsible for an astronomical amount of waste and pollution, which has had severe adverse impacts on land and aquatic ecosystems, global climate, and human health. And one of the most significant contributors to this problem is the fabric waste the industry produces, with millions of tons of textile waste and clothing being dumped to rot in landfills and being burned in incinerators each year.
In this blog post, we discuss the importance of eliminating fabric waste across the fashion industry and examine the key role that the slow fashion movement is playing in working towards this goal.
Regular readers of the ColieCo blog will already have a very good idea of the damage that the fast fashion industry - in the form of the mass production of cheaply produced 'throwaway' garments - has already wreaked on the environment, on the global climate, and on communities in the developing world, particularly over the last quarter of a century.
It has done incredible damage to waterways and marine environments. It has become one of the most significant contributors to climate change, with greenhouse gas emissions from textile production, transport and disposal accounting for up to 10% of global carbon emissions. And it has exploited cheap labour in the developing world at great human cost.
It's clear that addressing these issues is going to require nothing short of revolutionary change across the fashion industry. And reducing the gigantic amount of fabric waste that the industry generates will be an essential part of that process, as this waste accounts for a significant proportion of the pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and overconsumption that the industry is responsible for.
To understand how we can combat the problem, we first need to understand how and why the industry is creating so much fabric waste.
Fabric waste appears throughout the fashion industry's end-to-end production process in the form of unused fabric discarded at each and every stage, from textile manufacturing to garment production to retail.
The fast fashion business model relies on the production of inexpensive on-trend clothing, which is manufactured as quickly as possible to be sold in large quantities before the next trend emerges. And from a waste perspective, this model has two inherent problems.
Firstly, it frequently results in brands cancelling the fabric orders they've placed with manufacturers. This can happen for various reasons, but will often be the result of brands' trend forecasters advising them that the tides of fashion have shifted and that they need to get new designs in different textiles and different colours to market. This can happen even after the fabric a brand has ordered has been manufactured.
Even prior to the notorious behaviour of many brands during the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee had found that fast fashion brands were responsible for canceling orders worth an astonishing £1.7bn (€2bn) annually, resulting in hugely significant amounts of fabric waste.
Secondly, the model commonly results in the overproduction of fabric. Setting up large production runs for fashion textiles is an expensive business with large overheads, and brands would rather produce excess fabric at low marginal cost than risk having to re-run from scratch the production of a fabric needed to produce what turns out to be a popular and successful collection. In short, ordering too much fabric is seen to be less of an issue than ordering too little.
Criminally, this excess overproduced fabric, which is sometimes referred to as 'overstock' and can include entire rolls of fabric, is often discarded by manufacturers and variously ends up in landfill sites or incinerators.
Bulk cutting is a manufacturing process used by the fashion industry which involves cutting multiple layers of fabric at once. This process is used because it saves manufacturers time and reduces labour costs. However, it also generates a significant amount of waste.
The process, which often results in uneven and imprecise cuts, sees the offcuts and scraps it produces discarded on the factory floor. Once again, this fabric waste usually ends up in landfill sites or an incinerator.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, up to 15% of the fabric used in bulk cutting processes ends up as factory floor waste.
The term 'line end' refers to fabric left over at the end of a fabric roll, which is often considered by factories manufacturing for large fast fashion brands too short for use in future production runs. This fabric is typically discarded with factory floor waste, adding considerably to the total amount of waste created during garment manufacture.
According to a report by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), up to 10% of fabric is wasted due to roll line ends.
As with the overproduction of fabric, the overproduction of garments is a common problem in the fast fashion industry, with brands habitually producing more garments than they can sell. This overproduction results in unsold stock, which is eventually discarded by retailers. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, up to 30% of clothing produced is never sold, resulting in a significant amount of fabric waste.
Although some brands are able to bulk re-sell stock to clearance retailers and others donate at least some of it to charities, a significant proportion of overstock can be shredded and recycled, or, well, by now I think you might be able to guess where it can end up...
Slow fashion is an emergent and growing movement with a diametrically opposed perspective to that of the fast fashion industry. Or, as Good On You eloquently put it, slow fashion "...encompasses an awareness and approach to fashion that considers the processes and resources required to make clothing. It advocates for buying better-quality garments that will last longer, and values fair treatment of people, animals, and the planet along the way."
Distilled down, the identity of the slow fashion movement can be described by the intersection of three key distinct, yet closely interconnected, ideals:
There are various ways in which the ethical and sustainable brands leading the slow fashion revolution (like ColieCo!) are proving that fabric waste can be eliminated from the fashion industry's processes. And beyond demonstrating the viability of zero waste manufacturing models, they're even helping clean up the mess that fast fashion brands are leaving behind.
Here's how...
The term 'reclaimed fabric' refers to fabric that has been sourced from pre-existing textiles rejected by brands and then discarded by manufacturers before being repurposed for use in new clothing production before it has had the chance to arrive in landfill. This is one of the most effective ways for the fashion industry to reduce fabric waste, and the source of all of the fabric used in ColieCo's Reclaimed Mesh, Reclaimed Prints and Swimwear collections.
The suppliers who provide the reclaimed fabrics we work with in the ColieCo studio work directly both with fabric manufacturers to rescue surplus fabric stock resulting from fast fashion brands' order cancellations, and with garment manufacturers to rescue line ends and larger offcuts otherwise destined for landfill.
Slow and sustainable fashion brands' use of reclaimed fabrics reduces the demand for new fabric production, which in turn reduces the amount of downstream fabric waste generated by the fashion industry. It also promotes the concept of circularity in garment production, which will be an essential element of future efforts to reduce the industry's environmental impact.
Another one of the major contributors to fabric waste in the fashion industry is bulk cutting processes. These processes involve cutting multiple layers of fabric at once, which can lead to uneven cutting and excess fabric waste.
To help minimise waste during the cutting process, most slow fashion brands, including ColieCo, instead use manual cutting techniques in producing their ethical clothing collections. These techniques involve cutting fabric one layer at a time, which beyond helping reduce the amount of fabric wasted by allowing for the tessellation of pattern pieces, also allows for greater precision and control, resulting in higher quality garments.
The overproduction of garments is another key contributor to fabric waste. Fast fashion brands will as a matter of course produce excess garments in the hopes of meeting any and all consumer demand, the result almost always being excess stock, much of which ends up as waste.
To combat this issue, most slow fashion brands, including ColieCo, employ a made-to-order garment manufacturing model. This model involves producing garments only when they are ordered by customers, completely eliminating the production of excess stock.
And brands like ours are demonstrating that slow fashion can be anything but slow - we commit to completing and dispatching orders to customers within two weeks of placement.
The fast fashion model relies entirely on sales volumes to drive profits. Garment prices are perpetually being driven down in the name of competition, and profit margins per unit are incredibly slim compared with many other industries.
This means that brands are perpetually pushing their customers to consume more and more of their products, and it follows that it is in the brands' interests that garments are worn only a few times before their customers are ready to replace them with the new lines they are producing. This is no great incentive for fast fashion brands to produce high-quality products or to offer high-quality after-sales services to customers.
Many slow fashion brands offer customers much more each time they make a purchase.
Firstly, garments produced by ethical and sustainable fashion brands are commonly of a much higher quality - they are usually made from better fabrics and are usually designed and constructed to last, rather than to be replaced after just a few wears.
Secondly, many slow fashion brands (as well as, it should be acknowledged, a growing if very small number of mainstream fashion brands) offer customers alteration and repair services. These services can help further extend the lifespans of garments and reduce the need and demand for ready replacements.
At ColieCo, we're proud to offer customers both a free adjustment service and a free repairs service.
We've put together a graphic explaining how ColieCo Lingerie's own made-to-order slow fashion model uses reclaimed fabrics rescued by our suppliers:
Reducing the amount of fabric waste created by the fashion industry is crucial if we are to combat climate change, reduce pollution, and promote sustainable practices across what is an industry with a huge ecological footprint.
The fashion industry has become notorious for its high levels of waste, and this is an issue which must be addressed urgently.
Fortunately, there are a growing number of ethical and sustainable slow fashion brands entering the marketplace and introducing progressive and more sustainable new business models.
These models commonly feature a number of measures designed to reduce fabric waste, including the use of reclaimed and upcycled fabrics, the adoption of manual cutting techniques, and the implementation of made-to-order garment production processes.
Ultimately, reducing fabric waste is going to require a collective effort including the participation of consumers, manufacturers and retailers alike. By making conscious choices as consumers - by considering the volume of our consumption and by supporting ethical slow fashion brands - we can all help contribute to creating a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly future for the fashion industry.
Thanks as always for reading, and let us know what you think about our post and how you see the future of the slow fashion revolution developing on via our social channels - we love hearing your thoughts!
Nicole x
Cover Photograph Creator: Antonio Cossio. Credit: DPA. Copyright: Antonio Cossio / DPA / NTB.
Looking for ideas and inspiration on topics across slow and eco-friendly fashion? Check out our list of Team ColieCo's favourite ethical and sustainable fashion blogs!
]]>At the heart of the ethical fashion community there have always been vocal activists, writers and industry insiders, all working to raise awareness of the many and various issues with the fast fashion industry, and to champion change.
Shining lights on malpractice, actively supporting fair trade and sustainability campaigns, and lifting up brands looking to revolutionize the industry.
Independent bloggers have always been an important part of this community and its work, providing a platform for the voice of change, and offering readers insights and reviews, tips, ideas and inspiration on topics across slow and eco-friendly fashion.
And as awareness about the damage that fast fashion continues to wreak on workers and the planet has grown, an increasing number of blogs have emerged, offering a fantastic diversity of quality content.
Some blogs cover a range of topics across ethical fashion and other lifestyle themes, whilst others focus on specific ideas such as minimalism, thrifting and circularity, going plastic free, or vegan fashion.
It would be impossible for us to do justice in a single post to every ethical fashion blog that has inspired us at ColieCo HQ over the years. So after much deliberation, we've catalogued some of our favourites, whilst trying to ensure that we've created a list which offers as wide as possible a range of ideas, styles and approaches.
Whether you are a newcomer to ethical fashion looking for introductions to the key topics, are hunting for new ethical brands to explore, are searching for tips on curating or caring for your sustainable closet, or just love a good podcast or vlog, we've got you covered.
We hope you're as enlightened, inspired and empowered by the wonderful content these blogs have to offer as we have been over the years. Enjoy!
The Honest Consumer describes itself as a resource for people who are "inspired to live ethically and sustainably through mindful living & better buying".
Founded in 2016 by Emily Waddell, the blog features myriad ethical fashion guides, covering seemingly all angles - from garment-specific run-downs offering ideas on dresses, jumpsuits or even Halloween costumes, to others introducing minimal waste brands or specific sustainable textiles.
It's hard to believe given the amazing depth of content on ethical fashion alone, but The Honest Consumer covers a much broader range of topics, offering information and advice on low waste lifestyles, sustainable foods, ethical gift giving, mental health issues and social impact.
Recommended for: discovering new ethical and sustainable brands across fashion (and beyond).
We love it because: there's just so, so much really well written and easily digestible content.
Natalie Kay Costello's Sustainably Chic has been informing its readership on sustainable fashion, green beauty and eco lifestyle choices for close to a decade.
Featuring clear and comprehensive introductory guides to both sustainable *and* fast fashion (know your enemy!), Sustainably Chic is a great place to start for those new to ethical fashion and looking for a detailed overview of the key issues.
It also boasts a huge collection of themed guides and innovative articles ('Why Does a Sustainable T-Shirt Cost $36?', 'Fact-Checking Some Sustainable Fashion Myths') written by a number of well-known and respected contributors, and a sizeable brand directory.
Recommended for: its fresh, original articles and excellent in-depth explainers.
We love it because: we identify strongly with Sustainably Chic's open and constructive approach in defining sustainability.
Melanin & Sustainable Style (or 'MelaninASS') is a platform focusing on the intersections of BIPOC communities with sustainable fashion and beauty, celebrating the successes of BIPOC individuals and groups in these spaces, and bringing an authentic, culturally relevant voice to the discussion of sustainability.
Given that the BIPOC community is still grossly underrepresented across fashion industry leadership (and writing), and that it is overwhelmingly communities of colour which are most severely impacted both by fast fashion's unrepentant trampling of workers' rights and by its disregard for the environment, MelaninASS founder Dominique Drakeford's platform and messaging are doing critically important work.
For readers, MelaninASS offers an unmatched catalogue of interviews with trailblazing BIPOC entrepreneurs and designers discovering the stories behind and inspiration for their brands, and a diverse array of articles exploring sustainability topics across fashion and beyond.
Recommended for: the unrivalled diversity of voices it amplifies, and discovering BIPOC-led brands.
We love it because: climate change solutions need to be distributed equitably, and those communities most adversely affected should be leading discussions about proposed solutions across industries.
Curiously Conscious is sustainable fashion and lifestyle influencer Besma Whayeb's "journal of kinder ways to live and dress".
Running for almost a decade, Curiously Conscious has amassed an impressive collection of diverse and beautifully presented articles on sustainable and slow fashion, which are invariably carefully considered and composed, whilst remaining light and eminently readable. The freshness of Besma's ideas and her frank and open writing style stand out from the crowd, and are equally infectious.
Active across social media, Besma is usually on top of emerging news and events in and around ethical and sustainable fashion, and the Curiously Conscious take is always one we look out for at ColieCo HQ.
Recommended for: super fresh and innovative content, and keeping up with current events in the ethical fashion sphere.
We love it because: Besma's articles read like journal entries - there's a wonderful honesty and openness about them which makes her blog uniquely relatable.
Sustainable Jungle proudly declares that "it is here to encourage positive change". Count us in!
Super active across social media and boasting an already more than 60-episode-deep podcast, Sustainable Jungle covers a broad range of topics related to sustainable and ethical living, including several close to our hearts at ColieCo HQ - fashion (of course!), zero waste and thrifting.
With a huge number of brand guides, an excellent collection of useful educational articles, and an incessantly optimistic approach, Sustainable Jungle is a just fun place to explore!
Recommended for: the hours and hours of informative entertainment the Sustainable Jungle podcast offers, and the blog's comprehensive breakdown of greenwashing tricks to watch out for.
We love it because: of its relentless positivity and lightheartedness!
With more than a decade on the scene, Verena (Erin) Polowy's My Green Closet is a veritable sustainable fashion institution.
A huge focus of Erin's work is the My Green Closet YouTube channel, which offers entire playlists of vlogs introducing various issues in sustainable fashion, offering tips on capsule wardrobe curation, exploring second hand and thrift shopping, and reviewing sustainable brands and their products.
Erin's content is equally well-written and delivered, and her huge number of YouTube subscribers is testament to the popularity and watchability of her videos.
Recommended for: fans of well-researched, well-crafted video content on any and all things sustainable fashion.
We love it because: of Erin's straight up likeability! One watch is guaranteed to have you clicking that subscribe button.
UK-based Sophie Davies' A Considered Life is another sustainable lifestyle blog covering a wide range of topics, but with particular interests in simple living, sustainable fashion and slow travel.
The blog's stylish, stripped-down look marries well with Sophie's focus on light footprint minimalism, and her approach to fashion reflects the same ideal: this is a great place for those looking for capsule wardrobe inspiration and ideas.
With articles looking like those most elegant corners of Pinterest, A Considered Life's style advice and moodboards are manna from heaven for eco fashionistas with a keen interest in aesthetics.
Recommended for: contemporary, ultra-sophisticated style inspiration.
We love it because: browsing the blog feels like wandering around a well-curated exhibition - it's just a soothing and satisfying experience!
Moral Fibres is a UK-based eco blog written by leading environmentalist and sustainability industry expert Wendy Graham.
This is maybe the broadest of all the blogs we've featured in our guide, covering everything from wildlife friendly gardening, through managing food waste, to natural and eco-friendly cleaning. But there's still space for a fantastic number of garment-specific ethical fashion guides.
Guides like these often tend to be either particularly broad, listing countless brands with little or no description, or particularly deep, delivering in-depth low-downs on much shorter lists of brands. Moral Fibres manages to strike an admirable balance, covering an impressive number of options whilst still providing useful summaries of each and every brand's offerings.
Recommended for: those looking for a one-stop shop covering a broad range of lifestyle topics.
We love it because: if you have a sustainability question which you haven't seen addressed elsewhere, Moral Fibres will often have the answer!
ecothes is a relative newcomer to the blogosphere, having been founded by sustainable fashion editor Bethany Worthington as recently as 2019.
In this short time, the blog has compiled an unfathomable number of well-organised articles on sustainable fashion and footwear (amongst other lifestyle topics), and an impressive bank of unusually in-depth interviews with the founders of sustainable and ethical brands. (Do the ecothes writers even sleep?!)
At ColieCo, our favourite section of the blog is dedicated to ecothes' analysis and rating of fashion brands, which sees the ecothes team interrogating companies' practices and processes, how they treat their workers, the materials they use, and the wider impacts of their operations on the environment. Where brands fail to meet the mark, ecothes is always ready to recommend more ethical alternatives for readers to explore instead.
Recommended for: discovering alternatives to your (old) favourite fast fashion brands.
We love it because: wow, these guys are prolific! ecothes is another blog with countless hours of great material to enjoy.
Sustain Your Style is an independent platform created by "people who like fashion and style but are concerned about the current practices of the fashion industry".
The Sustain Your Style blog is actually only a small part of the platform's much wider scope, but it is another great example of a really creatively compiled collection of consistently well written articles.
The blog features pieces on everything from performing adjustments and repairs, to organizing clothes swaps, to garment recycling - as well as offering interesting interviews with the innovators behind industry-leading slow and sustainable fashion brands.
Recommended for: its incredibly comprehensive guide to sustainable fabrics - one of the broadest out there - and its coverage of ethical and sustainable fashion initiatives and campaigns.
We love it because: of its proactive and positive, solutions-oriented approach.
We've set Good On You apart because it isn't so much a blog (although it does feature an ethical fashion journal) as it is *the* font of all knowledge on the ethical and environmental credentials of fashion brands everywhere.
Boasting ratings for literally thousands of brands based on their performances against three measures - Planet, People and Animals -, Good On You has come to be considered the world's leading and most trusted brand rating site.
In short, if you need to check on a brand's behaviour before you check out, Good On You is the place to go.
Get in touch and let us know! You'll find our social links at the top of the page, or drop us an email.
We hope you've enjoyed reading and have fun exploring the blogs!
Nicole x
Ever wondered what the OEKO-TEX STeP logo represents? Guest writer Bethany Worthington of ecothes.com explains exactly what the textile certification means, and why it's so valuable to consumers and brands supporting the transition to more sustainable practices across the fashion industry.
]]>Guest writer Bethany Worthington of Ecothes introduces OEKO-TEX's environmental certification system.
In recent years, the demand for sustainable products has increased as eco-conscious consumers have shifted their buying habits towards more sustainable and ethical options.
But with the emergence of so many new sustainable brands, and with existing brands introducing new sustainable lines, it can be challenging for consumers to know which brands are actually using sustainable practices across their supply chains. Luckily for us, this is where third-party certifications can help.
ColieCo is always looking for the most ethical and sustainable textiles for its collections, and that’s why the brand also seeks out OEKO-TEX STeP-certified manufacturers and factories when sourcing its virgin fabrics and elastics.
Below, we've detailed what it means to be STeP certified, and why the certification is important to ColieCo, consumers, and the rest of the fashion industry as it transitions towards more responsible production practices.
OEKO-TEX is an international organization created to build consumers' trust in textiles by setting standards for ethical, safe and environmentally friendly production processes.
OEKO-TEX audits a brand or product, and awards a standard when that brand or product passes its strict testing and certification processes.
Various different OEKO-TEX standards exist and can be applied depending on the materials and production process assessed, including the internationally widely-recognised STANDARD100, STeP and MADE GREEN certifications.
ColieCo sources materials from OEKO-TEX STeP certified suppliers, and virgin fabrics and elastics with OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certification, to help meet and demonstrate its commitments to responsible, sustainable sourcing.
OEKO-TEX STeP stands for Sustainable Textile and Leather Production. It is a standard awarded by OEKO-TEX when a whole textile supply chain implements eco-friendly production practices, and ensures health and safety standards and socially responsible working.
Unlike other OEKO-TEX certifications, like STANDARD100, which assesses attributes of the final product, STeP focuses on every aspect of the supply chain, from the extraction and production of raw materials and components through to the final product.
ColieCo sources all of the elastic used in its sustainable lingerie and swimwear collections exclusively from STeP-certified suppliers.
These suppliers were chosen not only because they have demonstrated high ethical and responsible production standards, but because the STeP certification they have attained guarantees that these high standards are continually met.
STeP certification considers all aspects of production, focusing on six important areas:
Suppliers must meet the standards specified in all six areas before a STeP certification can be awarded.
So now we know what the STeP certification is, why is it important?
In a crowded market of sustainable brands, STeP certification provides consumers with a tool to help identify which brands are committed to sourcing their materials sustainably and responsibly.
As consumers have become more concerned about the impacts of their choices, and more interested in the environmental credentials of the brands they might choose to shop with and the products they might purchase, the phenomenon of greenwashing has emerged.
Greenwashing has become a dangerous problem, as not only can it lead consumers to believe - falsely - that they are supporting ethical and sustainable brands, it can turn consumers off sustainability claims altogether and also remove any incentive for brands to act and address sustainability and climate issues. In doing so, it normalises industrial inaction.
The STeP label helps consumers be sure that the brands that they are shopping with have sourced materials from suppliers committed to providing their workers with safe conditions in which to work, and which are working towards reducing their own carbon emissions.
In a world in which demand for responsible products is growing, third party certifications like OEKO-TEX STeP are important in helping consumers determine whether products marketed to them as sustainable are genuinely made with traceable, ethical materials.
In sourcing from STeP-certified suppliers, ColieCo is demonstrating that care for people and the environment is at the heart of its business model.
In line with our commitment to transparency, we’re pleased to be delivering our first annual update, presenting for customers those actions we’ve taken this year under our programme of continuous improvement, and those we have planned for the next.
Projects and activities we undertake under our continuous improvement programme are all based around our three enduring core values:
You can read more about our core values, and exactly what each one means to us here.
We’ll be providing a similar update each autumn, looking back on what we’ve achieved in the previous year, measuring those achievements against our commitments, and looking forwards at what we’re planning on tackling in the coming year.
As with all else we do at ColieCo, we don’t want this process or this discussion to be a one-directional conversation. We owe so much to our customers for the contributions you have made over the years – your ideas, your feedback, your support – and we hope that you'll continue to help us shape ColieCo, our collections and our future.
In the three sections below, each focused around one of our core values, you’ll find details of the activities we’ve completed in the past year under our continuous improvement programme, and activities we have planned for the coming year.
Materials - Pledge on Sustainable Fabrics
Late last year, in accordance with the commitment we made in our Pledge on Sustainable Fabrics, we completed our transition to the exclusive use of sustainable fabrics, as defined in the pledge.
This means that across the entire ColieCo collection, we are now using only fabrics meeting one of the three following criteria:
ColieCo customers can rest assured that now - and forever - each and every fabric used in the creation of their lingerie, underwear and swimwear will meet one of these three criteria.
Materials - TENCEL™ Lyocell
In May, we launched our TENCEL™ Intimate collection, our first to feature TENCEL™ Lyocell, a fabric widely considered as one of the most sustainable options available to the fashion industry.
The fibres used to produce TENCEL™ Lyocell are derived from sustainably grown wood harvested from certified and controlled sources, and processed using a unique closed loop system which recovers and reuses the solvents used, minimizing the environmental impact of production.
You can find out more about the environmental credentials of TENCEL™ Lyocell, as well as its other valuable attributes, here, and explore our TENCEL™ Intimate collection here.
Other components - elastics
Earlier this year, we were pleased to enter into a new partnership with an elastic manufacturer here in Portugal, which has brought a significant proportion of our elastic supply closer to our place of production.
Our new supplier is an OEKO-TEX STeP programme-certified manufacturer, and their Level III accreditation (the highest level achievable in the STeP programme) means that auditors have rated their production standards as ‘ideal implementation in the sense of Best Practice examples’ from a sustainability perspective.
The rest of our elastic continues to be manufactured in Germany by another supplier carrying OEKO-TEX STeP programme certification.
Other components - thread
We have also completed our transition to the use of 100% RPET recycled polyester thread for the construction of all of our garments.
Packaging
We’re delighted to announce that all of our order packaging is now 100% plastic-free.
Smaller orders are now packaged and shipped in 100% recycled and recyclable (or compostable) kraft paper mailers. These new mailers are sturdy, safe, lightweight, and we believe the most environmentally friendly option on the market.
We will continue to ship larger orders in recycled and recyclable cardboard boxes, enclosed in biodegradable and home compostable mailers.
Our targets for next year include:
Supply chain
To help guarantee the highest standards in the treatment of the workers in our supply chain, we have continued to increase the proportion of the materials we use which are produced within the EU.
EU regulations on workers’ rights, working conditions and health and safety are widely considered to be the most robust anywhere in the world, and we will continue, for both this and environmental reasons, to look to source more fabric and other garment components from within the EU.
Our TENCEL Lyocell (from raw source material through to ready-to-cut fabric), reclaimed Italian-knit lycra, RPET fabric (including both production and printing), elastics and RPET thread are all manufactured within the EU. Of our virgin fabrics, now only our bamboo silk is manufactured outside the EU.
You can learn more about each and every fabric used in the ColieCo collection here.
Equity and community - pricing
At this year’s price review, we committed to freezing retail prices across the entire ColieCo range (with the only exception being some garments using larger amounts of RPET fabric, due to the direct increased cost of this fabric to us).
Affordability has always been a key objective for ColieCo – for us, it is critically important for the growth of the slow fashion movement that ethical and sustainable options are accessible to the widest possible market. It is also important that the industry does more to ensure that conscious consumers with more limited budgets aren't excluded from what has historically been too aspirational a marketplace.
Considering the current global economic climate, we also believe that businesses must recognise that they have responsibilities to help with the immediate cost of living crisis facing people around the globe, and to help control inflation, rather than using it as an opportunity to inflate profits by making unjustified price hikes.
Equity and community - diversity
We have continued our commitment to ensuring that ColieCo represents and supports racial and ethnic, sexual and ability diversity through our collaborations with minority-led and minority-championing individuals and organisations, and with our support for those working to provide a voice for people suffering with disabilities which impact their ability to find comfortable clothes to wear.
Equity and community - activism
ColieCo continues to actively campaign for the improvement of rights, conditions and pay for textiles and garment workers in the developing world, supporting Labour Behind the Label and Fashion Revolution's Good Clothes, Fair Pay campaign.
Civic engagement
We continue to actively support the Sagres Beach Clean project, a local volunteer initiative removing plastic waste, fishing gear and other refuse from the shorelines and coastal waters of the Costa Vicentina Natural Park, and aiming to raise awareness of the damage to the environment caused by plastic pollution.
Our targets for next year include:
Garments - TENCEL™ Lyocell
The latest addition to our roster of sustainable fabrics - the TENCEL™ Lyocell used in our new TENCEL™ Intimate collection - has further levelled up our selection of natural-origin virgin fabrics.
Not only does it boast exceptional environmental credentials, it also has outstanding tactile and technical properties, including a feel-it-to-believe-it softness and smoothness, extraordinary breathability and strong durability. It is also OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified free from any and all harmful chemicals. You can find out more about the impressive physical properties of our TENCEL™ Lyocell here, and find our TENCEL™ Intimate collection here.
Garments - elastics
After we switched elastic suppliers last year, some customers contacted us to tell us that the shoulder straps of their new ColieCo bras had firmer edges than those of their previous purchases, and that the new straps could be softer on the skin. We immediately got to work searching for a replacement, and found what is, we believe, our softest ever strap elastic.
This new elastic is manufactured by our new supplier here in Portugal, and, like all our other elastics, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified perfect for your skin.
Garments - sizing
In addition to continuing to offer a custom, made-to-measure service for customers between sizes, outside our standard size range or with specific or unique requirements, we have extended our standard size range to 2XL across the entire ColieCo collection.
Garments - post-sale services
In order to help customers get the best and longest possible wear from their garments, we’ve also extended our free alteration service to include free repairs to garments damaged through wear and tear throughout their lifespans.
Our targets for next year include:
I hope you’ve found our first annual update informative and interesting.
I’ve always wanted ColieCo to be an open, progressive and innovative project, and I hope that these updates will offer a useful window through which customers will be able to keep up with what we’re doing to ensure that we continue to be the very best business we can be.
I’ve also always wanted ColieCo to be an inclusive and collaborative project, and that means engaging with, listening to and working with our customers.
If you have any comments or questions about any of the activities in the review, if you think we’ve missed or haven’t been specific enough about something, or if there are other areas of the business you’d like to learn more about or think we could be focussing on, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
You can contact us via email at info@coliecolingerie.com or connect with us via Messenger, Instagram or Twitter (you'll find all these links under 'Connect with us' at the bottom of the page), and we promise that we’ll get back to you super quick.
In closing, I’d like to take the opportunity to offer a heartfelt thank you once again, not just to all of those who have supported ColieCo again this year, but also to all of those who have supported any other indie activist brand fighting to further the slow fashion cause.
The movement doesn’t survive, and we can't drive the change that we all know we need to see, without you - so thank you.
Nicole x
As awareness of the environmental issues surrounding the use of plastic-based synthetic fabrics increases, fabrics derived from natural fibers are becoming ever more popular with eco-conscious consumers.
As well as returning to traditional fabrics like cotton, linen and silk, sustainably-minded brands keen to keep up with their customers' demands are increasingly looking for new, innovative options with stronger environmental credentials.
One such option is lyocell - a relatively recent entrant to the fashion textiles marketplace made from cellulose fibers derived from wood pulp.
...then you're absolutely right! (And we'll explain the process under which this incredible transformation happens below.)
There are various companies producing the fibers used to make lyocell fabrics, the largest and most renowned of which is Austrian manufacturer Lenzing AG, which produces under the protected brand name TENCEL™ (meaning that all TENCEL™ fabrics, including the ones used in our TENCEL™ Intimate collection, are created from fibers exclusively produced by Lenzing).
Or, in other words, to make things super clear:
Lyocell is the generic name of a cellulose fiber derived from pulped wood which is used in the production of fabrics, and
TENCEL™ is a brand name used by Lenzing AG to refer exclusively to the lyocell fibers they produce.
Throughout this blog post we'll refer more generally to 'lyocell', whilst taking the opportunity at appropriate points to explain why, for us, Lenzing TENCEL™ represents the cream of the lyocell crop!
There are three key stages in the end-to-end process of the production of lyocell fabrics. Let's step through them, starting at the beginning...
First of all, we need the natural raw material, and the source of this is of course trees! A range of different species can be used (in fact, theoretically, the wood of any tree could), but beech, spruce, birch, pine and eucalyptus are the most common.
Timber is cut and sent to pulping mills, which create chips from the timber and then chemically and mechanically treat those chips to produce what is referred to as 'dissolving pulp' - huge solidified rolls of wood pulp with a high cellulose content ready for the extraction of cellulose fibers.
More than half of the pulp Lenzing uses to produce lyocell fibers is actually produced in Lenzing's own plants, located in Austria and the Czech Republic. And most of the raw material used to create the pulp comes from forests in Austria (with a smaller proportion coming from other European countries).
Whether procured for pulping directly, or whether pulp is sourced from external producers, all of the wood used to create Lenzing's lyocell fibers comes from certified and sustainably managed forests, with the wood itself certified according to recognized sustainability criteria, such as the FSC and PEFC standards.
Lenzing also primarily uses timber generated by thinning, a practice applied in sustainable forestry to make best use of wood deemed unsuitable for crafted products, such as furniture.
At the lyocell mill, cellulose fibers are extracted from the rolls of dissolving wood pulp via a process similar to the one used to make viscose and rayon fabrics.
This process first sees the wood pulp dissolved in an organic solvent called N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO). The resulting solution is pumped through spinnerets - apparatus looking a little like showerheads - forcing continuous strands of the cellulose fibers out. These strands are drawn out in the air to strengthen the bonds between the fibers, before being 'set' by washing out the solvent NMMO in a water bath.
From here, the strands are finished more or less the same way as those used to make many other kinds of fabric yarns, through various fun sounding mechanical stages, including detangling, crimping, carding (combing) and, finally, spinning.
Before we go any further, there are a couple of important differences between the lyocell process and the viscose process worth highlighting.
Firstly, the lyocell process uses less water and less energy than the viscose process, partly because it requires fewer stages to complete. Secondly, and even more importantly, the NMMO solvent used in the lyocell process is of much lower toxicity than the chemicals commonly used in the viscose process, which means it is safer to work with and less of a threat to the outside environment.
Lenzing's lyocell process offers even more: the company has developed a patented closed-loop system which recycles all of the water used throughout the process, as well as over 99% of the chemicals used. Although some viscose manufacturers also use closed-loop processes (including the company producing the bamboo jersey fabric used in our Bamboo collection), many still don't, allowing untreated process water, harmful gases and some of the toxic solvents used in their processes to escape, polluting the air, land and water.
From here, the finished and spun lyocell yarns can be used by fabric manufacturers to produce a diverse range of materials: from soft, lightweight and breathable fabrics ideal for underwear and casualwear; through to strong, heavyweight and durable fabrics suitable for workwear.
As far as Lenzing is concerned, quality assurance doesn't end with the dispatch of their fibers to their customers the fabric manufacturers. Those manufacturers, as well as the downstream garment producers and retailers, wanting to use the TENCEL™ brand when marketing their products must apply for product certification. Under their certification programme, Lenzing's laboratories test the quality of hundreds of samples provided by fabric manufacturers each week, and verify that the fabrics that garment producers are using are sourced from certified manufacturers.
This means that when you buy a TENCEL™ branded lyocell garment, you can be sure that the fabric the garment is made from has been certified by Lenzing as having been produced from their own fibers.
As we've described, lyocell fibers can be used to produce a diverse range of fabrics with quite different aesthetic characteristics and physical attributes. But the fibers themselves carry certain very useful natural properties.
Thanks to their naturally smooth surface, lyocell fibers are renowned for their comfort and gentleness on the skin, whilst also displaying great strength and durability.
The structure of the fibers contributes to exceptionally high breathability, and the fibers themselves absorb moisture even more efficiently than cotton, helping keep skin feeling cool and dry.
This makes lyocell fibers a perfect substitute for cotton in all types of clothing, including underwear.
(We have a page detailing all you could ever want to know about the TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers used in our TENCEL™ Intimate collection here.)
Lyocell has been touted as amongst the most eco-friendly of all virgin fabrics.
First of all, the raw material used to produce it derives from organic and renewable sources, and doesn't require pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or irrigation. This is already a strong start!
As the wood pulp used is processed via a low energy, low water-use system (and a closed loop system in the case of TENCEL™), the production of lyocell is also one of the cleanest and safest processes in yarn manufacturing.
Then there's the high durability of lyocell fabrics, which offers the garments it is used to produce both lower wear-and-tear and greater longevity.
Finally, there's end-of-life to consider, and this is where we learn another exciting property of lyocell: it is biodegradable and compostable, meaning that when garments finally do perish, the lyocell fibers used to create them can fully return to nature.
We've already discussed how the natural attributes of lyocell fibers make them a perfect substitute for cotton in clothing textiles. But when sustainability is factored into the equation, there is no comparison: this is where lyocell blows cotton out of the water.
We've written in the blog previously about the inherent issues with cotton production, from its insatiable use of water; to the run-off of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers contaminating the water table; to soil erosion and degradation; to ecological problems with industrial monoculture; to its typically huge transport footprint. (Phew!)
Organic farming has helped address some of these problems, to some extent; but its important to remember that certified organic cotton still only accounts for less than 1% of all cotton grown and there is thought to be more 'organic' cotton sold in the fashion marketplace than is actually produced...
What's more, even the most efficient organic farming practices don't satisfactorily address the absolutely critical issue of water use.
Freshwater availability has been linked to 9 out of 10 of the worst global risks to humankind, with a quarter of the world already facing a water crisis. This includes the population of the planet's heaviest cotton producer, India.
In of itself, the organic production of cotton has also created its own problems: as organic yields are lower, the practice of organic cotton farming is even more land-intensive than than non-organic farming, potentially exacerbating those habitat and biodiversity issues associated with industrial monocultures.
The end-to-end production of lyocell, on the other hand, is much less water intensive than the production of even organic cotton, using up to 50% less water by weight.
Lyocell also requires less energy to produce than organic cotton, creates fewer CO2 emissions, and is stronger and more durable. It's superior breathability also means that lyocell garments typically need to be washed less frequently than cotton garments.
The environmental issues associated with the production of cotton discussed above explain in large part why we decided to choose bamboo jersey rather than organic cotton when we designed the MONA, DAISY and ZOEY lines originally forming our Bamboo collection.
We're still in love with our bamboo jersey fabric, because it's another great substitute for cotton - like lyocell, it's lightweight, soft, and highly breathable. The raw bamboo used to create the fabric is also certified organically and sustainably grown; and, like TENCEL™, is closed-loop processed, keeping the solvents used in the production of the viscose fibers safely away from the outside environment.
So why have we taken the decision to begin the transition from bamboo jersey to TENCEL™? There are two primary reasons:
Firstly, there is the difference in the end-to-end transport footprints of the two fabrics. Although the raw material used to produce our bamboo jersey is grown and processed in China, it then needs to travel around the globe to us. Whereas the bulk of Lenzing's lyocell is sourced from wood harvested in Europe and processed in Europe, before being dispatched to our fabric manufacturer based right here in Portugal.
We're also very impressed with Lenzing's careful commitments to sustainable, safe and responsible production throughout their own end-to-end process, and beyond.
This spring, we were proud to launch our first TENCEL™ lyocell products in our TENCEL™ Intimate collection.
The collection currently features four mix and match bra and knickers sets, designed for ultimate comfort and effortless style, and all available in two colours - a classic jet black and a warm and bright sunrise orange. Check them out and let us know your thoughts. We hope you love them as much as we do!
We have further TENCEL™ Intimate releases planned for a little later in the year, so keep your eyes peeled for those (or even better, sign up to our mailing list to ensure you get a timely heads up, as well as exclusive early access!).
As always, thanks for reading. We hope you've enjoyed the post and that we've helped answer some of your questions about this exciting new addition to the ColieCo fabric catalogue!
Nicole x
We look at why vegan fashion is becoming so popular, what vegan clothing really is ...and might not be, and why the distinction isn't quite as clear as you might expect
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Firstly, I want to thank all of those vegan and vegan-curious shoppers who have contacted us to ask about the vegan credentials of our lingerie, underwear and swimwear - and you are many! - because it's you who have inspired this blog post.
We receive *a lot* of emails and messages at ColieCo asking variously if we are a vegan brand, or which, if not all, of our products are suitable for vegans. We have somewhat complicated answers to those questions, which we'll get to later on.
But for the impatient amongst you, the short answer is that we don't and we won't ever use animal-derived fabrics anywhere in our collection, and we're as vegan as we can be given that we work with reclaimed fabrics. For us, that's a critical part of representing ourselves as an ethical fashion brand. (For the longer answer, skip to the bottom!)
But let's start at the beginning and, as promised, take a look first at the vegan lifestyle boom.
Before Joaquin Phoenix, Albert Einstein, and Gautama Buddha came Pythagoras of Samos. Yep; when he wasn't mucking about with triangles or waxing lyrical on numerology, Pythagoras was busy espousing the virtues of a meat-free diet, and he was something of a pioneer in doing so, some 2,500 years back.
Although since that time history has seen significant vegetarian movements emerge in various places around the world, as well as some very famous proponents amongst philosophers, authors and leaders, the concept of veganism is relatively young, particularly in the West. In fact, it is only in the post-war period that veganism - the practice of avoiding the consumption of animals and animal-derived products - has been recognised as distinct from vegetarianism, and as a diet or a lifestyle choice in its own right.
In that short period of time, the movement has grown steadily across Europe and North America, before truly exploding in quite spectacular fashion over the last decade or so. To offer a prime example of this recent boom, the UK - the population currently most interested in veganism according to Google Trends - saw its number of vegans quadruple between 2014 and 2019 alone.
Driven by various factors, including moral and ethical concerns around animal cruelty and climate change, the same period has seen widespread interest and growth in flexitarianism - a partially-vegetarian diet in which often sustainability-concerned participants work to reduce or limit their consumption of animal and animal-derived products - as well as in various forms of cruelty-free consumerism, notably in the health and beauty product markets.
Although some vegans focus primarily on dietary discipline, many adopt a wider perspective, looking to limit human cruelty to animals by excluding other forms of consumption reliant on animal-derived products. And given the historical nature of the industry, one obvious area of concern for vegans has been textile and clothing production.
The evident starting point for vegans shopping for clothing is to is to try to avoid garments either wholly made from, or with components made from, animal products. These can include, most obviously, leather and suede, furs, feathers, silk and wool, as well as (perhaps less immediately obvious in some cases) the likes of shell, bone or horn.
Errrrr, nope, they aren't. But if you had thought so until now, don't beat yourself up about it, because that's a super-common misconception.
To this day, most wool production involves the quite brutal treatment of sheep; collecting down often sees geese and ducks' skin ripped open, leaving wounds requiring stitches; and obtaining most silk involves gassing silkworms in their cocoons. Even the use of by-product (in reality, co-product) leather has a material and unavoidable impact on animal welfare.
For those wanting to learn more, PETA's Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing is a recommended starting point.)
Doesn't sound so tricky, does it?
There are scores of different synthetic and plant-based textiles being used to produce fashion-ready fabrics nowadays, with some of those fabrics designed and engineered specifically to either substitute for or actually mimic animal-derived textiles. And some of these are magical fabrics, not only in their quality and finishes, but also from an environmental perspective.
One such example is the vegan bamboo silk substitute we use in the bras, panties and french knickers in our ARAYA collection. This fabric is airy, lustrous and luxurious like traditional silk, and has many of the same textile properties, being lightweight, smooth and highly breathable, making it perfect for lingerie, loungewear and nightwear.
The fabric is also made from certified organically-grown bamboo, and processed in a water and chemical closed-loop process, preventing any contaminated waste water or solvents entering waterways or the water table. Not only does it provide a beautiful vegan alternative to silk, it's also a certifiably (and certified!) sustainable alternative.
But beyond the source of the fabric itself, there are a couple more things we need to think about before we declare our new fantasy wardrobes entirely cruelty-free. And it is now that we arrive at the point at which the lines start to blur a little, even for some truly dedicated vegans.
Beyond raw textiles, and the likes of zippers, buttons and threads, the production of clothing often requires less obvious components and inputs, which may ultimately be animal-derived.
These can include some glues, waxes and, probably most notoriously, natural dyes. Still today the global fashion industry uses red (from the cochineal insect), yellow (lac insect), indigo (murex snail) and sepia brown (octopus/cuttlefish) dyes derived from animals.
Certainly, synthetic dyes are more widely used by the fashion industry than they were historically, largely due to the reduced costs associated with producing synthetics. Synthetics also don't require the use of the same heavy metal salts needed to fix natural dyes to fabrics.
They do, however, come with their own issues, particularly when it comes to the impact of their production on the environment, which leads us neatly on to...
(Did you really think we'd get through an entire blog post without mentioning it? Pah, you don't know us so well then!)
At the core of veganism is a desire to protect and respect the rights of animals, and to limit their suffering as a result of human activity. Evidence for this can be found in one of the movement's proudest claims: that beyond the immediate and obvious benefits of veganism for animals, the vegan diet also offers us excellent opportunities to shrink our environmental footprint, particularly in regard to climate change.
Beyond animal husbandry, climate change represents humanity's largest and most devastating impact on nature and the animal kingdom. And so, when considering *how* to substitute for animal-derived fabrics, shouldn't we also take the time to consider the environmental and carbon footprints that any potential alternatives might carry?
Factors to weigh up here might include the relative hard-wearing and longevity of the fabrics (largely dictating the longevity of the garments they'll be used to produce), the raw materials used to produce the fabrics, the footprints of their production processes, and what might happen to the fabrics at the end of garments' lives.
Is, say, opting for a virgin plastic-coated PVC jacket rather than a suede jacket really doing everything possible to limit all animal suffering?
Not only should ethical fashion be animal-friendly fashion. But animal-friendly fashion should be sustainable fashion.
More questions than answers? Maybe. But as we pointed out up top, this isn't a straightforward subject.
For us, what's important, as always, is that we take responsibility for our decisions; which means doing our best to educate ourselves, taking the time to consider our actions, and *trying* to do the right thing. There aren't always right and wrong decisions - but there are better reasoned ones.
At ColieCo, we are 100% committed to ensuring that we do not contribute to unnecessary animal suffering of any kind.
For this reason, we do not use any animal-derived fabrics anywhere in our collection; nor do we use any animal-derived products, such as glues or waxes, either in our collection or elsewhere in our processes, including in our packaging.
As some of the fabrics we use in our lingerie, underwear and swimwear are reclaimed off-cuts and line-ends which have been rescued for upcycling from fast fashion waste, we don't always (in fact, we rarely) have full technical specifications for them.
This means that we aren't able to guarantee that all of our fabrics have been dyed solely with vegan dyes, and for this reason we don't describe ColieCo as a vegan brand.
Unfortunately, it's impossible for us both to work with rescued fabrics in the way we do - which is incredibly important to us, because we believe that no fabric should end up in landfill before it sees life as a garment - and to ensure that all of our fabrics have been dyed with non-vegan dyes. (And having worked with reclaimed fabrics for more than a decade, we wouldn't trust any brand using reclaimed or deadstock fabrics in their collection claiming to be able to do so.)
It's also important to us that we're honest, open and as transparent as we're able to be about our products and processes with our customers.
For any of you who are still unsure about the vegan credentials of any of our collections or products, or feel that we could provide clearer messaging in this or other areas of ethical concern, we want you to reach out and let us know. ColieCo has always been a collaborative process, and your feedback has helped improve in so many ways over the years.
Want to learn more? Check out the links below to our favourite blogs covering vegan fashion, featuring reviews and recommendations, useful brand guides, and excellent thought pieces on vegan lifestyle topics and trends.
UK writer and fashion design graduate Sarah King's Grandermarnier blog focuses on vegan fashion, but also covers issues in ethical and sustainable fashion, as well as various other vegan lifestyle topics. Grandermarnier also offers a beautifully curated brand guide for vegan shoppers searching for new brands to follow.
Michelle Rothenburger's Harmfree Fashion blog offers a great balance of content, from articles on fashion-forward trends to tips on thrifting with style. Browse by trend, by style or by garment to find the advice and recommendations you need quickly.
Sophie Davies' A Considered Life blog is a veritable goldmine of information and advice on a wonderfully wide range of topics centered on simple living: minimalism and downsizing, zero waste, sustainable and vegan fashion, slow travel and more.
All are fully endorsed and recommended by Team ColieCo - go check them out!
Thanks again all for reading. We hope that you've enjoyed the post, and that we've offered some food (plant-based, obviously!) for thought.
Nicole x
Have questions on how to shop for a special other half this Valentine's Day? Check out our one-stop guide for all of the info you might need!
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And to help answer all of your questions on how to shop for your special other half this Valentine's Day, we've put together a quick one-stop guide to provide you with all of the info you might need.
If you can't find the answer to your question here, discover how to contact us to get the info you need below!
All ColieCo garments are expertly handmade to order in our in-house studio in Sagres, Portugal, and are dispatched within 1-2 weeks by priority, express airmail. Shipping usually takes 3 to 5 business days within Europe (including the UK) and 5 to 7 business days for the rest of the world.
We recommend ordering as early as possible to ensure that your order arrives in plenty of time.
You can find our size guide here. Most of our bras and bralettes are designed with extra adjustability in mind, so giftees usually find that when matching sizes they get a great fit.
If you're having difficulty translating measurements to sizes, or the sizes you need are outside or in between the standard sizes in our size guide, just drop us a line - we offer custom sizing across the entire ColieCo collection!
If you're unsure about your special other's measurements or sizes and you can't ask them for help, how about treating them to one of our gift cards instead?
Most of the items in the ColieCo collection, including the majority of items in our mesh collection and all of the items in our prints collection, are available in a range of colours or prints.
As we make each and every garment to order, if you'd like us to make up an item in a fabric you don't see on the product page, you can contact us about a custom order.
No need to ask! All of our orders are shipped gift-ready, beautifully wrapped in hand-stamped tissue paper.
And, of course, all of the packaging we use is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable or home compostable.
You sure can!
All you need to do is add the message you'd like us to add to the 'Special instructions' box in the shopping cart page when you check out and we'll include a beautiful handwritten note when we gift wrap your order.
Don't panic! We've put together a collection of our top picks for Valentine's Day to help you out.
If you still can't decide what to choose, why not give the gift of choice with one of our gift cards!
Still have questions? Get in touch via email or social media, and we'll get back to you super quick!
Nicole x
Learn all there is to know about RPET recycled polyester - the latest exciting addition to the ColieCo inventory of sustainable fabrics.
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ColieCo followers will be well aware of our longstanding commitment to sourcing fabrics for our collections with outstanding environmental credentials.
And this year we're making a new commitment to strengthen our existing approach.
Now and forever, every single fabric used to create every single ColieCo product will meet one of the following criteria:
In a coming blog post, we'll be digging a little deeper into this important commitment and looking at each of the categories above in more detail, but in this post we want to focus on one fabric in particular: our new printed RPET recycled polyester.
(In the meantime, you can check out the environmental qualifications of each of our fabrics here.)
RPET - short for recycled polyethylene terephthalate for the closet materials science geeks out there - is a term used to describe any material recycled from the virgin PET plastic commonly used in food and beverage packaging, and particularly plastic drinks bottles.
So to understand exactly what RPET is, we really need to start with PET.
PET plastic has become ubiquitously popular as a packaging material since its invention in the mid-20th century thanks to its useful properties - it's lightweight, flexible, durable, shatterproof, and cheap to produce. And now it is used to manufacture, amongst other things, over 500 billion drinks bottles every year. This number continues to grow.
In some ways, PET is a miracle material. But there are a *lot* of downsides associated with its proliferation.
First up, there's the environmental cost of its manufacture. The raw materials for PET are derived from crude oil and natural gas, which following extraction, are then processed into resins suitable for plastic production.
Ultimately, the manufacture of one kilogram of PET can produce as much as three kilograms of carbon dioxide. This equates to one 500ml plastic bottle of water carrying its own carbon footprint of 83g of CO2.
On top of this carbon footprint, the production of PET also generates way more toxic emissions (including nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide, and benzene) than manufacturing other alternative materials like glass. According to Ecology Center, producing a 500ml PET bottle generates more than 100 times the toxic emissions of producing the same sized bottle from glass.
Then we get to the problem of what to do with the bottle after its use has been fulfilled.
PET doesn't biodegrade very easily, meaning that once each bottle has been used and discarded, if left to its own devices, it's going to stick around in pretty stubborn fashion for a looooooong time.
The process of biodegradation is reliant on bacteria which consume and break down waste. But as PET is made from chemicals that bacteria cannot consume, it is thought that it could take upwards of 450 years for PET bottles to decompose in landfill conditions.
And landfill sites filling up with PET isn't the worst of it. Failure to dispose of plastic bottles carefully and conscientiously has resulted in them clogging waterways, and filling oceans and lakes around the world.
According to Ocean Conservatory, every year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean to add to the existing estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate in our marine environments.
Although we've established that PET doesn't biodegrade easily, once exposed to the elements of nature (and particularly sunlight), PET is subject to a fragmentation process which can quickly lead to the creation of microplastics.
We've written about the various and grave issues with microplastics elsewhere in our blog post about ColieCo's involvement in a local beach clean initiative, so we won't repeat ourselves here, but suffice to say that they're very bad news indeed for marine life and the marine environment, as well as showing mounting evidence of threats to human health.
There are a number of ways we can work to protect the environment from plastic bottle and packaging pollution.
To start with, we can collectively choose to consume less, selecting alternatives to plastic-packaged food and drinks. We can also reuse and refill bottles rather than buying new ones each time we get a thirst on. These have to be our starting points.
We can also look to limit the amount of PET being produced globally by lobbying our local political representatives to propose and support legislation regulating plastic production.
And whilst we're working to reduce consumption, we can recommit to disposing of the PET plastic we do consume more conscientiously.
One mitigating benefit of PET is that it is very readily recyclable. PET can be recovered and recycled repeatedly through a process of washing and remelting for use in new PET products, or by breaking it down chemically into its raw materials, for purification and conversion into new PET.
And this new recycled material is our titular RPET. (Yeah, we got there in the end!)
The most obvious benefit is in helping keep existing PET bottles out of landfill and waterways, and limiting the need to produce new virgin materials, reducing our reliance on petroleum and helping keep oil in the ground where it belongs.
We already mentioned how easily PET can be recycled. The even better news is that the recycling process also requires much less energy to produce RPET than the equivalent process of creating virgin PET.
It also requires around 90% less water to produce than virgin polyester. (And what amounts to a negligible quantity when compared with water hyper-intensive natural fibres like cotton.)
Next there's the growing market for the product.
As more customers demand eco-friendly products made from recycled rather than virgin materials, more companies - including but not limited to fashion brands - will transition to using RPET in their products, and in doing so create a stronger market for recycled plastics. This incentivises others to collect PET for recycling as the value of the waste material rises.
RPET isn't - and will never be - an all-conquering solution to the problem of an uncontrolled PET boom.
But it can be an incredibly useful tool, firstly in helping to deal with the mountains of PET we've already produced, and secondly in helping to reduce the amount we produce in the future.
There's even more to love about our new RPET fabric beyond its outstanding environmental credentials.
The material is lightweight, super smooth and strong, carrying the same attributes as virgin polyester. It is also bobble-resistant and has a generous, contour-hugging, four-way stretch. In short, it's a perfect fabric for lingerie and underwear.
The fabric is made in Europe from 85% RPET recycled polyester, 100% of which comes from recycled PET plastic drink bottles.
Once it arrives in Portugal, the fabric is sustainably sublimation printed for ColieCo by a small, independent business, before finally making its way to the ColieCo Studio.
The fabric carries both OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certification, meaning that it is guaranteed free from harmful substances, and Global Recycled Standard certification.
We've launched our new RPET recycled collection in four customer-favourite mix-and-match bra and panties designs, each available in two exclusive prints and standard sizes XS through 2XL.
As always, if you need custom sizing, just get in touch!
As always, we're super excited to hear your thoughts on our new fabric and latest sustainable lingerie collection - get in touch with us by email or via social media and tell us what you think!
We hope you love our latest additions, and thanks as always for reading :-)
Nicole x
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ColieCo Lingerie hooks up with brand new sustainable fashion magazine ECOVOCATEUR. Read the interview and get a peek at two amazing photoshoots...
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Ecovocateur is a brand new digital monthly magazine which collaborates with artists, designers and activists to create original, thought-provoking, boundary-breaking content at the intersection where sustainability, fashion and art meets.
The brainchild of artist and sustainability activist Mariel Gomsrud, Ecovocateur will showcase sustainable fashion and other ethical, eco-friendly retail brands across the consumer market that challenge the idea that sustainable living has to be boring and limiting.
Issue one of Ecovocateur - featuring ColieCo Lingerie, Studio Pia, Tom Jean Webb, Catori Life, Christalla Buttle, Fara and Nightswim - is available for download here.
Find a sneak peak of Ecovocateur's interview with ColieCo Lingerie's founder Nicole Neaber below, and the full interview here.
Both models wear the MIDNIGHT soft cup bra and MIDNIGHT crossover wrap panties in reclaimed black power mesh.
Our vision is to offer is a more stimulating alternative to the bland essentials found across the stylistically-limited sustainable lingerie market.
We live by three core values: respect for people, respect for the environment and respect for quality, and we commit to considering each of the three in each and every business decision we make.
As an eco-centric brand, we’re heavily focussed on our fabrics, and inspiration will often come from the discovery of a new material.
The texture, weight and finish of our bamboo jersey fabric, for example, lends itself beautifully to a luxurious vintage loungewear look. And our DAISY playsuit and MONA french knickers fell naturally out of playing with the fabric.
The ColieCo studio is also surrounded by nature. We’re situated in a national park full of pretty spectacular and unique coastline, which inspires us inside and outside of work.
We work near exclusively with two categories of materials.
The first is fabric which has an inherently low carbon footprint. Here, right now, our focus is on bamboo, and we’re using a beautiful, lightweight cotton jersey-like fabric and a lustrous vegan silk alternative.
Bamboo is such an incredible raw material – it needs so little water, zero pesticides, zero herbicides and is fantastic for CO2 sequestration. Both fabrics we’re using are made from organically-grown bamboo, are manufactured in a closed-loop process (which recycles the chemicals required to break down the bamboo fibres and keeps them out of the outside environment), and are OEKO-TEX certified.
The second category is what we call ‘zero carbon’ fabrics, which are those our suppliers reclaim from line ends, offcuts and rolls rejected by the mass market fashion industry and otherwise destined for landfill or the incinerator.
Amongst these we have short run mesh fabrics from luxury lingerie brands, and offcut and misprinted scuba jersey fabrics, which are great for lingerie: smooth, stretchy and really sturdy for their weight.
Hopefully, everything we do!
We try to take an holistic approach. From our perspective, there’s no point in us using inherently low carbon fabrics, but then air conditioning our studio, using non-recycled or non-recyclable packaging, or shipping our products by courier with DHL or UPS for next day delivery.
So we’re continually reviewing and revising our end-to-end process to try to make environmental improvements, from sourcing through fabric usage to order delivery.
Read the rest of the interview here.
Discover Ecovocateur
Credits
Photos 1-4 and cover
Photography: @lucas_markman
Director, producer, stylist: @marielnoir
Model: @kristinamenissov
Jewelry: @catorilife
Photos 5-9
Photography : @lucas_markman
Director, producer, stylist: @marielnoir
Model: @claudiamusikul
MUA: @yulitzin
The new ColieCo Studio is finally open for business! Designing, building and fitting our new home has been a long process, a bit of a rollercoaster ride and a real learning experience. We've pulled together our top five tips for other creatives thinking about planning a new workshop.
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And we're delighted to be in!
We have much more space now - twice as much cutting desk to work with, a much larger new machine desk with room for two more machinists, and additional fabric storage. And we have a beautiful, airy space in which to work on your sustainable lingerie and swimwear!
We've been waiting a long time for this: we'd originally hoped to finish work and move in last summer. Designing, building and fitting our new home has been a long, slow and stop-start process, a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride, and a real learning experience.
There have been pauses, rethinks, redesigns, re-dos, re-re-dos and modifications. And no doubt as we settle into our new space, more of the above will follow...
We thought we might try to make use of what we've learned over the last 12 months (yes, it really has been a whole year!) to help out any other creatives thinking about planning a new studio or workshop.
So having re-run the process in our minds and boiled it all down, we've settled on our five top tips for completing a studio build for creative businesses.
Here they are, and we hope they're of some use!
Some people are experienced and/or brave enough to undertake pretty major building and renovation work on their own, and the ColieCo Team (with a little outside help) proudly built the furniture and storage for the first lingerie design studio we moved into when we moved our operation to Portugal.
That studio has served us pretty well the last few years, but it had its limitations beyond its size, not least because we didn't get that useful expert advice which hiring a building contractor can bring (like, "OK, but you're really going to wish you'd installed more power outlets over there..." OK, yeah, we did!)
This time we were embarking on a much bigger change, which included the complete renovation of three rooms, to serve as the new public face of the business, the new studio room and a staff bathroom.
And without boring you all with all of the details, without professional advice we'd have ended up with a different roof made of completely different materials, different electrics, and a different lighting setup in the studio itself. Not only that, but we certainly wouldn't have ended up with as tidy (or likely durable!) a result.
The old roof comes off and a new roof goes on the new ColieCo Studio
So at the very least seek the advice, and at best, focus your attention on your core business and leave a big distraction in the building renovation itself in more capable professional hands.
This is a list of those pet hates in your current studio space or workshop which bug the hell out of you on a daily basis.
You know the kind of thing: not enough light when you're working in one particular area or at one particular machine, that one box of accessories or set of tools which is always a jumbled mess, patterns or models not being readily accessible, disorganised makeshift storage space for work-in-progress products... Every practical creative has them.
Think not only about what you've had on your want-and-need-list, but also make sure you don't carry forward those correctible frustrations which you've been grudgingly living with.
Search for solutions that you can build into your studio design to give you easy wins and save future teeth-grinding.
Designed to ensure everything is in easy reach
There's a real tendency to see empty rooms as much larger than they can serve to be functionally.
Decide on your needs in terms of desk space, sketch out the furniture and/or machinery you're wanting to accommodate, then, once you've worked out what looks like a sensible configuration (thinking about access to materials and people's movement is important here, even if you're the smallest of teams), get some masking tape and tape silhouettes across the floor and walls where you're planning on everything sitting.
You can also tape shelf space on the walls and think about which materials should sit where for easy, quick and efficient access.
Once you've done that, you can move chairs/floor-standing lamps/racks/any other easily moveable small furnishings into the room and place them around where the furniture and machinery is taped out.
Then get your team in!
Practice moving around the studio you've designed together, sitting at the desks and machines and thinking about what your processes look like.
Are you going to be tripping over each other all of the time? Banging each others' seats? Banging elbows and hips on furniture? Can you reach all of the shelves to grab the materials you need without having to move around too much? Have you designed in enough storage space?
Poor studio design is a recipe for stress you don't need!
This exercise will help you think about your draft design in a different way, and might save you making a costly mistake in investing in hardware that doesn't suit or fit your space.
It's also much easier working this way than moving everything around once it’s all in there!
Rather than trying to shoehorn cheap, ready-to-order desks, shelving units and other furniture into your design, work out what'll work best for you and go get it.
If you need to order bespoke furniture to meet your needs, to spend a little more money and to wait a little longer for it to be ready, it's worth doing so.
You and your team are going to spend thousands upon thousands of hours working with the fixtures and fittings you build in, and even the smallest added conveniences are going to reward your patience and investment many times over.
We worked with a local craftsman to create the furniture and fixtures for the new ColieCo Studio
If you're able to, why not approach local craftspeople for help? That way, as well as getting exactly what you'll need, you'll be supporting other small business-owning creatives and the local economy.
Your new home can be both functional and beautiful!
Not only are you going to be spending a *lot* of time in your new surroundings (nobody wants to work in a studio that looks like a prison cell, right?), but you have your branding and your public face to consider.
Paint the walls to match your brand's colour palette, put a logo up somewhere that will be visible in your studio photography (vinyl logos aren't expensive, are easy to apply and look fantastic - this is where we got ours), and invest in some artwork to make the space a more interesting place visually.
Here's what we did to spruce our wallspace up whilst helping support indie artists through last year's lockdowns.
Have a think about how you might be able to keep the place clean and tidy without investing too much time in cleaning and tidying - activities which, regardless of who is performing them, take time that nobody is going to pay *you* for.
Remember: every image of your studio which you make public - and there's real value in showing people behind the scenes content - is a reflection of your brand.
People are investing in your products *because* they're handmade and ethically-produced. Show them how it's done!
Here they are in summary:
We hope they're helpful!
If anyone is about to go through the same process and has any questions about anything we've covered here, get in touch with us by email or via social media and we'll see if we can help out.
And who else has been through the process already and what have we missed? Let us know your thoughts and ideas, and we'll add them in below!
Thanks to all of you for your kind words on the shots of the new studio we've already shared, and thanks for reading our latest post.
Stay safe and look after each other.
Nicole x
Studio photography by Michał Babiarz
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We unveil the new Rosa Canina minicollection and give you an in-depth look behind the scenes at the end-to-end process of its creation, from concept to release.
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We've been *too* excited about this one for a long time!
The Rosa Canina minicollection, a new collaboration between ColieCo Lingerie and Nicola Hanrahan, has been a full year in the making.
And it has been a challenge: we juggled lockdowns which temporarily closed the family-run print house we work with, postal delays during fabric sampling, organising and re-organising photoshoots around restrictions... All in all, it has been quite the mission!
But the creation of a new ethical lingerie collection is such a fun process that we wanted to take the opportunity to share with you a behind-the-scenes look at all that goes into the design, development and delivery of a new ColieCo release.
So here it is! And we start by rewinding more than 12 months to the conception of an idea for a new collaborative project...
Nicola is a surface pattern designer who works primarily in watercolour and hand drawn illustrations. Motivated by her great passion for nature - a passion we share here at ColieCo Lingerie HQ - animals and wildlife are a major feature in her work.
Dedicated ColieCo followers will remember our previous collaboration with Nicola, the Goldfinch and Asters minicollection, which proved so popular that when we decided to explore ideas for a new nature-based bespoke print, Nicola was the obvious choice for a creative partner.
(Spoiler alert: much to our delight, she said yes 😀. Otherwise I guess that this might have been a much shorter blog post...)
With Nicola on board, we kicked off the creative process.
We wanted to explore another wild, natural theme, and we got going by sharing colour palettes and mood boards with Nicola to help communicate our vision for the aesthetic.
Having come to a shared understanding of the feel for the project, we discussed themes and settled on an experimenting with a wild dog motif.
Nicola started with sketches, and looking for botanic and floral partners to complement the canine concept.
Suitably, during her research Nicola was inspired by the dog rose - Rosa canina - and worked up ideas incorporating the stems, foliage, rose hips and flowers of the wild shrub.
Nicola found what is a perfect match for the colour palette in the dog rose, and we love the character of the plant: it's a strong climber, fiercely determined and versatile, carrying a great natural beauty and also a generosity in its medicinal properties.
Nicola's process transitions from the conceptual through the creative to the technical.
Hand-drawn, detailed monographs featuring the refined animal and dog rose sketches are painted with watercolours to work on light and tones and build ideas around the composition of the final print.
The choice of the painted monographs are then digitally scanned before the discrete elements are brought together to find a spatial and symmetrical balance in the print design.
At this point, we join back up with Nicola to work on further careful refinement of the tones together before the digital print is finished.
Et voilà!
This is where the practical fun passes back to us at ColieCo Lingerie HQ.
From here, we start experimenting with paper garments, looking at the scale and positioning of the print.
Firstly, we want to find a good aesthetic balance given the size and relationships of the pattern pieces required for the garments we're considering (and by this point we'd already earmarked our POPPY and ASTER sets for the new print).
And secondly, we want to ensure that we can use the print in such a way that we can minimise any fabric waste.
Once we've found the perfect scale, the digital print is ready to be sent to our print partners.
Before printing the fabric, we have to decide on the kind of material we want to use.
We'd previously had our in-house designs printed on a couple of different scuba jersey fabrics of different weights and finishes, and we wanted to be sure that the fabric that we ended up with carried the exact qualities that we wanted in terms of its grade, elasticity and feel.
For this, we returned to the family-owned and run small business that printed the fabric used in our Goldfinch and Asters collection.
This print house, local to the birthplace of ColieCo Lingerie in West Yorkshire, UK, and with a staff boasting over 100 years of combined experience in the industry, has led the way in textile digital printing, a process we love because it eliminates the production of water waste.
Having agreed on a fabric sample with our print partners, they got to work on creating our new fabric whilst we eagerly awaited its arrival...
And the roll finally arrives at ColieCo HQ in Sagres, Portugal!
Once we've gotten over the excitement of unpacking the fabric (cups of tea and meditative breathing exercises to calm down...) we can get on with sampling up the garments ready to be shot.
As we already had the patterns ready to go, in this case, this part of the process just looked like the production of a customer order - drawing, cutting, sewing and finishing - ready for dispatch to our photographer, Siân.
Given the challenges we've all faced this last year, we expected that we'd see some hiccups along the way, and we weren't disappointed!
We saw postal delays with samples, our print partner forced to close temporarily during lockdown, and we had photoshoots cancelled.
Given the unpredictability that came with changing social distancing measures and lockdowns, we weren't sure when Siân might be able to safely arrange a shoot, or whom she might be able to work with.
Usually, we'd want to produce samples to measure for the models, but this time we had to employ a little guesswork.
Luckily, the designs we'd chosen for the new print - in the ASTER and POPPY lingerie sets - are highly adjustable, and with Siân eventually able to arrange shoots with Sophie Stonem and Sam Erised we were delighted with the results.
And here they are: the POPPY soft cup bra and side wrap panties, and the ASTER plunge bra and ouvert low rise panties.
I hope you enjoy the new minicollection as much as we have enjoyed creating it!
I hope you've also enjoyed following this little journey along with us, and as always, we'd love to hear your feedback.
Hook up with us on social media and let us know your thoughts!
Nicole x
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Millie Miles looks devilishly good in our reclaimed pink power mesh...
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Millie wears the ASTER soft cup bra, MIDNIGHT high waist thong and HEARTBREAKER suspender belt in reclaimed pink power mesh.
Model: Millie Miles
Photography: Siân Cox
Missed us this summer? It's been a while. But whilst various exciting projects have us with little time to write for you, thankfully, others have been filling the gap for us...
It's been a while. But we haven't been slacking off, honestly!
As well as beavering away on your new orders (thank you all!), we've been busy with product development, launches of new fabrics and lines, new collaborations, work on the new website, and most excitingly for us here at ColieCo HQ, the new studio build. Phew!
Whilst all of that has left us with little time to write for you, thankfully, others have been filling the gap for us.
So in case you've missed any it, here's a quick roundup of what others have been saying about ColieCo in the media and across the electronic blogosphere over the last few months.
At ColieCo, we get out of bed for sustainable lingerie that inspires, provokes and celebrates sensuality, so we love this article by the Independent, which focusses on just that.
The Indy featured our wire-free, super-adjustable, super-customisable POPPY soft cup bra in their rundown of their favourite bold and bright and eco-friendly lingerie.
We got into the ColieCo vision and values, sourcing and processes, and sustainable lingerie and swimwear collections with Sourcing Playground writer Michael Eisman.
Vegan fashion writer Sarah King featured ColieCo as brand of the month in her GRANDERMARNIER blog, accompanied by a lovely review of our ARAYA soft cup bra and ZOEY mid rise panties.
Read the brand of the month article and review here.
I also chatted with Sarah at length about all sorts of fun stuff in a wideranging interview covering everything from vegan silk alternatives, to size inclusivity, to supporting small businesses, to seeking inspiration, to long term plans.
Fashion and sustainability blogger Ruby Rose investigates ColieCo's fabrics and processes, and shows off her POPPY soft cup bra and high waisted wrap panties.
Ruby talks at length about our use of deadstock, line-ends and offcuts, our organically grown, closed loop processed and OEKO-TEX certified bamboo silk, and our in-house manufacturing processes.
OK, we know!
But ColieCo was born and raised in the UK, and we still cherish our relationships with long-established partners and suppliers and our customers in the UK.
And we're stoked to be included in ethical lifestyle guide Live Frankly's rundown of underwear brands prioritising beautiful design and comfort alongside ethics.
One of our very favourite lingerie writers, Estelle Puleston breaks down conscious undercracker consumerism beautifully, touching on everything from materials to packaging and shipping to charity affiliation.
Confused about the relative pros and cons of biodegradable, recycled and deadstock fabrics? Want some tips on shopping for second hand bras? Intrigued about period underwear? All of this and more is covered in Estelle's blog.
Ourgoodbrands is an eco-hub of social impact resources aiming to help consumers and brands worldwide make better decisions.
They kindly featured ColieCo in this veritable bible of eco-friendly lingerie brands.
Nicole x
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We've joined the masses in turning to DIY during the lockdown, and asked some of our favourite indie artists to help us furnish the walls of the new ColieCo studio with some unique lingerie-themed illustrations.
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...the new roof is on now, the spotlamps are up, and we've started decorating. The next step will be the custom build of the new cutting and work benches and storage solutions. Exciting!
(Update: We're all done! Check out the new studio here.)
The new ColieCo studio will give us a little more room, allowing for an extra machinist to join us, whilst also providing additional space for pattern grading and fabric cutting. The aim is to have the new studio fully operational this summer, and we'll keep you updated on progress.
In the meantime, we couldn't think of a better way to fill all of our lovely new wall-space than by commissioning and collecting some lingerie-themed artwork from some of our favourite independent graphic designers and illustrators.
Here's a sneak peak at some of the fantastic pieces we're delighted to have acquired, and a quick lowdown on each of the wonderful talents behind the artwork...
(Before we start, I'd just like to repeat our message thanking everyone who has continued to support small, independent businesses through the recent upheaval.
It's always SMEs that suffer hardest during a downturn, and I *guarantee* that every cent you've spent and social media post you've shared has been very greatly appreciated by those individuals, families and teams you've supported in doing so - people who pour their hearts and souls into their work, every single day.
So thank you again.)
Lucy is a tattooist and illustrator from the birthplace of ColieCo Lingerie of Leeds, UK, who creates bold, colourful portraits on commission.
We couldn't resist asking her for her take on our ASTRID strappy lingerie set!
(Zero points for identifying the model...)
https://lucybluetattoo.bigcartel.com/
Avid followers of the ColieCo blog will also recognise this name, as we've featured Are We Nearly Bare Yet? previously in our indie Christmas gift guide.
Louisa Foley is another Leeds-based illustrator whose project aims to subvert the male gaze and reclaim ownership of the 'Nude' for self identifying women.
RIP Bambi's work focuses on body positivity and challenging societal norms on women and their sexuality.
Other influences include everything from fetishism to Japanese culture through mental health and pop culture.
Kara is an independent illustrator based in Hannover, Germany.
Her work translates bold ink line drawings of expressive, liberated women to digital prints for posters and postcards.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/karafriederike/
Paloma is a full-time student and mum who still somehow manages to find time to flex her artistic muscles to create beautiful custom-painted denim and leather jackets and digital illustrations by commission.
We asked her to reproduce one of our favourite shots from this shoot of Robyn Seaton Sheen absolutely rocking our sustainable reclaimed mesh SALEMA lingerie set.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LilyDoveDesignsGB
...here's a little gallery of some of our favourite ColieCo Lingerie fan art that we've collected over the years...
I hope you enjoyed that as much as we did pulling it all together!
As always, you can keep up-to-date with our latest news via Facebook, Insta and Twitter.
And to stay ahead of the game and benefit from the very earliest sneak peaks, as well as exclusive discounts and offers, make sure you sign up for our mailing list and join our new Facebook ethical and sustainable lingerie discussion group!
Until next time, please stay safe and look after each other.
Nicole x
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Find out what we're doing to ensure that everyone involved in the end-to-end process of getting your lingerie and swimwear to you stays safe, and how we're pledging to support our suppliers and our other partners through this uncertain and challenging time.
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With continental and intercontinental travel corridors still closed, we are still seeing delays in the transit and delivery of airmail packages worldwide.
Please be assured that we absolutely guarantee that all customers will receive their lingerie, but also note that it is very difficult to estimate shipping times at present.
If you have received a dispatch notification and are waiting for your order to arrive, please check the tracking information in the notification in the first instance. We also advise checking the latest service updates from your national postal service.
Although we are happy to ask postal services to investigate the status of delayed packages, please be aware that we are still being advised by many that they are currently receiving high volumes of enquiries, and that responses to such may be delayed.
Our promise to you is that we're doing all we can to get your lingerie and swimwear to you as quickly and as safely as possible.
We are still seeing a very high degree of inconsistency in USPS's service.
Whilst most customers are seeing packages being delivered in much closer to normal timescales (7 to 10 business days), others are seeing very significant delays with the acknowledgement of receipt of their packages in USPS's International Sorting Centres, and with sorting and delivery.
As such, it is very difficult to predict shipping times for customers in the US at present.
Please all look after each other and stay safe.
Nicole x
Hello everybody!
I just wanted to provide you with a quick update to explain what we're doing to ensure that:
Each business has its own unique set of circumstances and has to make its own decisions about how to respond to the advice being issued by governments and other agencies.
We take our obligations to the safety of all of those involved in our end-to-end processes extremely seriously, and considering the current advice of the Portuguese government and General Directorate of Health, the Portuguese postal service and post office, and the platforms that host our online sales channels, we have taken the decision to continue to accept and fulfill orders for now.
The situation is a developing one; and we will continue to review the advice of the authorities as it evolves. Should we see changes in the advice that lead us to believe that the safety of anyone involved in creating or delivering your lingerie can't be - or isn't being - protected, then, very simply, we will close our doors.
At present, there are only two of us at work in the studio, busily beavering away on all of your orders. We're still dispatching your packages within two weeks of your orders being placed, and we will let you know in advance if that timescale is likely to change.
As the two of us are also living together, nobody is carrying anything into the studio that they might transmit to be carried into a different home.
Those who know ColieCo well know that we source the majority of our supplies - including almost all of our fabric and elastic - from independent small businesses, and that this is no accident. Because we are, wholeheartedly and unashamedly, champions of the indie.
Many of these small businesses we have come to know very well, having maintained working (and developed personal) relationships with their staff over many years. We know their people, we trust their people, and we care about their people.
All of this means that whilst our suppliers keep their doors open and are able to assure us that they can maintain the safety of their staff, we will continue to support them with orders of supplies. We will be - and already are - paying our smallest suppliers and partners in advance wherever possible. We will not be asking for deferral of payment or cancelling any orders - and that is a promise.
Some of our suppliers have already closed their doors because they have decided that doing so is the best way for them to help protect their staff. We absolutely support those decisions, and will let our customers know as early as we possibly can if any of our products or collections might be affected by supply shortages.
We ship all of your orders with CTT, the Portuguese national postal service. (And we do that because those gals and guys are really very good at what they do!)
We dispatch via our local post office in the village of Sagres, and Carlos behind the counter there passes your parcels to Fernando (most days of the week), who then starts their onward journey across the country and beyond.
CTT have advised that they are following and will continue to follow all recommendations from the relevant authorities (being, primarily, the Portuguese General Directorate of Health). They have provided the staff that we work with protective screens and personal equipment, and they have put distancing measures in place, including restricting entrance to the post office to only the single customer being served, and removing the need for signatures on signed for deliveries.
Whilst CTT and their staff are happy to continue to accept parcels, we will continue to dispatch orders. And we will be continuing to dispatch at least three times per week to do our best to ensure that your orders arrive in time for your birthdays, anniversaries and other special celebrations.
At the very best of times, we are incredibly thankful for your loyal custom and support. We are blessed with so many repeat customers at ColieCo - customers whom we've come to know and grow and share with - and you are all MAGNIFICENT people. I really mean it, all of you.
Right now - and I think that I am probably speaking for a lot of small business owners and employees everywhere - your support means more than ever. And I don't just mean your orders; I mean your supportive words, your engagement in and help with the development of the business, your recommendations, your ideas, your blog and social media shout outs, and, well, your just *being* there. You've helped shape who we are and what we do. So I want to thank you all.
We always love hearing from you. This is a time, in particular, for people to come together, to talk and to listen, to support each other and to share a little love. So let us know how you're doing.
If you have an idea for a project, a collaboration or a custom order, please get in touch. If you just want to just chat about lingerie, or cats, or biscuits, please get in touch.
And please stay safe and look after each other.
Nicole x
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Siân Cox shoots Robyn Sheen in the MIDNIGHT cross, SALEMA and ASTER lingerie sets for ColieCo...
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Robyn wears:
1,2,7,8: MIDNIGHT CROSS lingerie set in sustainably-sourced, reclaimed black power mesh.
3,4: SALEMA lingerie set in sustainably-sourced, reclaimed black power mesh and organically-grown, closed loop processed bamboo jersey.
5,6: ASTER soft cup bra and ASTER ouvert low rise panties in RPET recycled fabric.
All ethically handmade to order in the in-house ColieCo Studio, Sagres, Portugal.
Model: Robyn Seaton Sheen
Photography: Siân Cox
Find out why we're working with Carbonfund.org to offset our shipping emissions, and how in doing so ColieCo customers are helping reforestation and forest preservation projects around the globe.
]]>Although air travel may only account for a small proportion of total CO2 emissions globally - currently between 2% and 2.5% by most estimates - that share is growing quickly.
And the damage done by high altitude emissions - the release of greenhouse gases directly into the upper atmosphere - is known to be far more severe kilo-by-kilo than the release of the same gases at ground level.
Climate activists have highlighted the travel and tourism industries in campaigns encouraging people to consider their personal travel habits and their associated impacts on the environment, and water-cooler discussions on the topics of staycations, eco-tourism and carbon offsetting have become de rigueur.
It's understandable that when the environmental impact of flying is discussed, the focus often falls on tourism. It has been widely publicised that the tourism industry accounts for a grossly disproportionate share of carbon emissions. Yet we tend to make the debate a complicated one.
Because when it comes to considering our own individual carbon footprints, it's no surprise that holidays tend to fall into the category of luxuries-we'd-rather-not-have-to-compromise-thanks.
But what about the other, non-human stuff that we shuttle around the globe daily? Looking at the wider picture in terms of the aviation industry's impact, we're also air freighting all kinds of materials and equipment, foodstuffs and consumer goods about, all of which, of course, has an associated carbon footprint.
When you order an item from an online retailer based overseas, the likelihood is that the item will be sent to you by a private air freight courier service, or, as with your ColieCo Lingerie orders, by airmail. Either way, it is going to fly.
But there is some good news when it comes to the relative environmental impact of airmail, in particular, when compared with the impact of flying human beings around.
Firstly, it's a lot easier to ship inanimate and unfussy packages than it is holidaymaking families. Your new togs won't demand a trolley service, they don't need to use the toilet facilities, and they aren't dragging kilos and kilos of electronics, toiletries and golf clubs with them.
A pretty average 0.5kg package would weigh much less than one percent of the average air traveler, and that's before considering the weight of their seat and their share of the various other conveniences that air travelers require.
And your package is easier to stack.
Secondly, airmail is usually transported in the cargo holds of scheduled commercial airliners; in other words, it is flying on planes that would be traveling regardless.
Although the likes of FedEx, DHL and UPS have their own fleets of cargo planes, USPS and other public providers of airmail services around the globe work primarily with passenger airlines, which sell their leftover cargo space to companies requiring air freight services.
And this vastly reduces the marginal carbon cost of your airmail package.
But of course there is still a cost. And this is why at ColieCo Lingerie we're working with Carbonfund.org to ensure that we offset 100% of the emissions related to the shipping of our customers' orders.
Carbon offsetting is a way for individuals and companies to invest in environmental projects that actively reduce atmospheric CO2 (or help curb CO2 emissions) in order to balance the emissions associated with their activities.
Although we can - and should - all be working to minimise our carbon footprints directly (and you can find out more about what ColieCo is doing on that here), we can also ensure that our controlled impacts on the environment are counteracted by positive measures designed to improve the health of the planet.
Since 2003, the Carbonfund.org Foundation has been providing carbon offsetting and greenhouse gas reduction options for individuals and organizations.
Carbonfund.org works with a variety of well-established, third-party validated and verified renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects around the globe that directly reduce CO2 emissions to help combat the threat of climate change.
We like Carbonfund.org because beyond their longevity and reputation, the transparency around and the scrutiny of the projects they fund delivers the certainty we need to be able to promise our customers that the emissions related to the shipping of their orders are certifiably 100% offset.
To find out more about Carbonfund.org and the projects they are helping ColieCo customers fund, visit and explore the reforestation/forest preservation carbon offset projects section of their website.
We'll continue to work to find new ways to improve our efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint at ColieCo, and we'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas on this. As always, you can catch up with us on social media to join the discussion.
Thanks for reading, and to all of our customers, once again, for your belief in and support for what we're trying to achieve - you're all wonderful!
Nicole x
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Discover our top ethical gifts for Christmas 2019 in our latest blog post. Find everything from organic cotton robes to animal friendly soaps, fair trade tea to hand woven rugs, and ceramic bowls to sustainable lingerie (of course!)
]]>It feels like only yesterday that we launched ColieCo’s Ethical Gift Guide for Christmas 2018.
Last year we featured everything from eco-friendly socks to natural botanical perfumes to custom hand-painted vintage jackets. And your response was fantastic.
Thanks to all of your supportive feedback, we’ve again dedicated our autumn-time mandatory tea and biscuit-breaks (these are also mandatory in spring, summer and winter, in case you were wondering) to hunting down the most present-worthy, ethically-manufactured and eco-friendly trinkets, garments, shinies, knickknacks and other assorted wonders with which you might dazzle and flatter friends and family this Christmas.
All safe in the knowledge, of course, that you’ve also helped to support a small business endeavoring to make the world a slightly better place to shop in.
Once again, our goal was to help you find something a little authentically different and unique, and to help a conscientious enterprise pay a fair wage to a talented individual.
And so here’s the list. We hope you have as much fun perusing as we did curating, and with any luck one or two of these most worthy of listings triggers that little inner voice that screams, “OMG - [insert name of BFF] would looooove that!”
You know we are partial to a nice cuppa at ColieCo HQ, and Tielka’s multiple award-winning organic teas get our seal of approval. Ethically-sourced directly from growers at harvest, small batches are then blended and packaged on site, ensuring optimal freshness. €6.
This UK-based independent jewelry studio specialises in stylish statement earrings made using PETA-approved vegan cork leather. All pieces are made in-house and to order. €10.
Free from animal products, free from animal testing, and free from artificial ingredients, this is a beautifully marbled sandalwood, bergamot and charcoal soap-on-a-rope. Dope. €6.
We are big fans of both comfy loungewear and bamboo fibre fabrics at ColieCo, and these stylish and functional bathrobes tick both boxes very nicely indeed. This Australian brand manufactures in a SMETA-audited factory. €45.
And whilst we’re on the subject of cosy winter jammies, we’ll take the opportunity to (shamelessly) plug one of our own organic bamboo offerings. These lounge shorts are cosy, classically stylish, and perfect for wintry duvet sessions in front of the box. €40.
Handmade in France, these minimalist pin and ring sets can be used in various ways to create simple hair-up styles. Clare uses recycled silver, brass, wood, recycled plastics and botanical finds to produce her jewelry. €17.
Available in copper, aluminium and brass finishes, these bracelets are handmade by survivors of human trafficking in Nashville, Tennessee. Each cuff is stamped with the initials of the creator, whose story can be read on the BRANDED Collective website. €35.
London-based Velvet Rebel make all of their pieces to order for bodies of all shapes and all sizes. These devilishly daring scarlet knickers feature showy side-tying satin ribbons. €37.
These beautiful, hand-woven Guatemalan rugs are made from wool spun from sheep farmed in the local area and dyed using pigments from indigenous plants by local expert artisans. €150.
Non-toxic and vegan, this lippy is made from all natural and organic ingredients. It gets better: the tubes stash cornflower seeds and are designed to be planted directly into the ground - blooming marvelous! €22.
Cute and colourful, recycled and recyclable Christmas cards printed using energy from renewable sources. Ten for €14.
Ategina's rings are sawed, soldered, sanded, polished and burnished in-house just down the road from us at ColieCo HQ in Faro, Portugal. Each of these beautiful bargain pieces is perfectly unique. From €25.
More outstanding ethically-manufactured slow fashion design from Australia. This 100% cotton dress is all cuffs, and ruffles, and baggy sleeves, and romantic magnificence. €130.
Bold and eye-catching hand-thrown pottery by independent designer and ceramicist Charlotte Manser. Featuring iridescent glazes guaranteed to brighten the breakfast table. €22.
Mata Traders is a fair trade brand working with cooperatives of female artisans in marginalised communities in India and Nepal. We think this shell and brass mosaic bracelet is… just… stunning. €35.
Fun, tattoo flash-style female-first prints with attitude by Leeds-based inkster and indie artist Lucy. €10.
Made from GOTS-certified organic cotton, hand sewn in Portugal and hand dyed in Norway, this ankle-length wrap dress is a beautiful example of clean Far Eastern style and utility. €80.
Independent Etsy seller Lucy hand crafts these just-too-darn-pretty pressed flower necklaces. Splash out on matching earnings to really treat a special giftee. €24.
Elegant and understated handmade gold and tourmaline stone bracelet. These guys plant a tree for every sale made, which we think is woody brilliant (#sorrynotsorry). €40.
The Are We Nearly Bare Yet project “aims to subvert the male gaze and reclaim ownership of the 'Nude’ for self-identifying women”. You had us at "subvert". Guaranteed to impress your gran on Christmas morning. From €58.
Contemporary style – tick. Waterproof – tick. Breathable – tick. Recycled fabric – tick. Ethically manufactured – tick. What’s not to like? €345.
Naturally rough rubies feature in these unique earrings created in partnership with Agape International, aiding in the fight against human trafficking. €51.
More unique, handmade jewelry with a conscience. Gemstones are ethically sourced, all pieces are vegan, and the packaging British maker Clare uses is all recycled and recyclable. €37.
It'd be rude not to really, wouldn’t it? Our gift cards are redeemable against the complete ColieCo collection, featuring sustainable, ethically handmade bras and bralettes, panties, lingerie sets, bodysuits, swimwear and activewear.
And our unique garment customisation means the recipient of your gift card will be able to match the designs they love, with the fabrics that inspire them, to fit their exact measurements.
Our gift cards can be used across multiple purchases and have no hidden, additional processing fees. From €20.
Happy shopping people, and enjoy the festivities to come!
Nicole x
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Unveiling ColieCo's brand new ARAYA collection - classically chic lingerie in luxurious, sustainable organically-grown bamboo silk!
]]>At ColieCo Lingerie we've been working with bamboo fabrics for several years.
Our DAISY romper as well as our customer favourite MONA french knickers, are handmade here in the ColieCo studio from a jersey fabric made from organically-grown bamboo.
And we're in love with this material! Not only is it lightweight, super soft and breathable, it's also super sustainable.
As a raw material, bamboo has many environmental benefits over cotton. The plant produces a high-density, high-yield crop, capturing much higher amounts of CO2 than even young forests. It also minimises soil erosion, and requires no irrigation, pesticides or fertilisers.
These inherent eco-credentials of bamboo are part of the reason why we're so excited to be introducing our new ARAYA mini collection, featuring a brand new bamboo fabric!
Our bamboo silk fabric offers the same inherent environmental benefits as our bamboo jersey.
The two fabrics also share many of the same physical attributes: bamboo silk is lightweight, soft and highly breathable.
The big difference between the two is in the finish of the fabric, with bamboo silk presenting a super smooth and luxurious satin feel, and the characteristic lustrous sheen of traditional silk.
In recent years, bamboo fabrics have received some (very warranted) bad press due to the nature of the strong chemicals used to break down and dissolve the raw bamboo ready for spinning and weaving.
In some cases, bamboo fabric manufacturers have allowed toxic chemicals to be released into the environment.
As with our bamboo jersey fabric, our bamboo silk is manufactured in a closed-loop system, meaning that the chemicals used to break down the bamboo cellulose from the raw freshly-harvested bamboo (in order to separate the bamboo fibres ready for weaving) are retained, reused and prevented from entering the outside environment.
Our bamboo silk fabric is made from ECOCERT certified organically-grown bamboo sourced only from FSC-certified forests. FSC certification guarantees that the raw material used to make our fabric comes from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits.
And the closed-loop process used to transform the raw bamboo material into our bamboo silk fabric carries ISO 14000 Environmental Management certification.
Finally, our bamboo jersey and bamboo silk fabrics are both OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certified, leaving ColieCo customers comfortable in the knowledge that the material used to make their lingerie is free from any harmful chemicals.
Not only does our organic bamboo silk tick the sustainability box, but it is also 100% vegan!
The ARAYA demi-cup bra is wire-free to provide you with maximum comfort. It features full wings and light boning for added support, and eye-catching panels of sheer, stretchy black power mesh sustainably-sourced from fast fashion industry line ends.
The ARAYA mid-rise panties also sport sheer power mesh panels, and feature ColieCo's trademark adjustable rear satin strap for a perfectly snug fit!
Both pieces are available to purchase separately, or together in one of our beautifully packaged, gift-ready lingerie sets, available with or without the accompanying ARAYA leg harness.
As always, our ARAYA set is available in standard and custom sizes.
If you're unsure which size to order or you need a custom fit, drop us a message with your measurements and we'll set up a custom order for you.
We hope you're as excited about the new collection as we are! Let us know what you think - connect us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to join the discussion!
Nicole x
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ColieCo Lingerie's collaboration with VAUHAUS sees Dee Jay and Toria Brightside shoot the ineffable Jessica Saffron...
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Agency: VAUHAUS
Model: Jessica Saffron
Photography: Dee Jay (b&w) Toria Brightside (col)
MUA: Antonio de la Cruz
Discover ColieCo's five key questions to ask yourself before you shop to help ensure that you limit the impact of your wardrobe on the environment.
]]>It is happening now, and it is being driven by our actions.
We are now comfortably beyond the realms of reasonable doubt on the issue of man made climate change, and are left at a crossroads of the greatest significance humanity has seen in its hundred-thousand year history.
The choices we make about how we behave in our day-to-day lives through the 21st century will irrevocably shape the future of the surface of the planet and the species that live on it for millennia to come.
Heavy, right? Yeah, but believe it or not, there are positives we can take from the above.
First of all, we know what is happening...
...and we know why it is happening...
...so we can do something about it.
There has been growing media coverage of the fashion industry's contribution to the damage we are inflicting on the critical balance in the planet's atmosphere.
And, rightly, there has been an onus in these discussions on both the industry and those authorities that regulate it to make serious changes to curb its impact on the environment and refocus on sustainability.
But there's work we can all do to ensure that we accept our individual responsibilities, and that we use the power we have as consumers to help support those who accept the corporate obligation to act, and to encourage others to follow them.
All it takes as a conscious fashionista is to give a little consideration before deciding whether to drop that lime green boiler suit into your basket or add those discounted sparkly gold hot pants to your online shopping cart.
And asking yourself a few simple questions can be enough to help ensure that you make a decision that respects its environmental consequences.
So here are our top five posers to ask yourself before you splash...
In our 21st century consumerist mindset, we have come to shop based on what we want, and not what we need.
Needs are logical and a matter of fact. They are driven by the very requirements of our bodies and minds, and are necessarily satisfied in a manner determined by their urgency.
Wants are directed not by logic, but by our emotions. We shop for items of clothing that we want because we feel for these items; because they trigger emotional impulses.
Research has demonstrated that when we engage with shiny new objects that we find desirable, the brain’s pleasure centre is triggered.
Its dopamine receptors lead us to believe that prospective acquisitions will substantively improve our lives, and this is why we enjoy the actual process of shopping.
(Like, it really is fun, right?!)
The brain is further excited by the process of purchasing desirable objects, and, so the science says, particularly when we believe that we have found a bargain.
And so for the shopper’s subconscious, the fast fashion industry (and we really should talk about the term 'fast fashion') is manna from heaven.
First up it feeds our lust for the hunt, supplying us with constantly changing storefronts and social media feeds delivering a never-ending catalogue of desirable objects.
Then it pitches these shiny new garments - which we’d swear we’ve already seen hanging off models on the catwalk and celebs at Hollywood parties - at unbelievably low prices, often further discounted by ‘exclusive’, time-limited offers and eternal sales.
So now our grey matter is congratulating us doubly: for discovering exciting new objects and at bargain prices – we are winning at shopping!
We receive the final stimulant hit when the transaction is made. And, of course, we’ve enjoyed the whole process so much we want to go back for more. The experience is addictive, unhealthy, and the most difficult shopping habit to break.
So our first question to ask ourselves is this: Just why am I buying this - do I really need it?
This should be an easy question to answer, shouldn’t it? Take a moment to reset yourself, force yourself to be logical about your decision, and have a think the clothes already sat in your closet that you’ve told yourself you’ve not quite found the right occasion to debut yet.
Is this purchase replacing an item I have worn out? Or will it serve some new utilitarian need? How will owning it really improve my life?
It is estimated that shoppers in the UK own £10bn worth of clothes that they do not wear, with the average UK woman currently hoarding 22 unworn items in her closet.
The most common offenders amongst these 22 items, which represent a staggering 45% of all of the clothes that British women own, are evening dresses, skinny jeans and tops.
We’ve already discussed the addictive nature of the emotion-driven process that is retail shopping. Our dopamine-addled brains are piloting us around shopping malls and across websites responding to sparkly window displays and flashing sales banners in a subconscious rapture.
Logic goes out the window, ethical considerations go out of the window, and we encourage ourselves in fits of excitement to invest in items that when we spot a month later at the back of the wardrobe simply baffle us. “Why on earth did I think a polka dot beret was a good idea?”
Come on; we’ve all been there...
The same survey found that a significant proportion of respondents had purposefully bought clothing that ended up unworn that was the wrong size for them (often having anticipated losing weight), or that they thought might come back into fashion one day.
But such speculative and frivolous purchases come at a price - and not just a financial one.
As we hoard infrequently or never-worn clothing, as well as other unnecessary purchases we make on the high street or online, we find we need new storage solutions and more space in which to guard our hollow treasures. And eventually, all of this stuff actually makes us feel worse.
In the US, the National Association of Professional Organizers has found that more than half of Americans feel ‘overwhelmed’ by their clutter and three-quarters find it too complicated to deal with.
Further studies have shown that stress triggered by clutter can impact mental and physical health, leading to depression, anxiety, and behavioural change, including the use of unhealthy avoidance strategies, such as social withdrawal and comfort eating.
In short, splurging carelessly and squirrelling purchases you were never really going to make great use of not only hurts the environment and whacks your bank account, but it can also end up leaving you stressed about how you’re going to manage an ever-growing pile of valueless-but not-quite-disposable possessions.
So our second question is: Am I going to wear this? I mean, really wear this?
Instead of shopping as a pastime and making unconsidered purchases on a whim, plan your shopping trips and do an inventory check before you go. Where is there a gap in your wardrobe, and what is that one item to fill it that you’ve been eyeing for a while?
Remember that it’s OK to buy nothing. It’s better heading home with a full wallet and empty shopping bag, than an empty wallet and a bag full of junk you’ll never wear.
This kind of mindset can actually improve the quality of your wardrobe and the value you get from it: by refusing the impulse purchases and saving your pennies, you can instead invest in fewer, higher-quality garments, treating yourself and the planet in the process.
Those who know ColieCo well will know how much care we take in sourcing the sustainable fabrics we use to produce our lingerie and swimwear, and why we do so.
The carbon footprints and environmental impacts of the raw materials used to produce fabrics and the processes employed in their creation differ hugely.
Reams and reams have been written about the ecological crimes associated with the plethora materials found in our garments.
And despite this, quite surprisingly, there is still relatively little consensus about which are the very best and the very worst materials in circulation - no definitive hierarchy exists, although some have tried.
In truth, it is a complicated picture, and appearances can be deceptive. Take, for example, organic cotton, which we have written about previously.
This herbicide and pesticide-free and apparently harmless natural fibre might appear to be an obvious choice for the eco-conscious shopper. But despite typically requiring less water than non-organic cotton in its growth, organic cotton still requires over 5,000 litres of water for every one kilogram of cotton produced - a startling amount when compared, for example, with bamboo or hemp.
So without committing to study for a PhD in textile science, how to navigate this material minefield?
Some very simple rules can help:
These rules have some exceptions, and there are big variations in terms of the ecological footprints within some of the categories above. But they’re a good starting point, and if you can fill your wardrobe with items made from the first three in particular, you’ve done a great job.
At ColieCo we are particularly in love with wardrobe sharing, vintage and second hand store shopping, and clothing made from fabric that has been upcycled or repurposed. All of these ideas can deliver garments to your closet that haven’t required the production of any new fabric, and as such, represent a sustainability free hit.
That’s why we work primarily with fabrics which have been reclaimed from fast fashion industry offcuts and waste when designing our sustainable lingerie collections.
Taking an extra moment to examine the items in your basket can also deliver a quick win for you, as well as for the environment.
Ensuring that you buy high-quality clothes, well-constructed from the right materials might seem like an expensive way to maintain your wardrobe, but the opposite is true.
Firstly, focusing on searching for quality and then investing a little more money in each purchase is likely to ensure that you don’t buy on impulse and end up with garments you’re not really so excited about that end up jammed at the back of your closet.
Secondly, and quite simply, quality garments last longer. Everyone has that favourite indestructible pair of jeans that they’ve proudly worn season-in, season-out for umpteen years. Guess what? You can fill your wardrobe with clothes like that!
So hunt for - and demand - quality.
It isn’t hard to spot. High-grade fabric not only looks good, it feels good. Look at the weight and the finish of the fabric, and check the construction.
Again, you don’t have to be a master seamstress to spot lightweight or poorly-sewn stitching. Give the fabric either side of seams a gentle tug and you’ll see whether the thread pulls apart. If it does, pop the garment back on its hangar and move on.
Quartz’s guide to shopping for clothes that will last you years offers some more great tips on what to look for in your prospective purchases.
Down the line, you’ll thank yourself for your efforts: your clothes won’t warp, rip, or fall to pieces on your fourth or fifth wear.
And not only will you look better in your quality new wardrobe, you’ll feel better knowing you’ve upgraded your collection, saved your pennies wisely, and helped the environment in doing so.
Throw away culture has led us to accept the ready disposability of everything from food packaging through to furniture, white goods and motor vehicles which are still eminently reparable.
And for the first time in human history, we’ve started discarding clothing - even articles we love - when seams come apart, buttons fall off or colours fade. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
First of all, of course, prevention is better than cure, so take care of your clothing. Treat stains immediately, follow the care instructions on labels, wash at low temperatures with garments turned inside out and with zippers and clasps closed, and using machine-safe laundry bags (a pillowcase will do) where suitable.
(You can also check out this great guide to doing eco-friendly laundry!)
It’s also a great idea to keep a spare set of old clothes readily accessible to encourage yourself to perform a quick change if you’re doing something messy that might lead to an unexpected mishap.
However careful you might be, life is such that accidents will happen (normally, of course, when you have your newest or favourite rags on…) But dry your eyes, we say - if you love it, keep it!
First of all, many little problems - and some that might look like big problems - can be solved by learning how to do even some basic needlework.
If you’re starting from scratch, learn how to sew a button, and learn how to sew torn seams. They might seem a little daunting at first, but holes along seams are a doddle to repair, and your work will be invisible, so you don’t have to be super neat and can get going with little practice.
From there, you’ll quickly be patching holes, and maybe you’ll even be inspired to learn how to sew a hem, darn socks, or repurpose garments, turning your old jeans into shorts, t-shirts into shopping bags, or bras into hats.
(OK, I made that last one up. You can’t really turn old bras into hats, can you?)
There are online courses offering great tutorials on garment repair and reconstruction, and local colleges will often offer evening classes and workshops you can use to pick up more tips and further hone your skills.
If all else fails, call in the experts - tailors often offer repair services and might be able to suggest new and creative ideas to help save garments you’d as good as written off.
And if you’re simply bored of your old denim jacket or shorts, there are loads of great artists out there who can customise your threads, bringing them back to live with verve!
Our top five questions to ask yourself to help ensure you consider the environment before you spend your hard-earned:
We’re always excited to hear your thoughts and ideas, so catch up with us on social media, let us know what you think and join the debate!
See you there!
Nicole x
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Is reclaiming 'dead stock' the answer to reducing fabric waste in the fast fashion industry? Or is it simply a greenwashing tool used to boost brands' eco-credentials? Hear both sides of the argument, and find out why ColieCo is all-in on conscientiously-sourced reclaimed fabric!
]]>The fast fashion industry's wanton wastefulness has featured heavily in the media in recent months, with politicians across Europe finally weighing in on the matter.
The improvidence of the industry is demonstrated in many, many different ways, but one of the most absurd of its failures is its mismanagement of fabric - some of the world's largest and most influential brands are frighteningly careless with the material they buy.
From commissioning orders of hundreds of metres of fabric that are never used, through wastefulness in sampling and inefficient cutting processes, to sending line-ends to landfill, the end-to-end management of material in the industry isn't remotely sustainable.
And it's part of the reason why the fashion industry's production processes - from raw materials to garment supply - contribute around one-third of the waste footprint, three-quarters of the carbon impact, and most of the water footprint of clothing.
One of the most obvious and significant areas of squander is in 'dead stock' fabric.
Dead stock fabric (not to be confused with dead stock garments, the final product equivalent and a serious issue in its own right) is material that is deemed surplus to requirements by fashion houses having been bought and never used or, more commonly, left over after production runs. These left-overs are also frequently referred to as 'line-ends' or 'remnants'.
It is common practice in the industry to overestimate when ordering quantities of what are usually very affordable - and therefore very disposable - fabrics to ensure that runs can be completed if materials are damaged or otherwise lost through the garment production process.
In some cases, brands will retain unused stock to be used in potential future runs, and squirrel line-ends away in warehouses to keep them out of the market, sometimes for several years.
But from there, there are a limited number of paths along which dead stock can travel:
The first two cases are disastrous for the environment. These are fabrics that have already been through several ecologically-challenging and carbon intensive processes, including agricultural monoculture (for natural fibres), industrial yarn production (pulling, combing, twisting and spinning), knitting or weaving, bleaching, dyeing and intercontinental travel.
And not only do they reach the end of their lives without serving any useful purpose whatsoever, they go out in the most unedifying and dirty fashion.
The third option is where all dead stock should end up, and at ColieCo Lingerie we are proud to say that the scuba jersey fabric used in the underwear you'll find in our Reclaimed prints collection and the mesh used in our MIDNIGHT collection and Mesh lingerie collection are all sourced from industry line-ends and remnants.
The environmental argument for actively seeking out dead stock fabric for use in garment production might seem obvious. But various commentators have raised arguments against the practice, with some valid points.
One argument is that brands can engage in greenwashing by buying material billed as dead stock, but that are actually surplus fabrics purposefully produced by mills when fulfilling large orders.
As the set up process for industrial scale manufacturing and print runs is so expensive, mills overproduce to the ends of reels of fabric because they can then sell the surplus at a discounted price still returning them more money than the cost of otherwise shutting down the run once the order is fulfilled.
This is a legitimate criticism. Basing your environmental credentials on selling collections made from supposedly eco-friendly 'reclaimed' fabric purposefully produced to be sold at a discount and never likely to be destined for landfill or the incinerator is pretty tenuous. And that's being very kind.
Another argument is that in buying dead stock that is legitimately recovered from profligate fast fashion brands, independent designers and manufacturers are fueling a downstream industry that encourages the continuation of wasteful practices.
But this argument doesn't hold as much water.
As we've seen, the monetary value of the fabric discarded by the big brand names isn't so consequential that they won't send it to landfill or even have it burnt, rather than bother trying to reuse it or even sell it on. Some brands still don't work with re-sellers in the management of their line-ends and rejected fabrics at all.
In short, the culture of profligacy exists - and will continue to exist, at least while it remains profitable and unregulated - with or without reclamation happening.
At ColieCo Lingerie, our suppliers reclaim material directly from end-manufacturers producing for mass-market lingerie brands.
We use dead stock material:
Find out more about all of our fabrics here.
We never use material that has purposefully been overproduced by mills and is mis-sold as dead stock.
And this way we guarantee to our customers that when they see our Reclaimed Textiles product attribute badge next to a garment on our website, it's eco-credentials are legit!
What are your thoughts on our use of reclaimed fabrics? And the ongoing debate about waste in the fashion industry?
Connect with us on social media and let us know your thoughts!
Nicole x
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Greenpeace has described it as a "toxic time bomb". ColieCo examines how plastic waste is wrecking our oceans and the life that they support, and joins in with a group of local activists to help do its bit!
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It is estimated that an incredible 8,000,000 tonnes of plastic waste enter the oceans every year from rivers and from the land.
Some of this plastic sinks slowly to the bottom of the ocean, causing problems both for the mammals and fish that live in the mid-water, and for those crustaceans, molluscs and other animals that live on the sea bed.
Animals are entangled in plastic bags, netting and packaging, and suffer often fatal internal problems due to ingestion whilst feeding.
The rest of the plastic - more than half, in fact - floats, and heads slowly, at the mercy of the oceanic currents, towards one of the 'great garbage patches' of the seas - giant rafts of plastic waste now found in every expanse of saltwater around the globe.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the mother of all buoyant bin-dumps, now homes more than 1,800,000,000,000 pieces of plastic, weighing more than 80,000 tonnes and covering an estimated surface area of 1,600,000 square kilometers - an area three times the size of France.
As it travels, this drifting plastic presents health and safety risks to animals that feed at the ocean's surface, including turtles and seabirds, who can confuse the litter with food, again very often with fatal consequences.
(This is probably the reason why turtles look so grumpy all the time.)
(↑ Grumpy-looking turtle.)
But there's worse news.
Most plastic is fairly susceptible to UV radiation. Plastic floating in the ocean is relentlessly exposed to the sun's rays, and, over time, it slowly degrades, breaking up into smaller and smaller pieces and leaving a trail of toxic chemicals quite literally in its wake. When these chunks of plastic eventually reach the size of sesame seeds, scientists term them 'microplastic'.
There has been much talk in the media in the last few years about microplastic, but its existence in the ocean is not a new phenomenon. Humans have been manufacturing plastic products of the order of microplastic - called microbeads - for nearly half a century and large amounts of waste plastic have been degrading in the seas since the invention of the material over a hundred years ago (in 1907, by Leo Baekelan of Bakelite fame, for those history geeks amongst us).
But it is only in recent years that science has come to understand how damaging the microplastic in the ocean is for wildlife. And the problems are compound.
Firstly, as microplastic particles are so small, together they have a huge surface area, which allows them to absorb large quantities of the existing toxic chemicals and pollutants found in the water very quickly.
This aggravates the second problem, which is their wholesale introduction into the marine food chain. So far, some 700 hundred different aquatic species have been found to ingest microplastic whilst feeding, from the smallest shoal fish like anchovies up the chain to the giants of the seas, like the humpback whale. A recent study of stranded UK marine mammals found microplastic in the digestive tracts of literally every animal surveyed, including porpoises, dolphins, grey seals and a pygmy sperm whale.
Combined, these two factors mean that large quantities of toxic particles are becoming ubiqitous in the systems of very large numbers of oceanic species to devastating effect.
But this isn't just a problem for aquatic life: anchovies, prawns, oysters, mussels and particularly other seafood that is eaten by humans whole is now commonly riddled with microplastic. Researchers are commonly finding large quantities of microplastic in samples of catches of scores of species - both wild caught and farmed - all destined for the dinner table.
Although the health impacts of the ingestion of microplastic by humans are yet to be fully understood, scientists have particular concerns about the potential effects of 'nanoplastic' on the human body. Unlike microplastic, invisible nanoplastic - a scale down in the ever-continuing process of plastic degradation - is of such a scale that it is able to penetrate cells and move into tissues and organs, effectively lodging toxic particles in the body on a permanent basis.
Hundreds of species of animal are affected by the myriad issues arising from the invasion of the planet's oceans by millions of tons of plastic waste. But only one species created the problem.
It is our responsibility alone - and a grand one that we have created for ourselves - to deal with the issue; and hugely expensive global efforts, requiring determined collaboration between international partners will need to be made in research, new technologies and logistical clean up operations.
But we can all help as individuals, and play a part in ensuring that as little new plastic arrives in the ocean as possible.
Awareness in terms of single use plastics, reuse, recycling and plastic alternatives is rising, and often the public blaze a trail before business and legislators (often with their own different priorities) act. And even small personal contributions can make a massive difference when they are taken up by groups and more widely in society.
There's a great list of quick and easy ways that you can help address the problem and reduce the amount of plastic waste you create here, courtesy of the Green Education Foundation. But we're sure you'll have your own ideas too.
At ColieCo, we like to practice what we preach, and we were excited to join Sagres Beach Clean this weekend to help with other local volunteers in clearing one of our local beaches and the surrounding scrubland and clifftop areas of plastic and other waste.
As well as keeping a little more refuse out of the water, these kind of events are a great opportunity to meet other people concerned about environmental issues and share ideas. Thanks to everyone who came along and contributed their time.
Share your thoughts and contributions with us via social media here!
Nicole x
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The ColieCo blog has been so quiet recently you'd be forgiven for thinking we've been hibernating here at ColieCo central. Here's what's been keeping us away from the typewriter - a new collection, new materials and new machines!
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The blog has been so quiet recently you'd be forgiven for thinking we've been hibernating here at ColieCo central. But although a little dust might have gathered on the trusty old typewriter, it hasn't been inactivity or vacuity that's kept us quiet - in fact, quite the opposite.
As well as having a record-breaking holiday season - which saw a frenzy of activity in the studio to ensure that you all received your orders on time and gift-ready for Christmas Day and Valentine's Day - we've been busy with new designs, new materials and new hardware to make sure that we kicked 2019 off in style!
Here's a quick rundown on what we've been up to...
If you're with us on social media (and if not, WHY NOT?!), of all of the spring's activity, we're most excited about our brand new ASTRID collection.
ASTRID summons the celestial queens of the galaxy's most ethereal boudoirs with a five piece collection, comprising two brand new soft cup bra designs, low rise and high waist knickers, and elysian and flighty french knickers.
The collection pairs our existing super high-quality sheer black power mesh with a soft and stretchy jersey fabric featuring ColieCo's brand new and exclusive Lost in Space print.
To realize this fabric, we've teamed up with the same family-run printhouse that printed the design we use in our GOLDFINCH collection. One of ColieCo's key principles is that we work wherever possible with other small, independent businesses, and, once again, we're delighted with the results.
As with our Goldfinch & Asters print, the image used in our Lost in Space design is applied to the fabric using a digital printing process. This minimises energy use, water waste and material waste in accordance with our production principles.
ASTRID launched in March and we've had a fantastic response from customers. Thanks to all of those who have ordered already and returned such wonderful feedback!
UPDATE for 2021! The ASTRID collection now has even stronger sustainable credentials - we're replaced the jersey fabric with our brand new RPET recycled fabric.
As well as featuring in our ASTRID collection, the Lost in Space print is now an option for customers lusting after any (or all!) of our ASTER and POPPY lingerie sets.
Long-time ColieCo followers will know that all of the the fabrics featured in our Floral Prints collection are offcuts and roll ends reclaimed from mainstream fashion industry waste.
These unwanted cuts (also frequently described as 'remnants' or 'line ends') are often destined for landfill before being rescued by our suppliers and given a second chance at life thanks to ColieCo customers.
Fashion and textile industry fabric waste is one of the most environmentally damaging elements of the industry, because it sees - in unjustifiably high proportions - fabrics that have already been through the often painfully damaging lifecycle processes of culture, yarn production, cleaning, finishing, dyeing, and shipping countless times then simply discarded in their hundreds of metres.
And this happens simply because the margins of industrial scale operations are best served by the employment of processes that focus on the pace and agility of output, rather than the consideration of environmental impacts and sustainability.
In the worst cases, fabrics that have been commissioned by fast fashion retailers are dumped in their entirety even before the garments they were destined to create ever see high street shelves.
Bottom line: these frighteningly damaging practices have to stop; and we'll be writing more about this in a forthcoming blog article on the hugely important part that consumers have to play in forcing the hand of the fashion industry. In the meantime, you can ensure that you help minimise the impact of this neglect by giving one of our new rescued fabrics a purpose.
Introducing the Rose Noir, Summer Lilies, and very-soon-to-be-available Wild Amethyst prints, all available in your choice of over 30 mix-and-match ColieCo designs.
This month we welcomed Bertha to the ColieCo team.
Bertha is from Kaiserslautern in Germany and will be working with us in the ColieCo studio. She knows 27 different stitches, is highly adept working with stretch fabrics, and has a cat sticker.
Bertha is a beautiful, shiny new Pfaff Select 3.2 sewing machine, with advanced Integrated Dual Feed, easy select variable stitch width, and an extra-high presser foot clearance. She is already very happily setting about helping the rest of the team ensure that you receive exceptionally-constructed ethically-handmade lingerie every time you shop.
Boris, our longest-serving and most loyal machine (a Pfaff Select 3.0 for any other #sewinggeeks out there) isn't nearly ready for retirement yet, but he's already appreciating a little of the load coming off.
So you're all fully up-to-date!
Next time out we'll be delivering ColieCo's long-promised perspective on how you can cut the carbon cost of your wardrobe, with five practical and easy to follow suggestions for fellow eco-conscious fashionistas.
If you have thoughts or feedback on the blog, the ASTRID collection, Lost in Space or our new reclaimed fabrics, let us know.
You can find ColieCo across social media or contact us directly by email.
Nicole x
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Check out ColieCo's top twenty ethical gifts for the 2018 festive season in our latest blog post. Find everything from custom jackets to natural perfumes, pet portraits to lingerie (of course!), and high end jewelry to stocking filler stockings!
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This can mean only one thing... CHRISTMAS IS COMING!
We don't always like to go with the flow here at ColieCo, but there are some battles that cannot be fought head on. So rather than add to the historical catalogue of tired tirades railing against Throwaway Christmas™, we thought we'd try to do our small part to redirect the bandwagon and show you 20 ways that you can gift ethically this year by shopping with small, independently-run businesses.
When you spend your Christmas present budget, why not get creative, offer your lucky giftee something authentically unique, and help a conscientious enterprise pay a fair wage to a talented individual?
And you may have heard the line: "When you buy from a small business an actual person does a little happy dance!" As an indie seller, we can tell you that - trust us - it is absolutely true!
So here are some of our favourite ethical gift ideas this Christmas. All are 100% guaranteed to crack smiles and warm hearts on Christmas morning :-)
Ethically made in a family-run factory in France that has been producing hosiery for three generations. Thanks to their savoir-faire, MAiK are able to offer super high-quality socks made from yarn dyed using only eco-friendly pigments. Their yarn, spun in Italy and Portugal, produces soft and comfy garments. €17.
Beautifully handmade with real flowers, dried and preserved to last months and months. €41.
The funkiest colours in eye-catching designs, each one handmade in London. Check her Instagram feed for the latest designs. Price on request.
Pins are a great gift, and this one comes with a right-on message fully endorsed by ColieCo Lingerie! There are only 100 made for the first batch, and each backing card is numbered. €8.
Ethically handmade in Portugal, with your choice of 16 different bold and vibrant prints allowing you to choose which best suits your recipient! All fabrics are reclaimed from fast fashion offcuts otherwise destined for landfill. €33.
Great for displaying decor pieces, the colour is a custom blended warm brown, with a hint of red mahogany. The shelf can be used stand alone on a flat surface or hung on the wall. €36.
Spice up a vintage jacket with one of their unique paintings! Price on request.
If someone you love deserves an extra special treat this Christmas, look no further. A stunning natural Oregon sunstone set in satin finished 18K recycled yellow gold. Ooooooooh! €1,075.
This bright citrus and grapefruit scent contains no artificial ingredients - only natural botanical oils, resins, concretes and absolutes infused in a base of jojoba oil, all of biological origin. €63.
Sensual, female-focused art pieces. The prints are a great stocking filler priced from only €7!
These amazing hand-stitched badges are the perfect gift for the plant lover in your life. Pack of 3 for €12.
These guys have gone from strength to strength this year, and have completely blown us away with this incredible coat. This pink colour would look amazing layered with any of their dungarees and our recycled plastic lingerie! €68.
She has biscuits in her hair. I repeat, biscuits in her hair. €9.
Give the priceless gift of a new craft with one of Lauren's amazing knit kits. (Or buy something ready-made if your friend is one of those more likely to get themselves into a right royal knot...) From €25.
Another pin to add to their collection. This one is pink *and* empowering! For your sister from another mister (or otherwise). €9.50.
This lingerie print gives us at ColieCo all the feels. Know someone who is always picking up a new picture frame ready for the next cute print they find? This one is for them. €21.
Yet another pin. But hey, we love pins, OK? And look at it - it is too cute! €9.
You may recognise her style in the beautiful graphic featuring in our GOLDFINCH collection. Nicola is an amazingly talented watercolour artist focusing on wildlife and floral illustrations and pattern designs, and her pet portraits are the perfect gift for any kitty or puppy parent. Price on request.
Show your support for breast cancer awareness with this cheeky tee. 25% of revenue goes to four different cancer charities - very worthwhile. €32.
Don’t forget to pop cards in with your presents this year! A handwritten note goes a long way and can mean as much as any gift. Get yours from Etsy seller Jodie. Four cards for €10.
And one for good luck...
Spoilt for choice and can't make up your mind what to choose? Or are you running out of time to pick up one of the gifts on our list? Don't panic - ColieCo is here to help!
Treat your BFF or significant other to the gift of choice with a ColieCo Lingerie gift card, redeemable against everything and anything in store - from bras and panties to playsuits, lingerie sets to swimwear, bodysuits to yogawear!
Happy shopping people, and enjoy the festivities to come!
Nicole x
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Thanks to our magnificent customers, ColieCo's Charity Knickers! campaign is helping Amnesty International fight human rights abuses worldwide.
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Last December we launched our Charity Knickers! campaign in the ColieCo Etsy store, offering Etsy shoppers the opportunity to pick up a pair of our customer-favourite ALEXA low rise panties at a special reduced price, with all profits going to Amnesty International.
To add a fun twist to proceedings, each pair of knickers we made from a randomly-selected fabric, with customers waiting until delivery day to see which of our wide range of reclaimed scuba jersey prints their new lingerie had been made up in!
We were delighted with the response to the Charity Knickers! campaign, and are very pleased to announce that we've now completed the donation of all of the profits to Amnistia Internacional, the Portuguese (and our local) arm of Amnesty.
At ColieCo Lingerie, we are long-time supporters of Amnesty International. For those who might not be so familiar with the organisation, Amnesty is a 57 year-old global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign to end abuses of human rights.
Amnesty and its supporters actively work in all kinds of areas as diverse as armed conflict, corporate accountability, capital punishment, discrimination and equality, refugee and asylum rights, sexual and reproductive rights, and torture.
You can learn more about Amnesty International, about the causes they support, their campaigns and how you can help them further here.
Your Charity Knickers! purchases are already helping Amnesty make a real difference in their demands for justice and an end to impunity wherever human rights violations occur - and we join them in thanking you for that.
Given the interest in Charity Knickers!, we'll be repeating the campaign - maybe in a slightly different format - in the not-too-distant future.
Anyone who has any fun ideas about what they'd like to see us offer next time around, or about other worthy organisations they'd like to see ColieCo and our customers connect with, should get in touch with us via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to get the conversation going!
Heartfelt thanks once again for your engagement with the Charity Knickers! campaign and for your support.
Nicole x
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