A quick guide to the sustainable yarns in our shop

This article was written by Symphony Chau. In her 9-5, she is a policy communications expert with expertise in sustainable development and climate issues. She also has previous experience working for a global evidence-based certification body. 

If you have been around the crafting community for a minute, you probably have an inclination towards trying to create a "sustainable" wardrobe—whether through knitting, crochet, or sewing.

Over here at Aimee Sher Makes, we try our best to focus on sustainability and climate-friendly fibers and milling so you can feel good about where your clothes come from. Previously, we have talked a bit about measuring environmental impact by fiber and the connections between fiber and climate justice. We want to revisit this topic now that we have launched the physical product side of things in the shop, and cover an important topic: sustainable labels for our in-shop yarns and what they actually mean when we see them in the product description. 

As greenwashing (or the misuse of certain sustainability labels in marketing) has become more prevalent, we definitely want to be conscientious the information we provide about our products is both clear and also builds awareness about the practices behind the labels.

We hope in breaking down these labels, it allows us to be transparent and honest about our products. And as much as we love selling products, we want to make sure we are authentic and value-oriented in our business practices.

In the fiber industry, a sustainability label typically appears with a certification. 

The certifications typically deal with one of two areas for sustainability. Certifying the yarn's fiber content or certifying the process behind how the yarn is created.

Why certifications? We like them because they are helpful tools. Certifications involve third party checks and verification of claims a company is making about their product.
While having a certification is by no means a catch all for being the perfect, most ethical and sustainable product, they are certainly a useful starting point for standardizing practices globally and creating a shared vocabulary and regulatory system to breaking down sometimes very technical and jargony terminology! 

So...the TDLR is: for laypeople such as ourselves, seeing a certification under the product description/label or on the company's values page is a great indicator that they are inclined to care about people, animals, and planet. 

Okay, let's get into it. What do labels such as GOTS, OXO-TEX, REACH standard, and OCS really mean?

1. Certifying the yarn itself, typically related to ecological practices (i.e., organic).

Currently, one of the most comprehensive certifications for fibers is the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which was established by a conglomerate of trade associations across the agriculture and textile industries in 2006. 

This standard is what is behind two different labels:

• Made with organic label: This means the product must have a minimum of 70% certified organic fibers.
• Organic label: This means the product must have a minimum of 95% certified organic fibers.
  

Outside of the minimum certified organic fibers, there are additional criteria under GOTS for what the fiber content is comprised of.

In terms of the breakdown behind the term "organic," GOTS defines this under a few categories: from organic fiber products created from organic agriculture (which has its own regulations and certifications for land management); whether the fiber product is plant (cotton, hemp, linen) or animal based (wool, silk, cashmere); and the prohibition of using toxic chemicals or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) within the creation of the products. If you're interested in digging further into GOTS, they have a handy guide here that goes into lots of details on this topic!

So how does this translate to our shop? We have quite a few certificated organic yarns under a few different designations.

Certified Organic Wool

• De Rerum Natura's Pénélope, Candide, Robinson, Albertine
• Big Little Yarn Co's Organic Wool & Linen
• Rui Knit's Flaxwool
• Sunday Fiber Co's Barefoot Organic Sock

Organic Cotton

• The Wandering Flock's Cotton Lino
• Knitting for Olive's Cotton Merino (has 80% OCS certified cotton)

Additional notes:

For organic cotton, the OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON is also an alternative certification option and covers the supply chain, GMO testing, safety measures against harmful substances, and also has cross-compliance with other global regulations in addition to OXO-TEX's other certifications!

Another common certification you may see out in the world (but not currently in our shop at the time of publication) is OCS or the Organic Content Standard, which functions similarly to GOTS, but has more of a focus on "tracing organic fibers from farm to final product," which is something you can also keep an eye out for when shopping. This certification is more commonplace among retail fashion products, where the label may say "80% OCS certified cotton."

2. Certifying the safety practices of the mill and yarn company itself, typically related to safety practices for both animals and humans

The designations for certifications beyond an organic label go into the company's ethical and sustainable practices themselves! This could be anything from ensuring workers have proper safety measures, the products that are produced are not harmful to both humans or animals, to the products not being harmful to the environment.

Among our shop products, we have three main certifications in addition to GOTS, which also certifies the textile process (GOTS Organic Textile Process).

• OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100:
  • All of the Knitting for Olive yarn bases are certified under this standard, ensuring that the mill they use follows strict ethical, technical, and environmental standards.
  • Wooldreamers' Manchelopis and Saona also are certified under this standard, in addition to GOTS's Textile Process to ensure their mill processes have ethnical and environmentally friendly production. 
• European REACH standard: This is used by De Rerum Natura for the dyes they use in their yarn dyeing process.
• Responsible Wool Standard: This is used by Knitting for Olive to certify their Soft Silk Mohair yarn base, which comes from South African angora goats.

For those super nerds like me, Fibershed’s Climate Beneficial™ Verification program is definitely one to check out, as they go beyond a preventative practice to working with farmers and ranchers to develop and hone regenerative agricultural practices to restore the lands they steward, keep them healthy, and give back to the climate. It's super interesting and definitely at the forefront of bringing different practices and applying it to the twenty-first century.

All in all, we will continue to prioritize working with brands and mills that are as committed as we are to adding sustainability practices in verifiable ways, and hope that more brands will join the ones we already carry in that work. We also use only recycled packaging for all our plastic packaging, a topic for another day!

Hopefully your sustainability knowledge toolbox is a little heavier after reading this blog post and the next time you are shopping for a new fiber product, you know exactly what the label is talking about! 

Have any questions about any of the certifications I covered in today's blog? Let us know and we can definitely go into further detail in a future article.