Made on Earth
English version below
Life Is Pain should and will become more sustainable in the future.
We want to distance ourselves from the 'fast fashion' scene.
Mass consumption, exploitation of workers, high consumption of resources, as well as increased pollution of the environment are among other things caused by today's fashion industry.
Due to the low prices and the fast change of collections, the wearing time of textiles decreases: While a garment was worn about 200 times in 2000, it was worn only 163 times in 2015.
An item of clothing is worn 4 to 7 times before it either ends up in the used clothing container or simply hangs in the closet unworn. That makes a total of around 1 billion items of clothing that remain unworn in German closets. Another 1 billion garments are worn less frequently than every three months. That's a total of 2 billion items of clothing, or just under 40%, that are lying around almost unworn. Almost every second person sorts out pants, tops and shoes again within a year. Only 21% of those surveyed sort out their clothes only when they are broken or no longer fit. 40 % sort out when the clothes no longer suit their own taste or fashion.
The constantly changing trends are partly responsible for the cycle. There are negative consequences for the environment in three areas:
The high water consumption, the high CO2 emissions and pollution by chemicals.
We do not want to support the new consumer behavior in this form.
For this reason, we have decided to make some changes.
To avoid unnecessary waste, the packaging for shipping will be plastic-free and kept as small as possible. In addition, from now on we do without the delivery bills and the invoice in paper form, you will receive these via email.
A separate blog about how, where and by whom our packages are packed will also appear on our website soon. In this blog you will learn everything about our packaging.
We also do not use hangtags, as they are usually removed and thrown away by the end user before the first wear.
Starting with our newest collection, we also use organic cotton and partially recycled materials for almost all products. The use of these materials results in savings of water, CO2 and chemicals in the manufacturing process. For example, according to studies, organic cotton uses 91% less water than conventional cotton. In addition, there is no use of pesticides here, so no groundwater or soil is polluted.
For us, this step is another one in the right direction.
From now on you will find a separate label on our products next to the information about the washing, with which we would like to ask all our customers not to throw away the respective product but to donate, sell or even give it away after you don't want it anymore.
On this label the respective owner can enter the name, so that one can trace how many previous owners this product already had.
In addition, we would like to mention again that it does not matter whether clothing is new or already worn. Because of our timeless/gender neutral and long lasting focus, everyone can wear our clothes.
We don't want our clothes to find their way to the garbage, the products should stay in circulation as long as possible.
English version:
Life is Pain will become more sustainable from now on.
Mass consumption, exploitation of workers, high resource consumption and environmental pollution come with today's fashion industry.
Low prices for clothes and fast changing trends cause short periods of wearing time: in the year 2000 one item of clothing has been worn 200 times whereas in 2015 only 163 times.
One clothing item gets worn 4 to 7 times until it gets donated or simply not used anymore. Around 1 billion clothing items hang in German wardrobes without being used. Another 1 billion clothing items are only worn every 3 months. This makes up 2 billions of pieces that are like new without usage. Every other person sorts out pants, tops and shoes within a year. In a study 21% of people said they sorted out only clothes that are broken or don't fit anymore. 40% sorted out what they didn't like or didn't go with current trends.
The often changing trends are contributing to the cycle. There are negative consequences for the environment in 3 areas: high use of water, high CO2- emissions and pollution from chemicals.
We don't want to support the cycle anymore.
That is the reason why we opted for changes. The package will be plastic free, as small as possible and will come without delivery note to avoid unnecessary waste. In addition, we won't use hangtags anymore because they usually get thrown away before the first time wearing the clothes. For the upcoming collection we will use organic cotton and recycled materials. This will reduce the usage of water, CO2 emissions and chemicals. For example, organic cotton needs 91% less water than normal cotton. Also, no pesticides are used and the groundwater doesn't get polluted.
For us, it is a step in the right direction.
We also will attach a separate label to the washing label, where you can write down your name and track how many other owners the product already had. We want to ask you to donate the item, gift it to a friend or resell it instead of throwing it away.
Besides that, it is important to us to point out that it doesn't matter if clothing is second hand. Our clothes are for everyone, they are genderless and timeless with an aim to last as long as possible. You can wear when and wherever you want to. We hope that our clothes get worn as often as possible instead of being thrown away after a few wears.
Sources
https://www.wwf.de/themen-projekte/plastik
"The following figures are from the Greenpeace survey "Disposable Clothing" from 2015, which surveyed 1,011 people between the ages of 18 and 69 about their clothing consumption."