fair fashion: Gray Label from Amsterdam

Ecological growth

From 2011 to 2014, Gray Label worked with organic cotton sourced from organic cotton suppliers. From 2014, GOTS-certified production began to be investigated, and the production unit in Portugal and the cotton suppliers applied for certification.

All Gray Label garments have carried the GOTS label since January 2017. In addition to production with organic cotton, GOTS certification guarantees the highest processing standards worldwide and defines high ecological and social criteria along the entire supply chain for organic textiles.

Of course, this starts with the farmer:

By abandoning the use of pesticides, fertilizers, water irrigation and tractor operation, the organic farmer was able to achieve great savings for the environment compared to a non-biological farmer:

- His overall impact on global warming decreased by 47%.

- Acidification of his land and water decreased by 70%.

- Soil erosion decreased by 26%.

- Water consumption decreased by 91%.

- Energy consumption decreased by 62%.

- In addition, at the economic and social level the benefits for the farmer are:

- Good prices for cotton and direct payment

- Additional income through the cultivation of other crops besides cotton, made possible by a healthy and non-toxic soil.

- Working days of maximum 8 hours

- No child labour, children can go to school.

After harvesting, the cotton goes from the field through ginning, spinning, weaving, dyeing, finishing and sewing processes. All companies in the chain must have written environmental and social policies and procedures in place to monitor and improve the relevant environmental performance of their plants:

- Appropriate safety precautions, as the GOTS requirements avoid serious health risks for workers.

- Chemical influences such as parrafins or heavy metals are expressly prohibited or restricted for ecological and/or toxicological reasons.

- Dying influences and treatments such as ammonia, bleaching, optical brightening, etc. are expressly prohibited or restricted for environmental and/or toxicological reasons.

- Storage, packaging and transport: The packaging materials are PVC-free and are produced from recycled waste before or after consumption.

Gray Label has always been committed to the production of ecological children's clothing. We at Stadtlandkind are proud to be able to represent this exemplary label in Switzerland.