Our Materials
Buttons can be made of plastic, metal, wood, or seashell, depending on the look sought and the budget. Since the mid-1950s, when oil extraction started increasing and with it, oil-derived materials, plastic became the most common option.
When designing a garment, the fabric is the main component, it has the biggest impact in terms of carbon footprint and resource use. However, when looking at the whole garment's life cycle, trims and accessories should also be chosen carefully. That is why we decided to switch from recycled plastic buttons to corozo for the majority of our buttons.
Corozo, originally called tagua, its indigenous name, is native to South America and grows a lot in Ecuador. It is known as vegetable ivory due to its similarity with animal ivory but comes from a nut.
Corozo has been used since the 1800s to make buttons and was very common in Europe until plastic became popular and later, cheaper. Later in the 60s, natural materials regained popularity, and even if plastic is still the cheapest and most used solution for buttons, corozo buttons are now used by many brands. That allows over a thousand people from local communities in Ecuador to participate in the collection and raw material transformation, thus improving livelihood in these remote parts of the country. Today the main exporter of corozo buttons has relocated to Panama, with local importers in India who transform this natural material into Dedicated buttons.
Trims and accessories are all the additional components used on a garment, aside from the fabric. In our clothes, you'll find buttons, zippers, elastic drawcords, metal buttons, elastic bands, and cord stoppers.
Challenges
Controlling the provenance of our trims can be difficult, as most factories tend to source trims locally to get better prices and delivery times. A lot of trims, like elastic bands, are made of fossil fuel-based materials and can complicate the potential recycling process. With a small production team at our office, it can be difficult to control all the trims that we source. We therefore focus on our most commonly used accessories, like buttons, and ask our suppliers to source better alternatives when available.
Our strategy
To ensure durability, we prioritize quality by sourcing from renowned suppliers like YKK when possible. When designing products, we always assess trim-free alternatives. For example, we have replaced all metal eyelets with sewn eyelets made of polyester thread, we switched the metal closing systems or elastic drawcords to knots and fabric drawcords. Additionally, all trims used on GOTS-certified garments must be Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified, meaning that the accessories are tested for harmful substances, ensuring that they are safe for human health.
