As a clothing brand we dream of a circular apparel industry, one where all the clothes we buy live long, well worn lives and eventually become upcycled, recycled, or completely decomposed. With this vision in mind, we are constantly working to minimize our environmental impact and eliminate waste from our own business. The fabrics we choose for our textiles are carefully selected with end of life biodegradability in mind. This is why we’ve opted to use cotton for the majority of our styles. It’s a natural fiber that can decompose relatively easily. We utilize a small amount of lycra to help shape the garment (but as little as possible because that content is much more difficult to breakdown). We’ve recently added even more sustainable fabric options to our line; our 100% linen requires significantly less resources to produce and can decompose in as little as two weeks, and our GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) cotton contains a whole host of extra benefits for the wearer and the Earth. We are excited to continue pushing Nooworks sustainability and expanding our offerings of more sustainable fabrics. This year we are adding a new fabric that is hemp based, and hope to eventually replace all of our cotton styles with it as it is significantly less resource intensive to produce.

As we continue to work toward our vision of sustainability for our brand, we invite you to  take part in our dream of creating a circular clothing industry. The great news here is there are really simple and even fun ways you can participate in closing the apparel loop! Simply prolonging the life of your Nooworks pieces by hand washing and air drying them will help maintain your garments integrity for so much longer. When you’re ready to move on from your clothes, consider gifting to a friend, donating to a charity, or reselling it through our Full Circle resell platform. If your garment gets damaged, don’t toss it! Instead, try mending it (we sell nifty mending scrap packs for all your DIY and repair needs!). These are just a few ways we can work together to help eliminate textile waste and be kinder to our planet. So you can look good in Nooworks and feel good about it too!

The vast majority of our fabric is un-dyed, which helps us avoid the harmful effects of the textile dyeing industry on the environment and human health. We produce our brightly colored textiles using a wet printing method called rotary printing. Each color in a design is engraved into a massive metal plate and the fabric is rolled through as many plate as there are colors to get the final design. It's kind of like stamping, but in a tube. All of our fabrics are printed in a facility in sunny Los Angeles with very nice people who we have worked with since 2014. 

The best way to make your clothes last is by washing them less often, only when it’s really needed. Spot cleaning is a lost art. When it is time for a wash, skip the washer and dryer cycle and opt for hand washing and hang drying. Your clothes will thank you; the fibers will remain intact longer and the colors won’t fade as fast. Added bonus, it’ll save water, energy, and help to keep yucky micro plastics out of our eco system.Here are some other ways you can add a little sustainability to your laundry routine:

• When you use your washer keep your wash cycle set to “cold” to prolong the life of your clothes and help reduce CO2 emissions.

• Choose a plastic-free, biodegradable detergent that doesn’t contain harsh chemicals that pollute water sources. It’ll also help keep harmful dyes, phosphates, chlorine, and phthalates out of your body and the environment.

• If you need to dry clean, look for a green dry cleaning option (specifically a dry cleaner that avoids PERC and other highly toxic chemicals).

• When a loved clothing item gets a rip or a snag, don’t throw it away! Instead mend, patch, darn, or get down with some fun DIY projects! Side note: We sell mending scraps for all of your Nooworks repair needs!