A guide to the fabrics & fibres we use, and why we love them.

Each fabric we use in collections is chosen with careful consideration of what they are made from, the environmental impacts of their production and importantly the fabric’s overall life: how durable it is, how long it will last, how easy it will be to care for, and the overall quality of that fabric. We do the hardwork so you don't have to when purchasing one of our pieces.

Cotton

Cotton is a natural fibre that is made from the seedpod of the cotton plant. It is versatile and has amazing natural properties: it’s soft, strong, easy to care for, durable and resistant to pilling. Cotton is renewable and biodegradable and has the advantage of being a completely natural product, that doesn’t require an intensive chemical process in order to be transformed into a fabric.

First found woven in cloth around 3000 BC in Pakistan,then bought to Europe in around 800 AD, by the 14th century it was known throughout the world. Today cotton is the most popular natural fibre in the world, however cotton requires large amounts of water to grow, non-organic cotton requires a lot of pesticides and there are considerable social impacts of large scale production, which is why we only use dead-stock cotton fabrics to be more mindful of the environmental & ethical impacts of cotton production.

Linen

Linen is a natural fabric made from the fibres of the flax and linseed plant, and is one of the oldest fibres in the world. Roughly 5000 years ago both the Swiss & Egyptians used flax to make linen fabric.

This sustainable fibre requires little water and energy to produce, alongside being a highly economical and cost effective crop, it gets softer with each wash and wear. Flax is resilient and can grow in poor soil, using far less water in it's consumption than cotton and it's a renewable resource.

Linen has three times the strength that cotton does, as well as holding natural heat and moisture-wicking properties, meaning it breathes incredibly well and will help keep you dry and cool. It's pill resistant, biodegradable and anti-static. With all these things in mind, linen fabrics are some of our favourite to include in our collections & we do as much as possible.

Wool

Wool is a natural protein fibre which comes from the hair of sheep. It's said that primitive humans first protected their bodies with wool from domestic sheep some 10,000 years ago. This fibre is also renewable, as each year sheep produce a new fleece after they have been shorn. Wool has many amazing properties – including being totally biodegradable and having the ability to react to changes in body temperature, meaning it will help you stay cool in warm weather and warm in cold weather. It has a beautiful, soft feel, as well as a natural elasticity which will stretch and return to its natural shape as you wear it.

Australia is the world’s largest supplier of wool, grown year round across the country. We only use dead-stock wool fabrics as more ethical choice for us and our customers as animals are involved in the growing of wool. In other good news, wool is extremely suitable for mechanical recycling, and every year more and more wool is being recycled back into new textiles.

Rayon, Viscose, Cupro, Tencel

Rayon, viscose, cupro and tencel are biodegradable fibres which are made from wood cellulose sourced from quick growing, regenerative trees such as eucalyptus, beech and pine, as well as plants such as bamboo, soy, sugar cane and cotton linter, which is then chemically treated to produce its fibres. Rayon was the first manufactured semi-synthetic fibre.

They have a beautiful natural drape, and are known for their softness, moisture absorbency, as well as being breathable and comfortable to wear. They are often used as a silk alternative. As a plant-based fibres, viscose & rayon are not inherently toxic or polluting, however because of the growing fast fashion industry, much of the viscose & rayon on the market today is manufactured cheaply using energy, water and chemically-intensive processes, contributing to high leveld of greenhouse gases. Due to this, we generally only encorporate them into our collections when blended with other natural fibres to create extra strength, drape and durability and source dead-stock whenever possible.

Silk

Silk is a all natural fibre made from the cocoons of the silk worm and is one of the oldest fibres used to make textiles. Alongside being extremely soft to handle, strong ( stronger than even cotton and linen ), breathable and featuring a beautiful drape, natural elasticity, wrinkle resistant, silk is also biodegradable and renewable. According to archeological evidence, silk has been used for atleast 5000 years, originating out of China.

During the production of conventional silk ( excluding peace silk ) the silk worm is killed in order to retrieve the silk thread undamaged. Due to this we only source dead-stock silks & silk blend fabrics as more ethical choice for us and our customers.

Polyester

Polyester is derived from petroleum, which makes it an accessory to the world’s most polluting industries. Polyester fibres can take between 20-200 years to decompose in compost or landfill. Terylene, was the first polyester fibre created in Great Britain between 1931 & 1941. Polyester fabrics were first phrased for having zero wrinkles ( even after washing ), making the suiting one if its earliest uses.

The good news is that polyester is extremely durable and long lasting, alongside being super easy to care for, and it can add some really important properties of longivity to your clothing. While we generally avoid polyester, you may find a small amount of polyester blended in with a natural fibre or cellulose fiber, so that we can add the all important property of durability and easy-care to our garments. When choosing a polyester blend, we weigh the pros of an incredibly durable garment with the con of a less-sustainable fibre. We only source dead-stock polyester blend fabrics.

New technology has enabled us to recycle polyester & it is one of the most common fibres to be recycled and make into new fabrics.