Howies Clothing
by on 03. 1.05
It doesn’t matter that U.K.-based Howies clothes are really, really cool looking. (Well, ok, it does help. A lot. In fact, it’s a big part of the reason why they’re up here.) What’s mostly important is the philosophy that these dudes bring to their business, which started out with four T-shirts many moons ago. Today Howies makes all kind of jeans, T-shirts, hoodies, and the like for the hipster outdoors set. Run by mountain bikers, skateboarders, and snowboarders (etc.), these are “low-impact” clothes (in terms of eco-footprint, that is) that you can really see yourself wearing everyday. Following, a few of our favorite lines from Howies thoughtful, totally cool, 100% TreeHugger-approved Web site:
>We pledge to give 1% of our turnover or 10% of pre-tax profits (whichever is greater) to grass-root environmental and social projects.
>Every product we make has passed the ‘The rocking chair test’…when we are old and grey and sitting in our rocking chairs, we can look back on the company we created with a smile. That’s why we go to the trouble of using the best quality materials to make sure our clothing lasts longer. The longer our products last the less impact they will have on the environment, and the bigger our smile will be.
>We can’t say that our products are fair trade because we are not convinced that there is a trusted set of guidelines to follow. That has meant we have to write our own guidelines. For a tiny company that is some undertaking. How do you measure the air quality in a factory? What chemicals are good? What chemicals are bad? How much overtime is allowed? How much holiday should be given? To these questions and more, we will go find the answers. Then we will make sure our factories follow our common sense guidelines.
>We are always looking for new ways to try to tread more carefully.
>Even though recycling is a good idea, it is still better to get people to use less paper than to recycle it. That's why we thought we would target the junk mail companies to stop sending us stuff we don’t want. After all, if companies can send you their junk mail, why can't you send them yours? Most companies will give you a freepost return address when they send you some mail. Just attach this to whatever junk you have and send it back to them at their expense. The heavier it is the more they’ll have to pay.
>We made a loss this year. Just like the last one. And the one before that. It’s not that we are doing badly. It’s because it’s not easy running a small business. You have to invest in good people if you want to grow and spread the gospel according to Howies.
Thank you for the tip, Chris Lehault!
I don't see anything here that's better than the Gap, frankly. Am I missing something? Third world labor, unsustainable materials?
Come on, let's hear about groups like Praxis.
I'm also not impressed. They use wool to make many of their products, which is environmentally unsustainable and incredibly cruel - they use Merino, in fact, which is the worst of the worst. For more information about the mutilation, starvation, brutal abuse and painful slaughter of sheep used for their wool, check out savethesheep.com.
i've always considered wool a very sustainable fiber. it's all natural, easy to make organic, is long lasting, renewable, has some of the most attractive qualities a fiber needs (unmatched odor resistance, high warmth for low bulk, easy dye) and it's 100% biodegradable. granted i've only visited one commercial sheep farm, but what i saw appeared to be something i would support (humane and relatively eco).
you can surely find cruel farmers, and they should be stopped, but i don't know that it's industry standard.
It is.
i'm all for humane treatment of animals... i am veggie, but the problem with peta is that they lie and overstate their claims to the point where they actually create an anti-peta mentality in the mainstream. that website is quite obviously misleading and holds no more truth than your average ideology fan site.
wool is one of the most environmentally sustainable fibers available. howie's uses MAPP certified wool. if you bother to read what that entails instead of making inaccurate blanket generalizations against the industry, you will understand that no, ari, it is not standard.
I don't see what's so sustainable about wool. Sheep shit runoff is polluting fresh water supplies and causing methane emissions that are helping to burn a nice hole in the ozone. Also, have u seen what they do to the sheep? Some of the worst animal abuse I've ever seen. Look into what mulesing is and what the do to the sheep once they're "spent." Let's not confuse that feel good word, "sustainable" with humane. There is no correlation.