brown concrete building near body of wat

OUR
STORY

We are printing some of the most environmentally friendly designer products ever produced on Earth.
Right here, at the community workshop of Bare Branding in Leith.

In the past we were screen printers using the most eco-friendly water based inks available, but to get there we had to overproduce to justify the set-up costs.

Example: 1 colour with 1 design would mean we had to produce a minimum 30 t-shirts, to cover all the sizes this means we would have to produce a minimum of 150 garments, waiting for an other, sitting on a shelf, going nowhere. As part of the process we also had to use chemicals, vast amounts of water and electricity.

Now, we have completely change our methodology and adopted a sustainable approach from design to production and retail. We also intend to cut out waste, from design through to retail. This means we will keep a limited stock and will only print on demand to fulfill customer orders. So when you order one of our LOOP products you'll be buying a quality, locally made product - but you may have to wait a wee while.

#slowfashion

About the Process

By using 100% certified organic cotton and by printing on demand we have achieved an 80% saving on our C02 emissions in materials and energy. Organic cotton is 100% compostable, at present on certain prints we use a tiny amount of heat transfer material that is free from harmful chemicals (OEKO-TEX®), this still leaves our finished printed garments more than 99% compostable.

Organic cotton when buried reverts back to nature as a nutrient.

Our heat-press approach is with profile cut vinyl transfers. The heat press take only 6 seconds to transfer the vinyl to the garment, so tiny amount of electricity is used.
Also, allow us to upcycle with new designs onto a variety of clothing that would be destined for landfill. The majority of printed fabrics sold and printed in Scotland contain vast amounts of chemicals, plastic inks and blended fibres with up to 60% plastic content. These garments are almost impossible to identify and recycle. When washed these fabrics release thousands of microfibres that now are major pollutants to all our oceans and seas.