Apr 22, 2019
Today is Earth Day, (our favourite holiday). Earth Day serves as an International day of awareness to encourage companies and individuals alike to remember that our planet needs to be preserved and protected. Many things threat our planet, like pollution and unsustainable practices used to create things that we love. We exist in order to attempt to inspire change among the fashion industry, trying to be as sustainable as possible in the production of our garments. Small choices can make a big impact, and we wish to offer a sustainable alternative for climbing and yoga clothing, so that at least our impact on the environment will be as small as possible.
"I started 3RD ROCK because I needed to make clothing that is useful,
that is worn to death, and that is respectful to the planet and its inhabitants."
Jessica Mor - Founder
OUR PLANET, OUR RESPONSIBILITY
NO MORE PLASTIC GARMENT BAGS
Last year, we pooled our brains to come up with a strategy to phase our plastic in our garment packaging. First we made the move to reusable garment bags from single use plastics. That first step last year led us to eventually finding a non plastic form of packaging. We are pleased to announce from Spring/Summer19 we are introducing organic cotton ribbon to replace plastic garment bags in our packaging. Now your favourite sustainable garments will arrive neatly hand-tied by one our staff. As we produce hundreds of garments a year, we hope this small change will make a big impact in our company plastic use.
STAMP OF APPROVAL
Last year we updated our Swing Ticket attachments from plastic to an eco-friendly jute twine to make sure we were using less plastic here as well.
A swing ticket is the helpful card full of information about your garments that comes attached to your new clothing. Every garment has them, and most of them are using tons of plastic to attach and re-attach tags to garments.
This year we replaced the supply of swing ticket tags to a FSC certified card. The Forestry Stewardship Council ensure that all products are sourced in an environmentally-friendly, socially responsible and economically viable manner. This means that no unnecessary trees were harmed in the making of your swing ticket.
FROM BOTTLES TO PANTS
Our Spring/Summer 19 collection has the widest range of recycled garments yet! By using a 90% recycled polyester sourced from plastic bottles and a 10% elastane combination we offer technical fabrics while reducing waste. From our latest collection, you'll find the HIRO trouser CELESTE vest & Re-TITAN ORBIT leggings that are 9/10ths recycled. There's a lot of new life given to those materials that would have ended up in landfills otherwise!Some of our previous seasons also have recycled garements such as the GEO TITAN, SOLSTICE. ECLIPSE and two types of the LUNA bra.
Coming soon are our ROCKETEER shorts and the ladies MAYA shorts, which are both recycled from bottles alongside the HIRO. For the nerds, here's some math for you.
Each Rocketeer and Maya contain 12.5 plastic bottles in each garment. The Hiro contains 24 bottles in each. This year we repurposed this many bottles to make these garments:
Rocketeer: 4375 | Maya: 3125 | Hiro: 4800
That's a total of OVER 12,000 BOTTLES that have been used instead of floating around in the ocean. Knowing your trousers not only look great but have an impact on preserving our planet. Your purchasing choices make a difference!
PAPER TAPE & PAPER BAGS
When we got to thinking about ways in which we could be more sustainable, as we packed our orders into our brand new recycled paper bags, we realised we were still using plastic tape in order to secure them. We use tape often and as protection when mailing garments, so this seemed a place to look for improvement.
Hundreds of metres of tape are used every year to secure boxes in our studio, to protect parcels going out to you and as well as multiple uses around the office.
Hundreds of metres of tape are used every year to secure boxes in our studio, to protect parcels going out to you and as well as multiple uses around the office.
After much research, we found a tape that is made from recycled paper. For the tape to be sticky, it is then coated with a natural latex rubber adhesive from trees that don’t typically need pesticides to grow, which was a bonus. This tape is also 100% biodegradable. As the manufacturer's say, ‘Sticking things together no longer has to be a sticking point, environmentally speaking.’
DID YOU KNOW: Paper can be recycled up to 7 times, so make sure you recycle your tape and packaging once again after your items arrive.
COUNTED WITH INTENTION
If you are new to 3RD ROCK or are a long time fan, you might have noticed we don't have hundreds of thousands of items and we tend to sell out of certain styles very quickly. Although it may mean saying goodbye to your favourite pair of jeans or legging pattern each season, there is a method behind our madness.We make a conscious effort to not produce extra garments purposefully, as extra clothing made means extra waste and energy used to produce them.
We hope that your 3RD ROCK kit is loved and worn to death. And although we know it might be disappointing to see your size sold out, we try to keep our stock appropriate to what people may purchase. However, you can let us know you're looking for a certain size and we'll do our best to accomodate you if you ever are out of luck. It's also pretty handy to follow us directly for updates on when we get new items in here.
There are always ways in which we can make all of our practices more sustainable. And we are always open to your suggestions! Just email us at info@my3rdrock.com if you have any ideas or questions.
At the moment, we are working to use even more recycled materials in the making of our garments and trying to phase out plastic EVEN MORE!
Want to join us being GREEN? Play our 'How Green Are You?' QUIZ
