Standard Issue’s newest knitwear collection delivers all the cosy feels
New Zealand-grown wool has always been at the heart of Standard Issue. The 100% New Zealand-designed and made collection is thoughtfully created with a circular life in mind and continues to forge its path around sustainable fashion and ethical clothing.
The local brand makes it a point to not only ensure that it knows where every fibre it sells comes from but also what happens to it when you’re done using it.
Standard Issue is setting a benchmark for eco-friendly fashion. Since the 1980s, it has been producing durable knitwear designed to last – ahead of the slow fashion game before it started to become a popular movement.
With deep beliefs around zero waste policy and making everything in-house, four crucial steps are part of its commitments to a stringent clothing lifecycle:
#1 Using natural fibres to produce long-lasting knitwear. All natural fibres are put through a rigorous testing process. The brand says their criteria means that the fibres used are 100% renewable and/or recycled with a low environmental impact
#2 Utilising innovative technology to minimise waste in the production process and work with a local New Zealand company that repurposes the off-cuts and turns them into household and commercial textile products.
#3 Limited production runs to ensure wasteful manufacturing doesn’t take up space in landfills. Preventing unnecessary production means the process is good not only for the environment but it also means the brand produces one-of-a-kind garments.
#4 Care for life
Standard Issue takes responsibility for the full lifecycle of each of their garments. Their Care for Life programme focuses on the entire life cycle of Standard Issue clothing. In doing so, they offer to:
repair knits and offer any small mending work for free. They also do larger repairs for a modest fee.
reuse by working with local communities and redistributing clothing that you no longer use to people in need. Tha brand also offers a 10% discount when returning items to be reused.
repurpose clothing that is beyond repair by working with a New Zealand textile recycling company that repurposes materials into household goods and products. If you have something to be repurposed, Standard Issue offers a 10% discount.
Jumper for jumper programme
One of Standard Issue’s most important values is to give back to the community. Every winter, Standard Issue partners with Middlemore Foundation to help provide vulnerable tamariki warmth. For every jumper purchased, the brand matches it by gifting one of its woollen jumpers to a child in need. All of these items are made in the Auckland workroom to produce a zero-waste, warm jumper that is created to last.
The new Standard Issue collection features 100% ZQ merino wool, 100% Supima cotton and 100% Italian Cariaggi Cashmere designs and is available online and at selected stockists now.
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