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This is Part 4 of our Environmental Series. Read Part 3 here.

The Game Plan (cont’d)

Step 4. Use cultural heritage to craft your identity.

Japanese Sashiko stitching provides a very interesting example of treating clothing as a living energy. In Japan during the Edo era the lower classes were forbidden to adorn their clothing. They primarily wore indigo-dyed cotton and linen, which due to bactericidal properties had a ward status. There was little opportunity to replace old clothes with new, and so the Sashiko stitching, a beautiful darn for mending the damaged pieces, was born. Despite the Spartan conditions of the period, the Sashiko stitching provided not just a unique adornment but also enabled clothing to serve multiple generations. Families developed a culture of respect towards clothing and a philosophy that multi-generation family energy empowered one’s life; clothes became family talismans. Soon the concept spread to the more powerful classes and a culture emerged around not throwing anything away, treating clothing with respect whilst they served their owner, and saying goodbye with dignity when it was time.

This concept is very much alive in Western culture. We all have things we love, whether it’s a toy we carried around as a kid, or a bra that is beat up and greyish, but we insist on wearing as our lucky bra.

The idea of how old can convert into a very useful new, without feeling like creativity brought on by clothing rationing, is having a renaissance and is championed by various figures. In her recent post blogger Sonalini Chaudhry (aka @theroundgirl) shared how after going 2 sizes up she converted her old dhoti pants “with a few deft turns of needle and thread”, and how she learnt to mix older items in her closet with newer ones to achieve fresh results. Another example is the adventurer and TV presenter Alexandra Tolstoy who shared how she patched up squab cushion to revitalise her family sofa (photos below).

It is silly to talk about passing a bra from generation to generation – bras are individual things. But imagine finding somewhere in the family bins your grandmother’s bra and bloomers with amazing embroidery and delicate seams? You might not even be sure what the bra is made of – it looks translucent and could be fine cotton or even organza. You realise your grandmother was not some ancient creature with a cane. She was spectacular. And suddenly you feel the warm support of previous generations and feel ignited to live a life that’s meaningful and extraordinary.

These values are universal. It is our heritage and collected energy that give us perspective as humans. Find that point in your history and in your wardrobe and set the course that rings true.

On the photos

The Sashiko Stitch. Illustration by Ms Pomelo.

Zack MacLeod Pinsent makes his own clothes and dresses in Regency style. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian. Nora Thoeng’s style is inspired by 40’s and 50’s: ‘Dressing up brings so much joy into my life.’ Photograph: Nora Finds. From the man who wears 17th-century clothes to the woman whose outfits are straight out of the 1950s, six people explain their deep devotion to period dress. The Guardian.

Further reading

Sarah Butler. 2018. Is fast fashion giving way to the sustainable wardrobe? The Guardian.

Kelly-Leigh Cooper. 2018. Fast fashion: Inside the fight to end the silence on waste. BBC News.

Alabama Chanin. 2016. The History of Silhouettes. The Alabama Chanin Journal.

Gwen Cunningham. 2017. Step 2: Design Out Waste. Circle Textiles Program at Circle Economy.

Vanessa Friedman. 2017. The New Meaning of Fast Fashion. The New York Times.

Roger Harrabin. 2018. Fast Fashion is harming the Planet, MPs say. BBC Environment Analysis.

Harriet Johnson. 2018. Sashiko Embroidery: What it is and How to Do it. Clothing Care Co.

Ammar Kalia. 2019. From the man who wears 17th-century clothes to the woman whose outfits are straight out of the 1950s, six people explain their deep devotion to period dress. The Guardian.

Palko Karasz. 2019. France to end disposal of $900 million in unsold goods each year. The New York Times.

Molly St. Louis. 2017. Research Shows That the Clothes You Wear Actually Change the Way You Perform. Inc.

Brett Mathews. 2015. Closing the Loop: Circle economy work. MCL Global.

2015. Marie Kondo Folds a Perfect Underwear Drawer. New York Magazine.

Lucy Norris. 2014. The limits of ethicality in international markets: Imported second-hand clothing in India. Department of Anthropology, UCL.

Elizabeth Paton. 2019. In Britain, Politicians Shy Away From a Crackdown on Fast Fashion. The New York Times.

Elizabeth Paton. 2019. Will a ‘Fashion Pact’ Make Fashion Greener? The New York Times.

Jess Peter. Transformable Fashion: The Biggest Sustainable Clothing Trend That Never Was. The Fashion Studies Journal.

Adele Peters. 2019. This new IBM recycling tech makes brand new plastic from dirty bottles. Fast Company.

Adele Peters. 2019. All the ways recycling is broken—and how to fix them. Fast Company.

Anuschka Rees. How to assess the quality of garments: A Beginner’s Guide.

Nathalie Remy, Eveline Speelman, and Steven Swartz. 2016. Style that’s sustainable: A new fast-fashion formula. McKinsey & Company.

Tatiana Schlossberg. 2017. Fig Leaves Are Out. What to Wear to Be Kind to the Planet? The New York Times.

Elizabeth Segran. 2019. Zara built a $20B empire on fast fashion. Now it needs to slow down. Fast Company.

Ben Schiller. 2015. Robots Are Coming For Your Recycling (And That’s A Good Thing). Fast Company.

Elizabeth Segran, 2019. The ambitious quest to recycle the world’s bras. Fast Company.

Ushering in a Green 2019: Consumers Resolve to Be Less Wasteful this New Year. ThredUP News.

Andrew Winston. 2018. The Story of Sustainability in 2018: “We Have About 12 Years Left”. Harvard Business Review.

Kate Wood. 8 Reasons to rethink Fast Fashion. Lifehack.

Clothing Knowledge Hub. 2019. WRAP.

This is Part 3 of our Environmental Series. Read Part 2 here.

The Game Plan (cont’d)

Step 3. Buy wisely/consume smartly.

How Many Bras Do You Actually Need?

According to the statistics, women have 2-3 bras they wear 95% of the time and another 5-8 they never use (poor fit, special occasion only) (source: UK Underwear report 2016, Mintel).

Buying Strategy

(1) An obvious but often overlooked consideration: does your wardrobe have the capacity for a new piece? (2) Think of clothing in your wardrobe you will be wearing this bra with, and plan for matching briefs, to give it a good run. For example, French women rotate 3 briefs with one bra; (3) Buy designs that reflect quality and durability: check that the material is high quality, seams are neat, and check customer reviews for longevity; (4) Buy customer service and after-sale support; ask what guarantees the seller can offer in case a wire pops out.

Design defines 80% of how durable the product is going to be. In the quest for normalising product obsolescence rates, buying the right design is the most effective single contribution you can make as an individual consumer.

Simple Bra-Buying Math

Scenario A: You buy a £10 bra and wires pop out every 2 weeks. This means you need to buy 25 bras per year. Your total expense is £250.

Scenario B: Same as Scenario A but you choose to repair half of your bras, and so you buy 13 bras and take them 12 times to a repair shop (at £5 per repair). Your total expense is 13 x £10 + 12 x £5 = £190.

Scenario C: You buy 3 bras at £45 (these are well made and have product guarantee). You total expense is £135 but these may last you well over a year.

Buy the Right Size/Fit

Wearing the right size and fit is key to your good experience with the bra. Sizing, however, is often inconsistent between brands and styles. To counter that, you can work with a professional bra-fitter or learn the basics of sizing and fit to be able to choose well by yourself.

Care

Wash after 3–4 wears or whenever it gets soiled. Wash in a washing machine: get a mesh bag and wash with similar colours at +30C on a gentle cycle. Avoid fabric softener as it clogs up the synthetic fibres and impairs fabric breathability. Hang to dry. Full care instructions link. There are also health implications for our skin – learn more here.

Repair Where You Can

The most frequent fault bras have is wires popping out. You can stitch up the wire channel opening by hand, or if the job is more serious, you can send it to us. We do free repairs as part of our product guarantee promise.

Use Alterations

The band may feel looser if your weight changes, or straps may feel short/long. We offer free alterations to prolong your experience with the bra.

The Signs of a Bra Being Dead

This is quite difficult to achieve given the high durability of materials used nowadays. The weakest links are the straps and wings losing elasticity, wires popping out, the lining tearing up, and cumulative wear and tear as a result of which the fit no longer works.

Clear Out

When the bra has passed its prime but still can be used, why not wear it for a hiking trip or a gardening session where it will work just the same? The French clear out their entire lingerie drawer once a year.

Secondary Use

You can repurpose a bra as a summer flower basket or cut up its foam as stuffing for a throw pillow. If you absolutely must, gift it to a bra bank but be aware of the actual impact it has on your intended audience. The alleged misuse of distribution channels for second-hand bra trade in developing markets is widely documented and some West African states are banning the trade to enable local producers.

Read onto Part 4 here.

On the Photos

WRAP Textiles Sustainability Guide. Credit WRAP.

If you tuned in to any kind of news recently, you are well aware of the environmental issues – compromised biodiversity, water pollution, global warming, etc. – often caused by human activities. While there are no surprises in how we got here, the pace of deterioration is real and the prospect of an environmental meltdown is frightening.

As a bra company, we think about these matters a lot. After all, we are part of the textile ecosystem, the second most polluting force on the planet.

In this piece we share our perspective as a lingerie maker and seller, discuss recycling options for clothing, suggest strategies for making your bras serve you better and longer, and offer historical perspective to help you build your own solution.

How Did We Get Here?

Humans learnt to make clothing in the Palaeolithic Era 40,000 years ago. While styles and fashions have changed over the millennia, the situation remained stable in that the scarcity of clothing determined the consumer’s mindset.

A fundamental shift took place at the turn of the 20^th century. A broader role of women in society triggered the requirement for varied wardrobes; multiple activities during the day, like career, social, and sports, meant multiple outfits. In parallel, hemlines travelled actively and technological progress brought on novelty in the materials used. Also, caring for clothing transformed from weekly, if not monthly, to a widely accessible laundry and dry cleaning. On the whole, for the first time in human history, mass production and distribution made clothing affordable to many layers of society.

After WWII consumption was encouraged as a way of life, resulting in mass-produced disposable goods. Fashion has been particularly good at applying the tactic of planned and perceived irrelevance. The globalisation of fashion has accelerated the trend: between 2000 and 2014 consumers increased their level of consumption by 60% while using clothing for half as long. Most recently, the rise of the IWIWIWI culture (I want it when I want it) has pushed the delivery time of 3–4 days to same-day delivery, and in some cases, like high-price fashion items sold off-runway, to 30-minute delivery.

This presents us with 2 problems.

Problem 1: Our carbon footprint is out of control and we are on a collision course with nature. Globally, the fashion industry consumes more energy than the international aviation and shipping industries combined (source: UN). Britain buys more new clothes than any other European country, and sends c. 300,000 tons of clothes a year to incineration or landfills. And while the stock incineration practices by Burberry spark an outrage, its damage to the environment is minimal compared to fast-fashion operators like Inditex Group.

Problem 2: We are losing perspective. The idea of disposability (when it’s cheaper to buy new shirt than to clean the one you already own) undermines the whole concept of value over time, and craftsmanship which justifies the price of a garment. Clothes are the signposts of personal communication, and should be careful long-term acquisitions. Otherwise we risk identity whiplash. It goes one step further with bras; they determine our comfort and wellbeing and are key to our secret powers as women. While it may not be obvious why you should choose one bra over another (they look the same and the communication from the brands is often similar), it takes years of expertise to build a genuine article that will make a profound difference to your life.

We have the game plan. Read on to Part 2.

On the photos

Greta Thunberg, a 16-year old Swedish climate activist, has become the refreshing force of the climate change synonymous with action-focused approach. She started skipping school on Fridays to protest for climate change at the Swedish Parliament, classmates followed her, European counterparts imitated her; hence the hashtags #FridaysForFuture and #ThereisNoPlanetB. Credit: Canva.

For corals, the environmental changes brought on by global warming can be catastrophic. When the water gets too acidic, the corals’ rock-like skeletons break down. When it gets too warm, the zooxanthellae (tiny photosynthesizing organisms living in coral tissue and supplying food, oxygen, and bright colours) go into overdrive, producing dangerous amounts of oxygen. To protect themselves, the corals will expel the organisms, turning bone-white in the process—a phenomenon known as bleaching. Heron Island, a spec of sand and foliage on the Southern end of Australia’s Great Barrier Reed, has experienced its worst bleaching events in history during 2016 and 2017. So far it has been spared the worst of the crisis. But scientists fear what the future may hold.

Fuller busts are heavy (can weight up to 1.5-2kg each) and pose a number of challenges for a bra maker:

• Weight distribution is critical for the health of the backbone;
• Support bust in its natural position through movement without restraint – breasts move in a sinusoidal shape, which makes the task akin to building a suspension bridge;
• Breathability – sensitive warm mass is prone to irritation and skin infections;
• Giving shape – framing the bust attractively and fitting it under clothing.

Everything in the design is subjected to delivering on the challenge:

(1) Wider elastic at the band enhances the stability and prevents roll-up;

(2) Tall centre panel for greater support and coverage;

(3) Breathable cotton-lined cups, full coverage cup structure to keep the breast in its place;

(4) Steel enamel coated underwire – fuller busts require firm underwires;

(5) Wider cushioned straps help distribute the weight between back and shoulders;

(6) Tall wings help manage the bulge and hug the body without ‘travelling’;

(7) Leotard strap join (J-shaped like ballerina’s leotard) to support greater weight effectively (as opposed to the right angle meant for lighter weight)

(8) Larger closure at the back – 3 row-hooks on cups 40E (and equivalent across bands) and over;

(9) In-cup power sling runs along cup sides to shape and lift the breasts;

The choice of the material is important (not discussed here): it must be quality, durable and resilient, in line with the weight and pressure/stretch it handles.

We have a separate post dedicated to bra elements and their function to help you with terminology.

We are happy to answer your questions on the topic – please also check with our social platforms.