,

Interview – Fair uniforms from Bosnia & Herzegowina

What does “made fair-trade in Banja Luka” mean? We asked Emir, the director of the manufacture that produces our gis:

Is your company fair-trade certified?
The company is not fair-trade certified for various reasons: One is that the certifying organisations are not established in Bosnia & Herzegowina (BiH). Fairtrade for instance has a seat in Macedonia, but not in Bosnia. Some organisations such as fairwear.org certify brands and not the manufactures. To fill this gap, we offer a maximum transparency: for example, the designers are welcome to visit the company whenever they want, even without telling ahead.

Do you offer written work contracts?
When we look for a new employee, we start with a test period to check the abilities and if the new employee fits well into the team. In our company, each seamstress produces a piece from the beginning to the end. It’s not like in a factory where they would do only one part all day long. Thus they need some more capacities. After 10-14 days, they receive a written contract for 3 or 6 months. Some employees have long-term contracts.

You need to know that Bosnia is a corrupt country. As the law system doesn’t work properly, a trust relation with the employees is key for a successful business. One important element is that we pay the wages regularly, on the 10th day of each month. The wages in our company are about 20% higher than in comparable companies, around 300-600 EUR per month. The bus tickets are also paid by the company. In 2016, we could even pay a bonus of 50 EUR before the summer holidays.

What are the working hours?
Working hours are from 7:00 to 15:00. This is business as usual for the sector. Two breaks are included. The ladies decided to take them at 11:0 and at 13:00. We would like to offer them a hot lunch meal, but we can’t yet. The ladies are happy to spend a part of the afternoon taking care of their children or of their garden. Tending for food is an important complement to their revenue. The children go to school in the morning for two weeks, and then in the afternoon for the following two weeks. We wish to adopt a two-layer rhythm as well.

What about over-hours?
High peaks challenged our company in 2015 and made over-hours unavoidable. The last bus departure is at 15:30 and doesn’t allow for over-hours on workdays. But the ladies are very committed and come to atelier on Saturdays during peak times. They want to finish the garments in time. They can compensate by taking days off during less busy weeks. The support by the employees impressed us especially in 2014, when the river flooded the region. The employees rushed to the workshop to help before taking care of their own flooded homes. To reduce peak times in the future, we are orienting towards no-fashion-labels and continuous collections such as Misogi Dogi. The customers can also contribute to diminish peaks by allowing for a longer delivery time.

How much holidays can the employees take off?
There are two weeks of company holidays in august. One reason is the high temperatures, reaching 38°C+. This is too hot to work in the workshops. Beyond this, the employees take off during religious holidays depending on their faith. Once, this led to the curious situation that one employe was alone at work for several days in January while all her colleagues were celebrating sacred holidays.

What about social security?
The social security charges are rather low: 30%. They cover health insurance and a pension fund. Women have a right to 18 months paid maternity leave. However, the countries finances are ailing, and the services accordingly.

What would you like to do to make your company more sustainable?
Electric power is very expensive in Bosnia. We wish to install solar panels and LED lamps. We also would like to buy new glasses for Anka, our master seamstress.

Thank you!
(Zurich, July 2016)

Read more

/by
,

International Women’s Day

The International Women’s Day was celebrated at our manufacture in Bosnia. This is very touching: so many women in this sector get so little reward for their hard work. We are very proud to contribute to a better practice by working with SlowFashionFast!

/by
,

TJR Part I – White Gold of Aydin

My journey started in Izmir. While most of us will associate Izmir with beach holidays, the region is also famous for its textile industry. Turkey is one of the worldwide largest producers of organic cotton, together with India and China. Syria as well, before its crisis started.

The cotton used for our first piece of fabric was grown near Izmir – maybe exactly on the fields in the pics – a year earlier. This region offers optimal conditions for cotton: a lot of sun and a lot of water.

[crellyslider alias=”turkey_cotton”]

Aylan, whom I identified as the farmer’s son, kindly let me shoot pictures. Unfortunately, the language barrier reduced our communication to little more than smiles.

After the harvest, the cotton seeds are removed in the ginning process. During my visit, the cotton hadn’t been picked yet, thus the ginning factories were closed . Ginning is a winter activity.

Organic cotton is hand-picked.

On conventional farms, to lower the effort and cost, farmers sprinkle some highly toxic defoliant over the fields to force the cotton to ripen rapidly and blossom all at the same time, before the whole plant dies. Then, they pick the cotton all at once with huge machines.

On organic fields, cotton is grown without harmful chemicals. The plants are left intact allowing for natural ripening. In nature, cotton doesn’t ripen all at once. The ripe seeds are selectively and carefully picked by hand, resulting in higher fibre quality.

Organic cotton uses up to 90% less water than conventional one.

Conventional agriculture often heavily damage the soils, fostering erosion and leaching. The remaining soil cannot store water very well anymore and needs a lot of irrigation. Damaged soils is one of the challenges for farmers who want to convert to organic farming. But the conversion is worth the effort, because organic farming allows for the soil to regenerate and get healthy and alive again.

Next chapter

/by
,

TJR Part II – Symphony of Threads

Our cotton yarn spinning mill, one of Turkey’s 350 mills, is located in midst of cotton fields. Nur and Sedat welcomed me very warmly and showed me around. On the way to the storage halls, we walked by a group of factory workers, men and women, enjoying their break outside the building, in the shadow of some trees.

Our cotton was bought at the Izmir Commodity Exchange. Two main regional products are negotiated there: cotton and raisins, often grown by the same farmers. Sellers and buyers meet every day from 12am to 1pm to negotiate the daily price face to face. The company that spun the yarn for the first piece of Misogi Dogi fabric is also specialised in trading both cotton and sultana raisins.

Sedat with ginned cotton

Sedat with ginned cotton

The ginned cotton is stored in large halls. Quality and origin is marked on each bale: the mill spins 20% organic cotton, 80% conventional. Half of it is regional cotton, the other half is imported from Egypt or California.

Egyptian and Californian cotton are famous for their long fibres and are used for the finest yarns. Aegean cotton contains medium fibres. The spinning mill I visited is specialised in very fine yarns.

After enjoying the serene and silent atmosphere of the cotton bales storage halls, I receive a pair of earplugs. We enter one large factory hall full of very noisy machines for the entire spinning process. Most of them are from Switzerland, just like me.

In the entrance, last things first, we discover something that looks like a huge peak of whipped cream. It turns out to be a pile of cotton dust collected in the spinning hall.

Long lines of ginned cotton lie directly on the clean floor, with a separate line for organic cotton.

In a first step, it will be cleant from plant residuals that were not removed in the ginning process in a sort of a large laundry machine. Three of these are reserved for organic cotton only.

[crellyslider alias=”turkey_spinning”]

Then, the fibres are disentangled, aligned and combed (=carded) to form a large roll of cotton, then a thick sliver, then slightly twisted into a rowing and finally spinned into yarn. Cinderella beware: the factory building hosts 30’000 spindles, each of the 30 machines bundling a thousand.

But this is not the end. On the next machine, each yarn goes through a so-called usterizing machine to control the quality of every mm of yarn. Uster-what?? Oh, Uster is the name of a small Swiss town with a nice castle on a hill. The quality control mechanism was developed there.

Last, but not least, two or three yarns will be twisted into a single, stronger one. It is quite fascinating to watch the bobbins, furiously rotating, all aligned but seemingly independent from each other: one bobbin is nearly empty while its neighbour is reaching full size.

Is organic cotton spun differently than conventional one?

Well, not very much. The mill needs to carefully separate organic cotton from the conventional all through the process to avoid contamination or mixing up the qualities.

However, besides the cleaning stage and the choice of lubricants and additives to keep the machines running smoothly, the other processes are mainly mechanical and quite the same for both qualities.

Next chapter

/by
,

TJR Part III – Staccato of Thundering Looms

Our yarn was sent to a weaving mill of Turkey’s major textile city Denizli. 65% of the local companies are part of the textile sector. Tourists stop there to shop for clothes on their way to the impressive landscape of Pamukkale, the cotton castle: A single hill covered in a white shell made of limestone. On top, thermal springs were used as a spa by the ancient greeks and romans who built a whole city up there.

[crellyslider alias=”pamukkale”]

Already in 1332, the traveler Ibn Batuta described: “the cotton cultivated here is of the finest quality and excellent fabrics are made here, with gold or silver embroidery.” Our weaving mill also has a long tradition, as a few ancient pictures in their meeting room state.

[crellyslider alias=”tan_historic”]

Today, the weaving mill is situated in an industrial area full of textile companies on the outskirts of Denizli. A few turkeys greeted me at the entrance of the peach colored company building. Gülcin, a very friendly sales director who speaks German and English as well as I do, showed me around.

[crellyslider alias=”tan_welcome”]

Weaving basics: warp & weft

Basically, on a loom, a shuttle interweaves the weft (horizontal thread) into the warp (set of lengthwise threads). It takes at least one whole work day and several machines to arrange the threads on a warp and install the loom. Then, more or less 200m of fabric can be weaved by one loom per day.

From yarn to fabric

A first gigantic machine rolls the yarn from hundreds of bobbins onto one big warp beam. On the drawn-in machine, the warp is arranged to fit the fabric pattern. The warp beams queue in a line for the next step: a wax bath to avoid the threads breaking during the weaving process. Now, the warp is ready for weaving.

[crellyslider alias=”turkey_weaving_preparation”]

At the entrance, we were warned and equipped with earplugs: “Kulak koruyucunu kullan!” You’d better protect your ears! 72 looms, continuously weaving while sitting all together in one single hall, drown each other with their roaring staccato. The looms from Germany and Belgium weave 400.000m of fabric monthly, of which 10-20.000m a month are organic.

weaving is very noisy

weaving is very noisy

As we arrived in the weaving hall, two workers were just finalising the loom and together, we observed the very first centimeters of weaving. A historic moment for MISOGI DOGI!

[crellyslider alias=”tan_weaving”]

A first piece was cut out to be controlled. Covered with starch, the fabric was still very stiff and unbleached.

I had been told that the weaving mills produce minimum quantities of fabric because their machines are huge. When I saw the looms, my first thought was: come on, they are not THAT big! It’s in the finishing mill that I found the giants…

Organic weaving

As for spinning, weaving is also mainly a mechanical process. There is one key difference between organic and conventional weaving: to protect the threads from breaking and stabilize them during the weaving process, they are waxed. Instead of toxic wax, an environmental-friendly stabilizer such as corn or potato starch is used for organic fabrics.

As for spinning, the weaving process uses a lot of electric power. Currently, Turkish power is mainly generated from natural gas, coal and hydro-electricity. The government intends to establish some nuclear power capacity. MISOGI DOGI intends to rapidly grow and support the mills in installing renewable energy equipment. Didn’t I already mention in part I?: Turkey offers ideal conditions: a lot of sun and … a lot of wind!

Next chapter

/by
,

TJR Part IV – The Finishing Giants

I had hardly ever heard anything about finishing before I started developing MISOGI DOGI. This is surprising, since finishing is the paramount process in defining the quality of fabrics: for example, it’s because of the selected finishing process that your aikido uniform typically

  • shrinks by 10% and more during the first laundry and sometimes more over time;
  • is very stiff when freshly purchased;
  • is whiter than white.

In a finishing mill, freshly weaved fabrics are washed (to unwax), “grilled” (to burn away fluff), bleached and dyed, made water or fire proof, anti-static, wrinkle-free, softened and shrinked. The finishing makes it all! It’s a very subtle process where experience and expertise is key.

[crellyslider alias=”turkey_finishing”]

To make sure all my questions would be addressed properly, the director of the finishing department showed me around. Behind him and the sales ladies, you can see fabric rolls waiting to be finished. The organic fabrics are stored on a separate stack. To avoid any misunderstanding, the worksheets for organic fabrics are green while the ones for conventional are white.

Have you ever imagined a 30m long laundry machine? All the finishing machines are huge and look quite alike for an untrained eye. Can you imagine seven of them in one single hall? This was impressive! After seeing it, I understood why no weaving company would sell less than 500m of a fabric. 500m are already a very small quantity for the finishing giants, especially with regards to the special conditions required for organic fabrics:

Both conventional and organic fabrics are finished by the same machines. To avoid the organic fabrics to get in touch with toxic chemicals remaining from conventional treatment, the finishers have to clean all the machines with special care before processing a series of organic fabrics.

At the end, a controller scrutinizes each meter of fabric for errors. In a lab, tests are performed to check various quality aspects such as the fabric’s resistance to pilling and tearing. Then, the fabric is ready for shipping.

How are organic textiles finished?

Using large amounts of toxic chemicals, the finishing process counts amongst the most polluting industries. Together with the farming methods, this is where organic cotton can make a real difference in environmental terms: GOTS certified textiles are finished using only mechanical and thermic processes, natural additives and harmless chemicals.

Although organic fabrics are made with environmental friendly methods, their market share is so small yet that they are, in most cases, made by conventional mills alongside conventional fabrics. Thus, waste water treatment is an issue. Our finishing mill is situated in an industrial area with a common state-run sewage works, unfortunately out of the scope of my interlocutors. Questions remain for the future…

My day ended with a wonderful training with the Aikido Club of Denizli. What a pleasure to have such a global practice enabling us to find friends wherever we go!denizli-aikido

Next chapter

/by
,

TJR Part V – Organic Cotton in the World

My journey back to Berlin coincided with a workshop on organic cotton organised in the frame of the IFOAM Organic World Congress 2014 in Istanbul. The event came just at the right time to complement the learnings of my journey with further insights on the sector.

It was a unique opportunity to meet stakeholders from all over the world: India, Tadjikistan, Kirgistan, Côte d’Ivoire, USA, China, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and of course Turkey. The participants were a mix of representatives from farmers associations, NGOs, scientists and brands. They used this opportunity to exchange their experience and views, which was, of course, super interesting for a newcomer to the cotton world like me.

[crellyslider alias=”turkey_preconference”]

We discussed various challenges

  • Genetically modified cotton seeds overflow the market. Organic cotton tries to stay GMO-free. What measures can be taken to avoid contamination?
  • Teething troubles of the young organic cotton market: After a phase of overproduction (!) of organic cotton peaking in 2008/2009 at 250.000 t, the production has decreased in the last years. In the meantime, demand is rapidly growing and going to exceed supply shortly. How can supply and demand be better connected?
  • Transition from conventional to organic cotton farming involves many challenges and risks. How can farmers be better supported to change to organic methods?
  • The cotton market is challenged by strong price fluctuations and a lack of long-term commitments by customers. This makes it very difficult for farmer cooperatives to make the right investments . How can losses and benefits be better distributed along the supply chain?
  • There is a lot of prejudice against organic cotton, in terms of performance, quality, price and complexity. How can communication on organic cotton enhance its success?

I was surprised to learn how basic education is still viewed as a major barrier at the farmers’ level: many cotton farmers can’t read and have no choice but to trust information they receive from their (conventional) seed and chemicals’ supplier. Reading skills may enable them to get access to further information and help them to form an own opinion.

Organic cotton farming methods are completely different from conventional methods. For example, a successful method in organic cotton farming is crop rotation, uncommon on conventional farms. This means that organic cotton farmers often grow the cotton alongside other agricultural products. Thus they need training and access to further organic product markets. They also need better access to natural fertilizers and pesticides.

During the transition period, the cotton yields often drop during 2-4 years before increasing again, once the soil has recovered from the conventional conditioning. There is still little support offered to help the farmers to overcome this difficult period. Once they made it however, they often have a better life quality than before.

A few initiatives were presented that foster solutions and promote organic cotton. You’ll find plenty of further information on organic cotton there:

organic-cotton

Organic Cotton

Global Organic Cotton Community Platform is a joint Swiss-Dutch web platform for the world organic cotton community sharing knowledge on organic and fair trade cotton.

textile-exchange

Textile Exchange

Textile Exchange is a US-based organization promoting sustainable practices in the textile value chain.

oca

OC Accelerator

Organic Cotton Accelerator is a new initiative from large companies such as C&A and H&M and cotton associations promoting the organic cotton market.

I went home with a brochure called “Future Shapers: A Decade of Innovation in Textile Sustainability 2002 – 2012” in my pocket. The booklet features a collection of inspiring stories about 10 successful sustainable textile pioneers, such as Patagonia, hessnatur and veja. Well, the efforts by H&M, Nike and C&A are also featured. Anyway, after all the discussions on the challenges the young organic sector needs to overcome to establish itself on the market, this brochure encouraged me to go on with the Misogi Dogi adventure and to face my own challenges with bravery.

 

/by

Dogi & Deserts

What does a martial art uniform have to do with over 60.000 square kilometers of desert?

This desert, only a few years ago, was one of the largest lakes on the planet. April 22 is Earth Day, a day where we humans are asked to reflect upon the relationship we have with the earth we live on. Since MISOGI DOGI is creating a sustainable cotton product (our dogi!), we would like to highlight an important example of the impact that regular cotton production has on our planet.

Not so long ago, the Aral Sea was the world’s fourth largest lake, home to a variety of fish and surrounded by fishing communities, lush forests and wetlands. While the lake was salt water, the rivers that fed it were filled with fresh water.

Aral_sea_1985_from_STS

Aral Sea 1985 (cc by nasa)

In the 1950s, the Soviet Union began using the rivers to irrigate the surrounding agricultural area, a process that has been continued to this day by Uzbekistan. Water usage rose explosively, and soon the immense body of water started to shrink. Wetlands dried up and the lake bottom turned into a desert.

AralSeaModis

Aral Sea 2010 (cc by nasa)

The cotton industry has an important role to play in this environmental disaster due to its enormous water usage. In the area around the Aral Sea, 1.47 million hectares of cotton are grown. Cotton is a hugely water intensive crop (For example, in order to make a regular cotton uniform, a staggering 30.000-50.000 liters of water are used!).

Next to this, regular cotton production relies heavily on pesticides. Although it is only grown on 2.5% of the world’s agricultural land, it consumes 16% of all insecticides and 6,8% of all herbicides that are globally used. These chemicals are washed out of soils, and pollute rivers and groundwater. Pests often develop resistance to the pesticides that are constantly sprayed on the cotton fields, which requires even stronger chemicals and increasing dosages. These chemicals eliminate not just the pests, but also many other species. This interference with the ecosystem considerably reduces biodiversity.

The exposure of the bottom of the lake due to the ongoing drought, has released salts and pesticides into the atmosphere. These are poisoning both farm land and people alike. Carcinogenic dust is blown into villages causing throat cancers and respiratory diseases. Many small farmers fall ill or die due to pesticide exposure.

To us, the fact that uniforms worn by aikido practitioners are linked to these and other kinds of environmental and social conditions, doesn’t fit with the aikido spirit.

Fortunately there are promising solutions 🙂

Organic cotton provides the world with an alternative. Although still needing water for production, organic farming practices focus on creating healthy soils which make better use of water inputs. In this way the fields are more resilient in drought conditions. By eliminating the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, the water pollution impact of organic has been shown to be 98% less than non-organic cotton production.

cot2 ton field

On this Earth Day we encourage you to take a moment to think about your relationship with this beautiful planet you live on. Do you feel connected to your surroundings? Have you ever thought about the environmental impact of the things you are buying? Are there better alternatives? Little increases in awareness and small lifestyle changes are all valuable and contribute to a more balanced world.

/by