I have been looking into companies that create or use recycled materials and I came across Ecoalf the company started in 2009, the idea of the company was to create a fashion brand that is truly sustainable. The company discovered that we were using 5 times more natural recourses than the planet is able to generate, this drove the companies need for change. The company recycle discarded fishing nets, plastic bottles, tyres, post consumer coffee, cotton and wool.
The company use recycled bottles and plastic for their products with the intention of cleaning up some of the plastic islands focusing on the island in the North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic and the Indian ocean. Fishing nester one of the greatest killers in the oceans. The nets congregate driven by strong winds and currents. To create fabric out of plastic bottles the bottles are first collected and passed through a series of steps of cleaning, and crushing to obtain plastic flakes which through a mechanical process are then converted into polyester spun fibres that are manipulated to obtain the final quality. These recycled fibres are then used to develop fabrics, labels, straps, laces etc.
Fishing nets are made of synthetic materials, which decay slowly and they often drift for years destroying the environment around it in its process. Many of them end up caught on reefs, they catch fish, turtles, crustaceans, birds and mammals. They also destroy hard and soft corals, wiping out complete ecosystems while swaying in the current. Although removing the nets can be costly and time consuming Ecoalf see the process as conserving our environment while creating sustainable fashion that can be worn for style and practicality. Fishing nets have some of the worlds best nylon quality and are often recycled into various different fabrics.
The images below show some of the items from the Ecoalf Lookbook.
Ecolaf use some of the hardest materials to recycle and transform them into practical, wearable, fashionable garments that are both affordable and environmentally friendly. Ecolaf are a good company to look into and I have learnt alot about what they do and how various different materials affect our environment and I feel as though we can learn alot from this brand especially because our brand Frey aims to create sports bags using similar methods.
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