Colorful Standard T-Shirt 🌱

Brief Analysis of the Product

• My personal favorite T-Shirt brand, that I wear on a nearly daily-basis!
• Although the product is from the fashion industry (that largely remains unsustainable), from my perspective, this particular brand does everything right - along the entire value chain.
• It covers both the environmental and social pillars of sustainability (see key features below) and promotes me to not buy random clothes, but really think about each product and how I can minimize my personal CO2 footprint by choosing the right one.
• As of now, I am still wearing all the T-Shirts, but once they will no longer fit my body size, I will either swap them with friends or re-sell them, for example via "eBay Kleinanzeigen" in order to ensure some sort of circular economy in my private life.
• Check it out here, if you like: https://colorfulstandard.com/

Key Features that Promote Sustainability

• Sustainable materials: Cotton is 100% organic, can be grown using natural rainwater without the need for harmful chemicals → through ecological handling, the use of pesticides, and greenhouse gas emissions is minimized by up to 94%.
• Environmentally friendly dye: All dyes that are used to develop different shades are Oeko-Tex certified, which means they have been thoroughly tested for harmful chemicals.
• Recycled FSC packaging: To reduce transport-related waste as much as possible, recycled polyester and plastic fibers are used for labels and packaging. All hangtags and forest-based materials come from FSC-certified sources, which means they are not created at the expense of people, animals, or forests. FSC certification is considered the "gold standard" for harvested forest-based materials because of its environmental and social benefits.
• Ethical labor practices: All products are manufactured in their own production center in Portugal. By having the production in Europe, Colorful Standard adheres to the high standards of the EU and has unique control over the manufacturing process. Employees are not viewed as arbitrarily replaceable but treated as people. Operations are under European labor laws, which ensure that all employees in the production center have fair hours and fair wages.
• No seasons and long-lasting: Overconsumption is a serious problem, especially in the seasonal models of the fashion industry. Overconsumption strips the earth of its natural resources and contributes to climate change. To reduce the negative impact of overconsumption, Colorful Standard creates timeless basics that stand the test of time. The garments are made of high-quality materials and have been carefully crafted to last more than a season or two. That way, you don't have to buy the same T-shirt or sweater over and over again.
• Zero waste: The clothes are dyed as garments, which means that they are dyed only as needed. With this method, large quantities of clothes can be dyed without leaving large amounts of dye. With precise laser cutting, fabric waste is reduced to a minimum. Laser cutters use a higher percentage of material than other cutting methods due to their high accuracy and proper cuts. This means less waste of raw materials. Laser cutting also uses significantly less energy than some other cutting tools and presses. Though, even with precision cutting, of course, there are still scraps left behind. Fortunately, there is a way to use these leftover materials by recycling them in the form of furniture fillings.

Features that Reduce Sustainability

• Packaging and shipping: There's a lot more to the packaging and shipping process than meets the eye. Labels, packaging, and hangtags are areas where waste can easily occur (though here, it is mitigated as much as possible).
• End consumer behavior: After all, if end consumers buy tons of T-shirts and throw them away within a short period of time, all the good qualities of sustainability can be compromised. The same applies if end consumers order many different sizes and return half of the order each time.