Quality Controls & Fair Trade
Our persuasion. LIVING CRAFTS, as a company, is conscious of its responsibility towards nature and the environment. Hence, all of our production processes are geared towards that. To us, cooperating with and being fair with regard to the environment, our suppliers and customers is of the utmost importance.
Our standards. In addition to paying attention to the certification of our textiles pursuant to Control Union and Naturland, we are also particularly interested in the socioeconomic standards at our production sites. Most of our factories work in accordance with the SKAL guidelines as well as the SA 8000 social standards. Fair trade is a matter that is close to our heart. This includes adequate wages, fair working conditions and long-term partnership contracts with our producers. Naturally, we also pay attention that ecological requirements are met at our production sites abroad as well. This is mainly about adequate storage places, cleanness and the right treatment of our raw materials without the use of pesticides and herbicides.
Our site in Germany is by no means excluded from our socioeconomic ambitions. Here, we endeavour, as much as we can, to work on the area of conservation and toward social justice.
Our controls. Independent institutes such as Control Union (CU) check whether we adhere to our guidelines. The tests are carried out by the various manufacturing companies themselves in accordance with our quality directives. In addition, we have our textiles checked regularly by external laboratories which test them for harmful substances.
Manufacturing Process
Dyeing We dye out fabrics without heavy metals and formaldehydes. Our dyes are non-poisons and gentle on sensitive skin.
The dyes. We dye fabrics without heavy metals, weighting agents, complex agents, and formaldehyde pursuant to the guidelines of Naturland and the International Association of the Natural Textile Industry (IVN). Our dyes are toxicologically harmless.
The process. Our fabrics are dyed in a water-dye bath. Afterwards, the dyes are fixed.
The conditions. Our factories have their own waste water treatment plants. In order to dye fabrics, a certain temperature is necessary. The waste heat which is generated in the heating process is used in our factories to generate electricity. Our factories also use wind energy.
Equipment We equip our textiles solely in a thermo-mechanical fashion and avoid chemical treatment of the fabrics altogether.
The process. The term equipping describes the physical/mechanical treatment of the fabrics to change their characteristics, adapt them to customer requests and to refine them. At LIVING CRAFTS, we equip our fabrics in a thermo-mechanic fashion only. First, the fabrics are washed; then they are crushed and roughened. Afterwards, the surface is steamed, fixed with heat or mechanically felted.
The characteristics. By applying the above methods, some of our textiles obtain a softer surface. Temperature treatment also prevents shrinking later on. Generally, our natural textiles are somewhat less soft than chemically treated fabrics since we avoid artificial additives such as for example bleach, resins, formaldehydes and salt.
Prints The production companies of LIVING CRAFTS print by using the screen printing technique. All pigments, pastes, dyes and additives that are required for this purpose, are water-based. The processes are in line with the directives of Naturland and the Control Union (CU).
Make & Production We produce our textiles in India and Croatia. Every step, from the raw material to the packing of the finished product is carried out under one roof to avoid long transport routes.
The production sites. All LIVING CRAFTS textiles are produced in India in accordance with socioeconomic and ecological standards. Generally, every step from the yarn to the refining all the way to packing the finished textiles is carried out under one roof. LIVING CRAFTS socks are an exception, they are processed in Croatia.
The process. The manufacturing process comprises mainly of the cutting of the fabrics as well as the joining of the different parts of entire articles, such as clothing items. The ingredients are added and everything is sewed into a finished item which is then checked.
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Paolo
Rated the 14/12/2020Acquisto molto ben riuscito. Ottima la vestibilità. Pienamente soddisfatto