Plastic Free July

Here at JB we try to treat every month like it’s Plastic Free July, but with the actual month upon us we thought we’d do a round up of how we strive to eliminate plastic as a responsible business.

JB STUDIO

We all have a part to play in being responsible for plastic consumption and we believe even the smallest steps matter.

1. We are committed to using keep cups for our daily coffee runs, we have a selection of Milly Dent cups (pictured above) that we reuse each day. We bring our lunches in reusable containers. Our studio kitchen is stocked with mugs, tableware and utensils so that even if we get takeaway we can provide our own packaging that won’t end up in landfill.
2. Unfortunately fashion is pretty infamous for the old plastic garment bag! While we are transitioning away from using these, when we do have to use them we reuse them as many times as possible before finally retiring them to be used as bin liners around the workplace. This means we don’t have to buy single use bin bags and we are giving our garment bags the longest life possible. Win-win!
3. We have set up properly sorted recycling bins, including a “soft plastics” bin that we take regularly to our local supermarket to be sent off for appropriate recycling (it’s a little known fact that soft plastics can’t go into the plastics recycling bin, but many supermarkets have a drop off point and will recycle them for you!).
4. Making the majority of our collections in Sydney means we have to transport our garments from our makers to the studio ourselves. We already have plastic coat hangers in our possession so we have committed ourselves to reusing these hangers over and over again, and never buying another plastic coat hanger ever again. These hangers go from maker to studio to maker to studio in a never ending loop.

JB DESIGN PRACTICES

Our design practices are where we can have the biggest impact in our plastic reduction strategies. Plastic waste is a large issue in the fashion industry and we work hard to repurpose plastic already in our possession and not bring in  anything new where ever possible.

1. Primarily, we are focused on designing with plastic free fibres (think: no or minimal use of synthetics like polyester) as much as is functionally possible for our upcoming collections. We are really enjoying the challenge to source more responsible fabrics and trims.
2. Our packaging is completely plastic free, with responsible tissue, tape and stickers sourced from No Issue Tissue, home compostable mailers from Hero Packaging, 100% post-consumer recycled paper swing tags printed by Print Together, and our new biodegradable swing tag cords supplied by Weavabel. Wherever possible we also package our orders in drawstring bags made from remnant fabric in the production process. 
3. We are cutting down on our plastic garment use by making fabric garment bags inhouse from remnant production fabrics as they accrue to collect and transport our Australian Made garments in.
4. You can now find updated and transparent information on the estimated single use plastic and synthetic fibre content of your garment and packaging on all Winter Essentials products via the “Responsibility” drop down on the product page. We are excited to apply this transparency feature in line with our Responsibility Pillars to all future JB garments. 

THE FUTURE

We are striving to reach zero plastic in all areas of our business and are committed to achieving the following goals:

1. Working with our knitwear supplier to ensure our knitwear supply chain is plastic free and have our stock delivered to us in compostable bags (which we will be responsible for composting!).
2. Continuing our garment bag production to design out the need for any plastic garment bags in the future.
3. Transitioning all JB garment and care labels away from synthetic fibres. Our Winter Essentials collection has Organic Cotton brand labels, and we have set a goal to fully transition all care and garment labels to natural or organic fibres by Winter 2023.
4. With each collection we are designing out more synthetics and designing in natural, responsible and certified fabrics and trims. This will be an ever-evolving goal as new technologies and practices emerge, and we are committed to staying on top of the research and implementing new solutions wherever possible.