ABOUT :
Cottage Industry designs useful garments that tread lightly on the Earth. Before synthetics, mankind had invented solutions for everything from printing, to waterproofing, to durability. We're rediscovering these lost techniques, while also developing our own progressive methods that push the capabilities of natural fibers. We are obsessed with integrating sustainability into every production step and feature of our clothes, even ones most people have never thought of. We start by re-thinking garments from the ground up and develop uncompromisingly sustainable clothing while pushing the boundaries of natural fibers and plant based technologies.
THANK YOU :
Website - Al Nelson
Branding - Lisa Sturacci
Photography - Jacob Wayler
Algae Expert - William Padilla Brown
OUR PRIORITIES :
Local Supply
We work with an increasingly local supply chain to produce our clothing. Starting with cotton grown, spun and sewn in the US, to growing our own algae to produce screenprinting ink, CTG_IND is on a mission to reduce the distance travelled by the input materials of our products to as close to our production facility as possible. Supporting local economies, reducing the carbon footprint of the end product and creating clothes that are products of their region.
Natural Materials
Humans have been working with natural fibers since the beginning of clothing. In the last 40+ years we have seen synthetic fabrics all but takeover the clothing industry and now we are seeing the downsides to these materials. We are not equipped to effectively re-use these materials and create a cyclical production stream. This lack of foresight in their creation leads to most petroleum products decaying over 100's - 1000's of years in landfills and oceans. Natural fibers and materials are inherently cyclical. Once your cotton T Shirt has reached the end of its life and it can no longer be repaired or salvaged in any way, it is still organic matter that can be broken down easily by the decomposers of our planet.
End of Life
We design clothing using cradle to cradle principles. Our clothes rely on the cyclical nature of the "biosphere" to grow the raw materials and eventually, break down into elements that can be re-used by plants and fungi. When we introduce elements from the "technosphere," meaning man made materials that do not break down easily in the biosphere, we do so with great responsibility. These are materials made by humans, that need to be recycled by humans. We use aluminum for zippers and other trimmings and these parts are to be recycled after a product can no longer be repaired or salvaged. This process will be done by CTG_IND and we will provide return labels to retrieve the product and recycle it appropriately. Our products can be composted or recycled by production facilities giving them new life in various ways and reducing their impact further.
New Green Technologies
In our pursuits to reduce the impacts of clothing on our natural environment we are developing new materials, supply chains and technologies for the future we want to create. We focus on regenerative agriculture as the basis for our raw materials and build relationships with the people who grow, process and make our clothing. We push new techniques in our drive for low impact clothing and hope to influence positive change leading by example.
