Cecilia Sörensen | Sustainability Statement 2023

The Latest From Cecilia Sörensen:

SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT 2023

WHAT WE DO NOW

We produce all garments as locally as possible with the highest respect for humans & nature. We produce all fabric and jersey garments here locally on the island of Mallorca in Spain. The workshop is a small, women owned, production unit that is located 20 min from our studio. This  allows us to personally guide and supervise the entire production process on site.

We produce in small quantities throughout the year, to assure no unnecessary stocks and also good work pace and no unnecessary stress or time pressure for the workshop. To produce locally with people we know assures us that there is no wage slavery, no harmful chemicals or working conditions throughout the entire production process.

Big part of our collection is monofibre (making them easier to recycle), most garments 100% GOTS-certified, organic, cotton. 98% of our garments produced for the spring/summer 2023 collection season were made of  GOTS certified, organic cotton.

Most of our fabrics are produced in a family owned fabric mill in Barcelona with a great tradition and knowledge in men’s shirt fabrics. 

As there is no knitwear production in Mallorca, we produce our knitwear in a small, also woman owned, artisan workshop in Barcelona. The wool yarn we use for our knitwear is 100% pure wool from a family business in Spain that elaborate yarns with traditional techniques, so the yarn is a non dyed natural tone, without using any dyes or chemicals. It is dried in the sun and has a chunky, heavy weight, rustic, real-wool feel. Combined with a timeless design for a resistant garment that just improves over time; the wool softens with every use and the fit adapts to its owner for a match for life.

The wool we use for padding in the winter collections is from a wonderful association, LLANATURA MALLORCA , that works with Mallorcan wool and gives work to women with mental health issues.  Llanatura works together with the ES GARROVER FOUNDATION,  a non-profit organisation that since 1997 has been working for the social and labour insertion of people with mental health disorders in Mallorca.

The entire collection is designed with a timeless perspective to assure a long lifespan and good quality for one or several owners for each garment. Designwise the collection is an ongoing process of building a timeless wardrobe of casual sophistication.  A collection combining organic, high-end quality fabrics and a casual style, which is both modern and romantic in a northern, nostalgic way. Twisted in with the Mediterranean light and ease.  Most of the collection models are carryovers and continue from one season to another. We listen to feedback and adjust and improve design, fit and sizing.

The yoga collection is made of a cotton jersey, 95% GOTS-certified organic cotton, 5% elastane. Elastane is definitely not sustainable, but it is difficult to make leggings and tight fitting activewear without elastane, otherwise there will be sacking knee cups etc. Therefore the number of uses per lifespan of these garments would be much less, making them less sustainable in the long run. We decided on the soft organic cotton jersey instead of the more durable polyester as, even if recycled, polyester is all plastic and generates microplastics with every use, with every wash and on top of that takes hundreds of years to biodegrade. 

Some of our models are done according to a zero waste principle, all knitwear models are knitted one by one with zero waste of yarn. The organic cotton muslin dresses ALBER and V are made using the zero waste cutting technique, no fabric waste is generated from these models as the pattern is square.

As conscious clothing care is important for us we share sustainable wash and care tips for garments in our quarterly newsletter sent out to our clientele.

In general we are committed to do everything from design, materials, production and sales as sustainable a way as we can. We started the collection working only upcycled material such as men’s recycled shirts and antique sheets. Then to be able to do a wider collection introduced “new” fabrics as well. Now the main part of the collection is made from new, organic materials. We still do the special artisan pieces, made one by one, made on order, many times from a shirt of a loved one of the client, which makes it even more special! 

WHAT WE WILL NOT EVER DO

We will never produce any garment outside the European union. Because we believe in local production and outside EU we can not assure faire working conditions nor unnecessary pre consumer travelling for the garments. 

We will never use polyester or other plastic, man-made, materials where strictly not necessary. 

WHAT WE WILL DO IN THE FUTURE

As our production quantities grow we are able to meet production minimums and include wider size ranges.
We will find a more sustainable packaging for webshop orders.

Include measurements to track and trace carbon footprint per garment and fibre origins. We now know the 

Tier 1, our production unit on Mallorca

Tier 2, the fabric mills

Tier 3, for wool yarns and paddings, the yarn spinner/provider. But not for the yarn used in our fabrics.

Tier 4, the field where the fibres are grown, as the cotton field. This information is difficult to track for a small independent company and we rely now on the information provided by our fabric mills.

From 2024  we will have our studio in a sustainable, wooden house here in the Tramuntana Mountains of Mallorca. This will assure 100% green energy from renewable sources and a very reduced carbon footprint.

OUR CORE AS AN INDEPENDENT LABEL IS

Contemporary timeless design - Natural organic materials - Local production

Slow fashion in small quantities, no unnecessary stocks, no wage slavery, no harmful chemicals, no cheap mass-produced use and throw garments. We believe in beautiful, high quality materials and a timeless, casual sophistication, all produced with lots of love!