|Our Sustainability|
One of our key values as a brand is to be as transparent as possible with you, the end consumer. Many of us buy things without a second thought for where it came from or how it got from A to B.
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At Stonehouse Union, we are proud to say that every effort has been made to ensure we know where we source from, and we want to share that with you.
Fabric
Wool is an amazingly versatile material and has been used throughout human history. As well as having properties like durability, comfortability, and odour resistance, wool is also a natural fibre. Sheep must be sheered annually for their own health and wellbeing. This along with it being fully biodegradable at the end of its useful life, makes it a renewable and sustainable source.
Our jackets are made from a beautiful 100% wool cloth. The fabric comes from Marton Mills who mill it in Yorkshire.
Factory
Our small studio based in Stonehouse, can be found in the Millfields Trust HQ Building. This building was once the Jaeger clothing factory of Plymouth, employing hundreds of skilled workers. The factory closed its doors in 1997 and moved production abroad, as many factories did at the time. The closing of the factory resulted in a huge loss of employment for people in the area.
The building was taken over by The Millfields Trust and refurbished as a space for businesses to rent the purpose-built units.
We are proud to be located in this building, bringing back a piece of its history and providing jobs for local people to make use of their skillset.
Our not-for-profit business model means that the income we generate in the Makers HQ CIC sampling studio and the Stonehouse Union brand, goes into our training unit next door, where we provide free accredited courses in industrial sewing and pattern cutting to people in and around our area.
Trimmings
We were excited to hear that a new independent project was underway in 2020 for producing buttons made from recycled plastic, right here in Plymouth! Chris hall, the project leader, does this by melting down waste plastic and injecting it into CNC milled moulds. This was something we were very keen to get on board with as it gives us an opportunity for us to support a local business and keep our carbon footprint down.
Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project has been put on hold. In the mean time, we are using corozo buttons which are manufactured here in the UK. Corozo is made from the nut of the Tagua palm tree, which is indigenous to Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, and Panama. The Tagua tree produces an abundance of nuts in its fruit, that are harvested only when they naturally fall. These are an eco-friendly, renewable source and will eventually biodegrade.
Packaging
We use wet strength paper mailing bags that are 100% recyclable. These bags come from a manufacturer in our neighbouring county, Cornwall. They are then screen printed at Common Sense Studio, in Royal William Yard, Plymouth, using water based inks. This is also where we get our internal labels printed for our jackets.
We make every effort wherever possible to work with local businesses in our community.
To read more about the features of the Stonehouse jacket, check out The Jacket page by clicking the link below.
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