Not enough transparency

by
Nurmi,
on April 15, 2013 -
Collections & products, Materials & fabrics, Sustainability & transparency

In the spring/summer 2013 Nurmi collection there was originally planned to be many lovely digitally printed products in addition to other materials (which will be in stores soon). We worked hard in designing the pattern and producing the garments but we ended up not producing them at all. What happened?

We had found a German digiprint company that had many organic fabric choices. It seemed to be a great find: certified materials, environmentally-friendly printing and nice fabrics. The two materials we chose were 100% organic cotton and 100% organic linen. The company stated that both the materials are GOTS certified.

Nurmi digi print

Everything seemed to be ok and we ordered test materials using the pattern we had designed specially for these fabrics. After receiving the sampling fabrics we produced samples: shirts, dresses, blazers and scarfs.

Nurmi digi print

Later on we started to ask more detailed information about the production because we need to know the whole production chain in order to be transparent. We wanted to know where the raw material has been grown and where the fabric has been produced.

The answer was that the German company didn’t have this information – they only knew the supplier and were not willing to find out more about the production nor inform who the supplier is. They did say that they can give us the GOTS transaction certificate (against payment) from where we would have seen the supplier information but after several requests we never got it.

Nurmi digi print

We ended up in a situation that we only knew where the printing is done but we didn’t know anything else about the fabric production (except that it’s apparently GOTS certified). In addition the supplier informed that the organic linen we had used was no longer available because of long delivery times.

Nurmi digi print

We would have loved to be able to use the digitally printed materials but as the supplier was not will to be transparent enough we had to make the hard decision to leave these materials out of the collection. We tried to find another European supplier to produce organic digitally printed fabrics but we were not able to find in such a short notice.

This case is one example of the difficulties we face when we want to produce truly sustainable clothes. Of course it always requires compromises but transparency is such an important thing for us that we just couldn’t do it any other way.

One other thing we learned from this case is that we must get more detailed information about the fabrics we use before we even make the samples. This saves a lot of time, money and energy!

Nurmi digi print

Samples for sale!

As said we produced just a couple of pieces per style as samples. Unfortunately they will never go to production in larger quantities but now you have the change to get a really unique piece of clothing: all the digitally printed samples are now for sale.

Nurmi digiprint / all products

How to buy?

You can see all the styles, available sizes and prices below. To order please contact us by mail (store(at)nurmiclothing.com) and tell us which item would you like to have, size & your address.

Shipping costs will be added (Finland 5,90€, EU 9,90€, Non-EU 19,90€). If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you may return or exchange it within 14 days.

Men’s shirt // Dale

Material: 100% organic cotton with light digiprint

Available: M = 1 pc

Price: 159 €

Nurmi-mens-shirt-Dale