Sourcing Sustainable Trims And Haberdashery

In my opinion, it's vital that to be a great designer, you have a solid understanding of the construction of fabric. The technical terminology and nitty-gritty of fabric production sometimes get swept aside, but knowing how textiles are made and the different features that will affect the way they look and feel, is crucial and can be the difference between a product that works for your customer, and a product that's thrown away.

Tiny, yet often indispensable, and at times taking longer than the rest of the garment to biodegrade. In this video, find out how to keep your buttons good for the environment.

Interfacing is a cross between fabric and glue, and it works as an adhesive when you iron it. It can also be referred to as fusible or interlining. It's used if you’re working with a fabric that needs a little extra support or needs to stand up or to hold the material in place. It’s often used in applique, quilts, and tailoring.

We wanted to make sure we’d covered a range of other trims you might need - the often forgotten, aspects of a garment that needs mentioning. In this video, we cover:

• Beads and belt buckles
• Elastic
• Ribbons, Lace & Tapes
• Labels
• But don't forget to also consider items like Bindings/Supports, Shoulder Pads and Shapers, Structural Components, Tapes and Fasteners.

In this video, we leave you with some final thoughts on sustainable trims and some additional ideas on maximising your ethical and social impact.

We're delighted to present this list of eco-friendly trims and haberdashery suppliers. Please read and respect the terms of use before contacting these producers.

Plastic pollution is an enormous, global issue. With one garbage truck of rubbish being disposed of into rivers, oceans and lands every minute, it still astounds me how few consumers and businesses are aware of, or even care about the issue. Thanks to global campaigns like David Attenborough’s “Blue Planet II”, there has been a sudden wave in consumer awareness. As shoppers begin to question and ultimately refuse the single-use plastic they are presented with by corporates, the fight against plastic pollution becomes easier.

Thankfully, there are companies out there on a mission to solve this problem. Rob Ianelli is founder and CEO of Oceanworks. Oceanworks source, design and manufacture ocean plastic into finished goods including… haberdashery!

Rob was part of the founding team for Norton Point - the first ever sunglasses made from consumer ocean plastic, HDPE. The Kickstarter was fully funded in six days and raised just under $60,000 in thirty days.

The brand was inundated with requests from other brands looking to produce products for them too. Rob saw an opportunity to create a new company to help these brands, and Oceanworks was born.