Mass consumerism is eating up our planet. To preserve Mother Nature, we need to be more conscious about how our daily actions influence our ecological footprint. Stuff we buy and use can either harm or aid our planet. Notebooks are one such example, but so are the clothes we wear. The fact that the paper industry is contributing to global deforestation inspired me to create a sustainable alternative for paper and make some noise in an attempt to make it circular. But let’s talk about another villain today: the fashion industry. I channelled my high level of frustration with fast fashion into creating a Tree Shirt: a lifetime shirt made from the most sustainable blend of materials available that also plants a tree.
"How hard can it be to make an everlasting t-shirt?"
Shopping is not a very common activity of mine, nor one I am fond of, to say the least. It’s something I dread and put off until it’s really necessary. You see, I am the type of man who buys new clothes once in a very long while after my old clothes completely wears out. That day come on one rainy day and I found myself walking through the city centre in need of some new basic shirts.
Three hours later, I came home empty-handed. It was simply overwhelming to go through an endless assortment of colors and brands, and somewhat frustrating to be surrounded by tons of screamy store advertisements. I just wanted a basic shirt, yet one with high-quality materials that would easily last me a few years. Wet and frustrated, I bought nothing that day but I did remember a chat I once had with Denis Storm and Achilles and Tortoise about their project to develop the most sustainable fabric blend on the market.
The entrepreneur in me woke up and joined an inner conversation with a wet frustrated man who just wanted a few simple shirts and the words just fell in the right spot: lifetime shirts made from a high-quality sustainable fabric blend. And what if I could also plant a tree for every shirt sold? It was time for a new side project.
The tree of the matter
The problem with fast fashion is mainly the word “fast”. We use harmful or at best, not-so-sustainable materials to create clothes that we use for a short period of time, until the fashion trend is over. So every time you buy something new, new materials are used to produce it. Even if the impact of the product is 50% lower, if you buy two shirts you have still the same impact. To reduce the impact, we need to look at both the production and longevity of the product. There are many ways to reduce impact in the production process, but equally important is to increase the lifetime of the product by using better materials and creating timeless designs that are not sensitive to the latest trends.
To make a great shirt with the greatest impact, you need to find fabric that easily lasts 5 years, but preferably can hold up to 10, or even 50 years. And that was exactly the mission of Dennis Storm & Achilles and Tortoise: to create a blend that lasts 50 years. On top of that, the more standard a shirt is in colour and design, the less chance it has of going out of fashion.
Tree Shirt: Organic & Recycled
The shirt we ultimately designed has a blend of the least possible impactful blend: 50% organic cotton, 30% recycled cotton & 20% seaweed. The shirt is made from extra thick fabric because the thickness makes it sturdier. The sturdier the shirt, the more you can wash it, so the longer it lasts.
Tree Shirt a shirt made to be worn for up to 50 years. For every shirt we sell, we also plant a tree, so the moment you are about to throw away your shirt, the tree is fully grown, thriving in a forest in Kenya.
50 years is a bold claim and obviously depends on the user. The more and the warmer you wash it, you are bound to reduce its quality fast and eventually wear it out. But if you wash it mindfully on 20°C or 30°C, we believe it just might be a shirt to last you a lifetime.
Tree Shirt
Unisex, Black, Regular Fit
Available in sizes XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL
Take a look at the webshop.
“Side note”
Every shirt has a little note written on the side of the shirt. It’s meant as a joke. You like it or not, but it’s hidden when wearing your arms down, so no worries.
