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🛏 LUXURY V SUSTAINABILITY

🛏 LUXURY V SUSTAINABILITY

The textile firm changing the luxury x sustainability calculus, one set of bedsheets at a time

February 17, 2023

FATE V FUTURE

What you want to know in culture, tech, travel, luxury, media, marketing and more. We’re on a mission to curate the Internet’s best newsletter. Any feedback? Simply reply.

Vogue editors share their Spring picks

FUTUREBOARD

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🔽 Gucci. Sales are down 14% »»

💬 “The voucher’s font seemed odd to me.” Scammers are creating fake receipts — and a digital shoplifting boom »»

🛩️ A little over a decade ago, winemakers discovered that the mineral-rich soil and dry weather of Fredericksburg, Texas were ideal for growing grapes. Today, Texas Wine Country is a major tourist attraction, and one of America’s fastest-growing wine regions »»

👗 The Spring trends Vogue editors are Investing in »»

💎 Portugal joins clampdown on ‘golden visas’ for wealthy »» 🔐

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YouTube’s CEO is stepping down after nearly a decade. She was Google’s 16th employee »»

Snap’s adding users at a faster pace. The app now has more than 750m per month. The growth failed to impress investors »»

Homes in flood zones are overvalued by billions »»

15 useful iPhone features you probably aren’t using »» The newsletter's writer owns shares of Apple

Speaking of iPhone, iOS 16.4 is bringing 31 new emoji with it »»

Independent watchmakers surge as Rolex, Patek remain unattainable »»

5 key industries to watch in China in 2023 »»

Microsoft Bing’s chatbot is in an exploratory stage. Some users are baffled by the beta version’s negative, angry, depressed, or frustrated responses »»

Ben Thompson, a well known tech and media analyst, was seriously struck by his interactions, which included Bing literally deleting a response it wrote before his very eyes, before saying Ben wasn’t “a good person” »»

DEEPFATE 🛏 LUXURY V SUSTAINABILITY

We hear a lot about how luxury goods and services don’t always put the planet first. One International textile firm is changing that calculus, one “vegan cashmere” throw at a time

Ettitude’s “Vegan Cashmere” throw (Ettitude)

LUXURY, BUT MAKE it green.

Ettitude, whose name is a portmanteau of eco and attitude, is both a material science company, and a luxury lifestyle brand.
The company’s goal is to dramatically reduce the negative environmental impact of textiles, by replacing cotton, viscose, and others with its own alternative.
That alternative is a proprietary, patented lyocell. (Lyocell is traditionally a semi-synthetic fiber used to make textiles for clothing and other purposes, but Ettitude’s is made from 100% organic bamboo.)
Ettitude’s co founders, Kat Dey and Phoebe Yu, sent us sheets to show how they’re different, and told us more about how Ettitude works.

BAMBOO TEXTILES HAVE actually been around for a little bit. How is Ettitude’s “CleanBamboo” different?

Ettitude told me that there’s two main answers to this: process and outcome.
“Unlike bamboo viscose/rayon, CleanBamboo uses a non-toxic solvent to dissolve raw bamboo and a closed-loop process that recycles 98% of water and saves 38% of CO2 vs. cotton,” noted Phoebe.
The outcome? “Superior moisture wicking, stronger durability, and greater resistance to pilling v cotton, viscose and others.”
And soft fabric. But more on that in a bit.

WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? How does Ettitude get more yarn using less water than, say, cotton?

As Phoebe puts it “simply using bamboo saves a significant amount of water. Cotton requires a lot of irrigation, pesticides, and fertilizer. Bamboo is a regenerative resource, and it’s grown 100% with rainwater.”
So, no irrigation, no pesticides, and no fertilizer.
And bamboo grows fast. Like, up to 3 feet per day fast.
It gets better: bamboo plants actually sequester more carbon than other plants, and it’s known to regenerate land, unlike cotton which is known to deplete the soil it grows from.

MAKING STUFF WITH bamboo > making stuff with trees.

Ettitude’s founders said they are actually huge fans of replacing all sorts of tree-based products with bamboo based ones —think everything from paper towels to kitchen dish racks‚ because replacing tree inputs with grass prevents deforestation and helps to fight climate change.
They also told me that Ettitude’s process has a whole other level of water savings, which comes from its closed loop non-toxic production process.
Crushed bamboo pulp is dissolved using a mild, non-toxic solvent. Since it’s non-toxic, recycling the water that’s used in the process is also much easier.
Ettitude believes its CleanBamboo is the world’s cleanest and most sustainable fiber.

GOOD FOR THE planet. Good for the bags under your eyes too.

So the process is green, and the output is soft.
Ettitude calls its textiles more durable than similar fabrics, too.
But there’s another added benefit
As Kat put it, “we always hear from our customers that Ettitude sheets help them sleep better.”
But Ettitude wanted to prove it.
They commissioned a study that, believe it or not, found that Ettitude’s sheets are scientifically proven to give people an average of 43 extra hours of sleep per year.

A STRONG MESSAGE about sustainability.

Ettitude says they’re here to contribute to a regenerative future for all.
As they put it, “it’s no longer OK to be sustainable. Sustaining a system that doesn’t work and just doing less harm is not good enough. Through the use of innovative technology and working with nature, we hope to be a leader in the regenerative movement, facilitating change for a better planet.”