Seaweed: Iceland. Grapes for grape leather: Italy. Flax plants for linen: Belgium. Virgin cashmere: nomadic herders in Mongolia. Pineapple leaf: Philippines. Banana leaf: Philippines. Bamboo: China. Himalayan nettle: Nepal. Hemp: France. Organic cotton: Turkey. Indigofera plant for natural indigo: India. Peppermint: America’s Pacific Northwest.

China (processing), Portugal (spinning into yarn, knitting into fabric, and treatment), Austria (processing)

T-shirt from organic cotton and C-FIBER: 75 EUR, Nettle denim jeans: 240 EUR. Grape sneakers: 205 EUR. FLWRDWN bomber jacket: 565 EUR.

One of the focuses of PANGAIA is to create materials that are energy, carbon and water-efficient. By using recycled materials, as well as bio-based materials and other plant-based alternatives, PANGAIA aims to address the pollution caused by the fashion industry. One way of doing this is by their AIR-INK (R) – a water-based blank ink from air pollution particles, capturing carbon. Their revolutionary biobased moisture-wicking textile finish called MiDori® bioWick, which is used in their activewear, replaces the need for non-renewable wicking treatments that currently are mostly fossil fuel-based with a high carbon footprint. They also collaborated with Twelve to create sunglasses that are made from polycarbonate materials. These materials are created by capturing CO2 from the air and combining it with water and heat. Lastly, many (83%) of all products are climate positive, carbon is offset with every purchase, pop-up stores are carbon neutral, and carbon is further offset through donations to various projects.

One of the focuses of PANGAIA is to create materials that are energy and water-efficient. By using recycled materials, as well as bio-based materials and other plant-based alternatives, PANGAIA aims to address the pollution caused by the fashion industry. In addition to the materials created, PANGAIA uses renewable energy in the production processes. Moreover, PANGAIA treats their products with their PPRMINT (TM) peppermint oil to neutralize and prevent the growth of odour-causing bacteria, reducing the need to wash your clothes and reducing the amount of fibres ending up in our waterways by doing laundry.

One of the focuses of PANGAIA is to create materials that are energy and water-efficient. Whereas cotton cultivation requires a lot of water (4000L per t-shirt), e.g. the seaweed used in C-FIBER grows abundantly in saltwater oceans thus needing less water for production. Additionally, eucalyptus, hemp, nettles, and bamboo can all grow very fast with little water and do not require pesticides or fertilizers, therefore requiring less water than cotton. No artificial irrigation is used to grow the wildflowers for FLWRDWN, saving water. Similarly, the flax plants used for linen require little or no irrigation.

Even though PANGAIA does still use organic cotton in most of their products, 95% of this water is however rain-fed, which protects non-renewable groundwater and surface water resources. Some products also use recycled cotton, which can save up to 20,000 litres of water per kg of cotton as well as reduce energy usage. The highest of their blends uses 50% recycled and 50% organic cotton, and continue to work on increasing the percentage of recycled materials.

One of PANGAIA’s main goals is to reduce our reliance on just one crop for the fashion industry, cotton, as this promotes the practices of monocropping – a practice that weakens the soil, depletes soil nutrients, and reduces biodiversity. Therefore, they explore different materials and combine them with cotton to create unique garments.

Especially the FLWRDWN biobased fibre made from wildflowers is a material with a big focus on animal-friendliness through increasing biodiversity. The wildflowers being used directly support habitat conservation and are managed by NGOs. They are grown without pesticide use or artificial irrigation

Many of PAINGAIA’s different fabrics (FLWRDWN, C-FIBER, organic cotton, PLANTFIBER, and FRUTFIBER) are 100% biodegradable, therefore avoiding contributing to the carbon emissions of the fashion industry. Various other fabrics are either completely or partly made up of renewable and/or repurposed materials, such as the grape leather made up from 70% renewable and recycled raw materials coming from waste materials from the wine industry, or the FRUTFIBER (TM) made from food waste such as banana leaves and pineapple leaves.

Other than using science to create innovative alternative materials, PANGAIA also experiments with alternative treatments for fibers, including PPRMINT, miDori bioWick, and AIR INK that reduce the need for toxic materials commonly used to avoid bad odours or moisture.

To create the grape leather, PANGAIA uses waste from the wine industry in combination with a water-based polyurethane or polyurethane dispersion (PUD) where necessary, which are synthetic materials that do rely on petrochemical raw materials but are less toxic and harmful compared to polyvinyl chloride – the synthetic materials commonly used for vegan leathers.

Whereas many clothing companies use silver and other metals in their clothes to prevent bad odours, PANGAIA created a plant-based peppermint oil treatment to avoid nasty smells and reduce the need for excessive washing.

PANGAIA uses dyes that try to reduce their footprint as much as possible, such as dyes that are biobased, natural, or synthetic dyes that are approved by either GOTS or OKO-TEX.

The flowers used to create FLWRDWN, as well as the organic cotton and the flax plants for linen, are grown without toxic pesticides or fertilizers, preventing pollution.

The pan in PANGAIA means all-inclusive, thereby putting emphasis on the inclusion of the whole of a continent, racial group, or religion. They elaborate on the social aspects of their business in their impact report, which includes their good and reliable partnerships, their support for human rights and decent work environments, transparency and openness. They support fair livelihood and living wages and advance equity, diversity and inclusion within their business.