SUSTAINABILITY

The Things We Choose

There is a remarkable amount of clothing in the world. More than we can wear, more than we can sell, and increasingly, more than we know what to do with.

Along the coast of Ghana, fishermen have pulled discarded clothing from their nets. On nearby beaches, garments wash ashore among the ordinary debris of the tide. Much of this clothing began its life somewhere else, purchased, worn, donated, and eventually shipped thousands of miles from the closets it once occupied.

Some of those garments contain polyester, nylon, and other synthetic fibers derived from petroleum. They do not simply disappear when they're discarded. Over time, they can break into smaller plastic particles that persist in the environment.

It's a complicated problem, involving how much clothing we manufacture, how briefly we sometimes wear it, and what happens when we decide we're finished with it.

We aren't going to solve that problem by making T-shirts.

But we can decide what kind of T-shirts we make.

Why We Choose Cotton

At BIENTEVEO, our T-shirts and hoodies are made from 100% cotton fabric.

We love cotton for reasons that have nothing to do with environmental arguments. It feels wonderful against the skin. It softens with wear. It has character. A favorite cotton shirt can become an old friend, the one you reach for without thinking.

Cotton is a natural fiber rather than a petroleum-derived synthetic. Under suitable conditions, untreated cotton fibers can biodegrade, unlike conventional polyester.

That doesn't make cotton perfect. Growing and processing it require land, water, energy, and other resources. Dyeing and manufacturing have environmental impacts, too. We think it's important to acknowledge those realities rather than pretend there's a fabric without consequences.

But choosing cotton is one decision we can make deliberately.

Made to Be Worn

We don't believe clothing needs to be precious to be valued.

We want our shirts worn to baseball games, on airplanes, at concerts, in gardens, on long walks, and on thoroughly unremarkable Tuesday afternoons.

We want them washed, worn again, packed into suitcases, borrowed, loved, and eventually handed along to somebody else.

The longer a garment remains useful and wanted, the better.

We cannot control every decision made in the life of a shirt. But we can take responsibility for the choices within our reach.

This is one of ours.

BIENTEVEO