We created beautiful, fun, high-quality bedding for children. We knew only one right way of doing it.
Organic Cotton and GOTS Certified Supply Chain
It seems like every time we scroll through Instagram posts, there is always one and often many posts about the toxicity of a food, a cleaning agent, a skincare product and even clothes that we wear including underwear. At times we take note and try to stay away from mentioned products, and other times it all seems so overwhelming that we just give in to our perceived sense of the “inevitable doom”. Add in the overall increased worry about climate-anxiety and the “pressure” to live sustainably, and instead of a well-educated consumer, you now have a properly confused and anxious consumer and one that is wary of trendy marketing buzzwords. We are also products consumers, and we know all too well how it feels. What always helps is a concise visual guideline to help you get your facts straight and make your own assumptions.
So here are some clear reasons behind the“why” we choose to use organic cotton and adhere to GOTS certification for Dewberry’s bedding.
Traceable Organic Cotton
When we started working on Dewberry’s first bedding collection, it was a straight dive-in into making multiple decisions at all times, ranging from design and construction, all the way to packaging and delivery with a single goal of making a great quality product.
Throughout this process we never had to decide on one thing - the material we wanted to use - and that was because our product was initially inspired by the purest fibers existing in nature. Organic cotton and high-level environmental criteria along the entire organic textiles supply chain was our most uncompromisable commitment to our own standards: the rest was built upon that.
Our products carry GOTS label grade ‘organic’, requiring a minimum of 95% certified organic fibers and strict standards adherence during the entire production process.
The organic cotton we use is sourced directly from farmers in Pakistan. The greige is transported to our partner manufacturer in the medieval Portuguese town of Guimarães, a region known globally for its expertise in home textiles. We work very closely with this family-owned business that has been crafting high quality bed linen for over 70 years, customizing the entire process to Dewberry’s product standards and requirements. And today, we stand not just behind creating high quality bedding for your kids, but we proudly stand behind our label that prioritizes safe and humane conditions across the entirety of the supply chain of such creation.
Ethical Production
For the production of our first bedding collection, we chose to partner with a family-owned factory in the northern region of Portugal - one of the best hubs for textile production worldwide. The production facilities in this area are distinguished not only for their superb and creative craftsmanship, but also for their transparent and ethical labor practices as well as their commitment to environmental responsibility.
In addition, choosing to seek GOTS certification for our products meant partnering with manufacturers that strictly abide to the highest ethical production standards. For a product to be GOTS certified, workers at all stages of production must be treated in accordance with the key norms of the International Labor Organization (ILO). These include:
- No forced labor or child labor
- Freedom to organize & bargain collectively
- Safe, clean working environment
- Living wages
- Time off and no excessive hours
- No discrimination
To make sure that all these standards are met, GOTS requires regular residue testing and on-site auditing/inspections, along with appropriate certifications at all levels of the supply chain.
Non Toxic Dyes
Our bedding is made for kids and where there are kids, there is color: color is what inspired us in the first place. Finding safe color for our young customers was one of our main priorities during manufacturing.
For the application of any colored patterns as well as for dying our fabrics, Dewberry chooses to use fiber reactive low-impact dyes, which are a kind of non toxic fabric dye that have been certified as eco-friendly by Oeko-Tex’s Standard 100 label. Oeko-Tex is an international trademark with stringent standards for product safety and sustainability, so you can be sure any dyes with the Standard 100 label are completely devoid of harmful substances.
Such dyes require less water as there are no nasty chemicals to flush out of the garment. The water can be recycled through filtration processes and reused for future batches. Furthermore, low impact dyes are applied at relatively low temperatures (30ºC compared to the 100ºC needed for direct dyes) reducing energy waste considerably.
All Dewberry’s bedding is certified to meet the strict global safety criteria of the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX®. Certification number: 10489CIT.
GOTS
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibers. Organic fibers are natural fibers grown without the use of synthetic pesticides or GMOs and according to the principles of organic agriculture aiming to sustain the health of ecosystems, soils and people.
In order for the product to carry the GOTS label, all key steps in the processing, manufacturing and trading of organic textiles must be certified to strict ecological and social criteria. The GOTS logo can only be applied to the final product if all stages comply with the GOTS criteria.
A textile product carrying the GOTS label must contain a minimum of 70% certified organic fibers, a product with the label grade 'organic' must contain a minimum of 95% certified organic fibers.
In summary, GOTS certification gives the consumer that peace of mind that their textile purchase is the safest, most responsible choice possible in terms of both stewardship of the earth, preserving health and limiting toxicity load to humans and animals, and reducing carbon footprint.
All Dewberry’s bedding is GOTS organic certified. Scope Certificate Number: CU1108569