Sustainability at Linton Tweeds

Sustainability is one of the most talked about issues of the modern world. Not a day goes by without a news story highlighting climate change due to the effects of pollution, mass production and over population.

As the brands and customers we supply demand more ethically made and sustainable fabric, over the last few years, there has been an internal drive to re-look at our own manufacturing process and the materials we use. We have also made enormous efforts to reduce waste, in and around our mill. We have listed our wide range of sustainability practices which you can read more about at the bottom of this page.

To make is easier for our customers buying from our stocked fabrics collection, we have conveniently put together a rating system, which will make it easier to determine how sustainable each fabric is. Each fabric (under production information), will be rated as 1 to 3 stars.

What are natural and sustainable yarns?

Natural Yarns

Natural yarns are made up of fibres from animal hair, plants, or even certain types of insect cocoons. These include wool, cotton, linen, silk and alpaca to name a few. Typically, these types of yarn are split into three categories; plant fibres (like cotton), animal fibres (like wool), and protein fibres (like silk).

Sustainable Yarns

We make use of four types of sustainable yarns at Linton Tweeds; bio cotton, organic wool, FCS viscose and recycled yarns. Bio Cotton and organic wool are fully certified organic yarns which are sustainably produced under the most ethical practices. Viscose is a type of rayon fibre that is made from natural sources such as wood and agricultural products that are regenerated as cellulose fibres. FSC Certified Viscose will be from sources, which are produced from sustainably managed plantations. Recycled yarns are where fibres from either redundant yarns or recycled clothing is broken down into fibre form, to be re-spun and dyed into new yarns for fabric weaving. Examples include recycled cotton, recycled polyamide and recycled acrylic.

Some of the Sustainable Practices at Linton Tweeds

Borehole Water

We tap into natural underground boreholes as our water source which we use for washing and dying our fabrics. Furthermore, these processes are made to use the absolute minimum amount of water required and recycled water where possible.

Use of Left Over Yarn

Unlike other mills, we have made huge efforts to avoid sending any yarn to landfill. We weave redundant and left over yarns into exciting new fabrics which we sell on our website and to designers around the world as one off couture pieces.

Energy Efficient Machines

We have invested heavily into new, more energy efficient machinery to weave and finish our fabrics thus reducing our carbon footprint. These include a new state of the art boiler which makes use of 15% less energy than conventional boilers and is fed using recycled water. We have also installed energy saving LED lighting throughout the mill.

Smart Planning

A huge part of of bulk fabric production is planning. In planning, the production of our fabrics which involve many working parts and departments, we take utmost care to circumvent wastage in all forms and be as energy efficient as possible. For instance, we wait until we have multiple processes (steaming, dying, blowing) requiring the use of the boiler before turning it on.

Recycling

We recycle all cardboard, paper, tin, plastic and glass, both in our offices and around the mill. Not only that but we also recycle all our old machinery and tech, including old computers and printers.

Deadstock

We avoid sending old samples, or last metres of fabric to landfill. We re-dye dead stock or faulty fabrics and even cut up last metres of fabrics into craft packs for purchase.