GREEN CODEX
GREEN CODEX
Animal welfare and environmental protection are very important to us
Materials:
We want to use as many renewable materials as possible: cotton, wool and down are already being used. New filling materials based on wood or silk are being developed.
Alternatively, recycled materials get used.
Durability:
We use materials that are extremely durable. High mechanical strength and colourfastness are just as important as easy maintainability and repairability of the materials. This way, high durability is guaranteed.
End of lifespan:
We use more and more materials that are compostable in aerobic conditions.
Standards seal that humans and animals are treated fair
Lavalan protects our sheep
Europe has the strictest standards for animal protection in the world. Legislations give strict rules in the areas of feeding, husbandry, health and adequate behaviour. Sheep should always be kept so that their bodily functions and their behaviour don’t get disrupted and their adaptability doesn’t get overwhelmed. Shelters and enclosures, for instance, must be equipped adequately for feeding, drinking and defecation, as well as with spaces for resting and retreating. Barns must be equipped with shelters, things to occupy the animals, facilities for grooming and climatized rooms.
Tail docking, also called mulesing, which is usually necessary on the southern hemisphere to prevent flystrike, is not practised in Europe. We can say that our European wool is completely free of mulesing.
It is of utmost importance to us that no sheep are abused, neither in the breeding process, nor during the shearing.
Farmers deliver the freshly shorn wool directly to so called collecting places where it is classified according to colour and quality, taking into account the fineness, length and crimping of the fibres. Before production, the wool is cleaned (washed) in traditional factories in Belgium and the United Kingdom, where they still know about the gentle cleansing of the valuable resource. Plant rests, sheep dung and wool grease are removed to ensure a clean, soft and even Lavlan wool filling. Back at Baur Vliesstoffe in Germany, around 60 experienced workers with a hand for wool take care of the final Lavlan production step.
Those standards are important for lavalan®:
Our down is RDS certified!
The down which we fill our sleeping bags with come from ducks and geese. These animals completely underlie the strict protection of the RDS seal. This protection begins right after the eggs hatch in the farms, continues during the whole lifespan of the birds, their slaughter and also the production and sewing of down. Thereby, an ethical and impeccable background is guaranteed.
The Responsible Down Standard is an independent, voluntary, global standard, which allows companies to certify their products accordingly, even when it isn’t legally required. The RDS was developed in three years with contributions from animal rights groups, industry experts, brands and retailers. The standard recognises and awards the best practices in animal protection.
Those standards are important for RDS:
Our sleeping bags are OEKO-TEX® certified!
It’s important to us that everything in this sleeping bag, from the thread to the zip right down to prints, elastics…. are tested for toxic substances. With the Oeco-Tex certificate, we can show how good our products are.
OEKO-TEX® guarantees that the environment and people are protected.
OEKO-TEX® enables consumers and companies to make responsible decisions that help conserve our planet for generations to come.
Every component is controlled in a laboratory for skin-friendliness or whether any of the materials contain harmful chemicals.
The checking and certifying processes behind the OEKO-TEX® standard guarantee the highest grade of consumer security.
Of course we are PFC free!
Our sleeping bags balance moisture. However, we impregnate them from the outside, so they are water-repellent. This is done with BIONIC-FINISH®ECO. These polymers act like the fat on the feathers of waterfowl and, at the same time, is breathable. For the production of BIONIC-FINISH® ECO products, no perflourinated compounds are used. That way, this finish avoids the use of PFOS and PFOA.
OUR NATURALS
Biopod DownWool Nature
Again, and again we were asked by our customers to create a sleeping bag which is made entirely from 100% natural materials, down to every last button. Güezi bag has succeeded. The sleeping bag is made from nothing but wool, down, cotton and wood.
Biopod DownWool Ice CompostAble
What happens with a sleeping bag that has reached the end of its lifespan? Into the bin with it? No, with the Biopod DownWool Ice CompostAble, we have created a 100% compostable sleeping bag. In 200 days and in anaerobic conditions, it can completely dissolve and leaves nothing behind but finest soil!
Where do our materials come from and how we produce our products?
In fact, we only act according to one principle. We want to offer honest, correct and durable products and for that we charge a fair price.
A price that the product is worth and no moon prices, which are then made normal with red pencil.
We are not looking for the cheapest material, nor are we looking for the lowest cost production. For us, quality, fair conditions and ecological aspects are paramount.
Whether sleeping bag or jacket, our products consist of many individual parts and materials. We have to buy them from different countries and bring them together in one place. We make each of these decisions consciously and weigh many arguments against each other.
For example, we use YKK zippers for our sleeping bags. These are zipper experts and the best in the world. They come from Japan.
The wool for our DownWool or alpine wool insulation comes from our alpine pastures in Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland. It is very stable and is perfect for combining with down.
Germany is the leader when it comes to sustainable paints and impregnations. Because the toxins would get into the water cycle and our customers have a lot of skin contact with the materials, this is particularly important to us. All our materials are Ökotex 100 certified.
The best sewing workshops for our ultra-thin and light fabrics (20g/sqm) can be found in the Shanghai region. For comparison, a sheet of paper weighs approx. 80 g/sqm. Of course, we are also looking to find a qualitatively equivalent sewing shop in Europe, then we would improve our ecological balance again and save considerable transport costs and would have a product made in Europe. Unfortunately we haven't found anything yet. Since the quality of the seam has a direct influence on the lifespan of the products, we do not want to make any compromises here. A durable product avoids waste and saves valuable raw materials. We like that.
We have known our producers personally for a long time and we maintain friendly relations with them. We know where and how our products are made. This is important to us. We do not want any exploitation of either people or nature.
When our product is finally finished, we want to hold it in our hands with a smile and say with full conviction that we did a good job. Otherwise we won't enjoy our work and goods and you probably won't either.
I and my team are personally responsible for all of this
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