What is carbon-negative?
For an entity to be carbon negative, it must reduce its carbon footprint to less than neutral, so that it removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it adds. For example, Bhutan is currently the only carbon-negative country in the world because it absorbs four times the amount of carbon it emits.
By implementing solutions to decrease the carbon footprint, ideally to the point where we're carbon-negative and taking carbon out of the atmosphere, Oziss contributes to a more secure future for ourselves, society as a whole, and the natural world.
Why do we need to be carbon negative ?
The melting Ice and the loss in bio-diversity is something not many people experience first hand, but that doesn't make it any less real. Being carbon negative is firefighting(literally), to a problem we no longer can afford to ignore, Climate is Changing.
There are humanitarian and environmental concerns too, that threaten our economic and social prosperity.
With rise in temperatures, will come abrupt seasons, followed by bad crop growing seasons. Fall in produce will lead to lower incomes and further put pressure on the most vulnerable members of our society first!
There are many more logical explanations to how climate change affects such similar chains and will be a reason for intensify disparities between communities and lead to increased societal divide between the privileged and the marginalised.
Being carbon negative is being a part of the solution.
What does fashion industry has to do with all this ?
If you don't already know. Traditional methods of making clothes has made fashion industry one of the most polluting industry out there.
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With almost one truck of clothing being burned or landfilled every minute. Fast-fashion has become the new single use plastic.
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Traditional Fashion is also world's second largest polluter of waterbodies.
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Traditional Fashion is responsible for more emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined !
By 2050 fashion will be responsible for a quarter of the world’s carbon emissions !
Being 'just sustainable' is like seeing your house on fire and trying to contain the fire to one room instead of pouring water over it, It's just not good enough. We need to start fixing things. Now.
That’s why we not only reduce our carbon footprint significantly with our production methods but also invest in Biodiversity Projects and in Negative Emission Technologies that mitigate three times over the carbon-dioxide impact of your T-shirts. Making them one of the most sustainable t-shirts in the world !
How We do it ?
Its all in the math and we're super into it ! At Oziss we look at the environmental impacts of all our t-shirts. We do it for every Oziss product and check how much Co2, Water and Waste incurs to make an average cotton t-shirt. Then, we voluntarily invest in bio-diversity restoration programs and Negative Carbon Emission Technologies to help us put back the resources used and a little bit more. EVEN the most basic Oziss t-shirt mitigates the carbon dioxide impacts by x 1.85 times !
What Impacts do We Measure ?
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CO2 : Production emits carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which pollute our atmosphere and contribute to climate change. When we say CO2, we actually mean the CO2 equivalent of all global warming gasses that are released. Cotton, leather, and other raw materials grown in industrial farms create huge energy footprints. Polyester, nylon, and other petroleum-based fabrics emit harmful volatile organic compounds and nitrous oxide - a greenhouse gas almost 300x more potent than CO2. Right now the biggest contributor to our CO2 matrix are actually the energy grids that supply electricity for all operations.
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Water : Manufacturing textiles is very water intensive. Processes like cultivating crops, extracting and cleaning the fiber, spinning it into yarn and weaving yarn into textiles, dying, washing, Our favourite bio washes. Everything is factored in.
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Waste : On average,15-20 % of fabric gets wasted on the cutting room floor. Studies show how almost 95% of the total textile reaching the landfills could've actually been recycled. Almost 85% of all produced clothing ends up in landfills and incinerators !! Thats why we have a strict no plastic(polyester) policy so only a bio-degradable product reaches a landfill.
We take a look at the complete lifecycle of your t-shirts. From when the cotton is grown to when you wear,wash,use and to the part where it reaches a landfill.
Sustainability is the foundation of everything we do, We first make every effort conceivable to reduce our emissions. That means not just adopting the most efficient systems but also a relentless consistent pursuit to do better. Then we mitigate the unavoidable emissions by supporting projects that take out more emissions than what we incur and what you'll also incur with the use of our t-shirts. It's all in it.
Instead of seeing the pursuit of sustainability and carbon negativity as a barrier, we choose to see it as inspiration for innovation and an opportunity to design a new way of doing things.
Learn more about some of the projects we invest in here.