As we approach the $2 million mark for total raised by eQuilter.com for non-profits, today is a good time to let you know how eQuilter has been working to be a force for good on Planet Earth. There are many ways to be ‘sustainable’ and lessen your footprint. We recycle, use compostable products in our offices, and our building is up to date in all the recent technology mandated by Boulder for low energy and low water usage. We also have policies to minimize fabric waste which adds up to a lot of fabric, cardboard and shipping being saved in a year! However our commitment to giving back by supporting environmental non-profits probably has the biggest impact.
Over 24 years, out of the (almost) $2 million raised, we have raised over $300K for environmental and endangered species non-profits. This includes money raised for Ocean Conservancy, The Wild Foundation, Rainforest Action Network, but also Alaska Wilderness, Audubon Society, Beyond Pesticides, Earthworks, Defenders of Wildlife, Endangered Species Coalition, Earth Justice, Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense, Nature Conservancy, Oceana, Sierra Club, Turtle Island Restoration, Wild Earth Guardians, Wilderness Society, Wildlife Trust, World Wildlife Trust, and many others.
There has been a lot of talk about sustainability and fabric lately, and our quilt industry has been I think unfairly lumped in with the garment industry – whose fast fashion is one of the biggest polluters on the planet and certainly one of the most unsustainable. It is important to understand that as our industry moves towards all digital printing (in the near future) it means we are embracing one of the most sustainable textile processing methods in existence. The issues of worker exposure to toxicity, and water pollution in communities local to the textile factories, has been cut drastically by digital printing. Screen printing is a water hog of an industry – let’s face it. This is one of the reasons eQuilter has developed our own exclusive line of digital printed fabrics. We don’t produce huge quantities of fabric, and then dump or discount huge amounts of fabric later. Our production is lean so we avoid the huge dumping of discounted fabrics that is occurring in our industry.
Also, the high quality textile factories in Asia are geared for the stricter regulations for the European markets. I have been talking to our suppliers for years about this – long before it became trendy to worry about sustainability. The US regulations are so low, it is embarrassing, but the good news is that the majority of our suppliers stick to the cleaner European regulations even when they produce for the US markets. (It would be even more expensive for the factories to ‘dumb down’ their pollution settings for US customers, so they just keep them at a higher level for all production.) The factory where our exclusive Rubin Design Studios line is produced, operates at these higher sustainability levels, plus they are very protective of their workers’ health and safety policies. That was non-negotiable when we were sourcing for our exclusive line of fabric production.
You may recall that in my career in the garment industry, I worked in over 400 factories, and believe me…I’ve seen it all. Many of those factories I turned down for production, because of their dangerous policies and lack of safety and health protocols. If you want to know about these policies for other manufacturers, contact them directly and let them know this is important to you!
The bottom line is – Earth Day is EVERY day at eQuilter.com – and we appreciate the support of our like-minded fans and customers!
sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul
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Travel/Quilt Calendar:
April 18-26 – Pour l’Amour du Fil – Nantes, France (Apr 20 – Art & Activism Lecture)
April 27-30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 27 – Dairy Barn, Athens OH – Quilt National – Art & Activism Lecture
June 8-10 – Quilt Canada – Halifax, Nova Scotia
August 18-24 – Bear Camp in Alaska
