Did you know that bamboo is one of the most resource-efficient plants on earth? A lifestyle brand ettitude identified this advantage and created one of the most sustainable textile materials, CleanBamboo™ fabric.
Ettitude is focused on creating lifestyle products that are not only sustainably made but also 100% organic, vegan, and cruelty-free. Their organic bamboo is certified and is grown and produced without any harmful chemicals, fertilizers, or pesticides.
If you are interested in learning more about ettitude and its sustainability journey, read our brand interview with them. We had an interview with their CEO and Founder, Phoebe Yu, who gave us valuable insights on ettitude! Read the complete interview below.
Please introduce you and your brand!
Ettitude is a purpose-driven lifestyle brand offering sustainably-made bedding, sleepwear, bathware and accessories made from the world’s first CleanBamboo™ fabric.
We created one of the most sustainable textile materials of the 21st century – creating a whole new category of revolutionary fabrics that are breathable, hypoallergenic and thermo-regulating, and 100% organic, vegan and cruelty free.
The company operates across Australia and the United States with worldwide shipping. In 2019, the brand was awarded “International Conquerer” by the Australian Online Retail Industry Awards for showing significant, rapid growth through its direct-to-consumer model. Between October 2019 and March 2020, ettitude held its first pop-up retail experience on Abbot-Kinney Boulevard in Los Angeles. In 2020, ettitude raised a $1.9 million (USD) fundraising round, enabling it to scale up its ambitions to be a global leader in the sustainable lifestyle category.
Now, we are ranked on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America.
What is the mission and vision of your organization?
Ettitude is a purpose-driven lifestyle brand with a vision for a more comfortable world for all. We recognize that we all want to live better, more comfortable lives while protecting and caring for the planet. It’s this knowledge that drives ettitude to innovate ways we can all more easily adopt an eco-attitude—where comfort and quality is not compromised by a commitment to conscious living.
How does your brand differ from other textile brands?
While many companies offer bamboo bedding using toxic rayon or viscose technology, ettitude spent years refining and testing its signature textile to create an evolved and improved, new-generation bamboo fabric.
Our revolutionary CleanBamboo™ fabric is produced in a closed loop system that recycles and reuses water up to 200 times, recycling 98% of water in the process. 70% of the bamboo ettitude harvests is used to create fiber, and the remaining 30% is composted. Where we can, ettitude seeks out ways to minimize waste, such as utilizing fabric offcuts to create packaging for its products. From 2021 onwards, the brand plans to eliminate all virgin plastics from packaging.
In 2020 as part of our inaugural Impact Report, ettitude engaged third party research group Clean Agency to conduct a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comparing CleanBamboo to cotton. The report revealed that:
- Compared to a cotton sheet set, ettitude’s CleanBamboo sheet set uses 500x less water and creates 52% less carbon emissions.
- ettitude’s CleanBamboo sheet set saves enough water for 267 loads of laundry, 517 showers or 818 dishwashing sessions.
- While a cotton sheet set creates 50kgs of carbon, ettitude’s CleanBamboo sheet set creates just 24kg.
- While cotton requires massive amounts of fresh water, causing a strain on the world’s water supply, ettitude’s bamboo is grown in the rainy Sichuan province of China and relies solely on rainfall to grow. Bamboo requires no chemicals to grow, whereas cotton is responsible for 25% of the world’s insecticides and 11% of the world’s pesticides — more than any other single major crop.
In addition, ettitude’s innovative CleanBamboo fabric is breathable, hypoallergenic and thermo-regulating to support sleep wellness. In 2019, we had our bedding tested by SGS, which showed that, when infused with charcoal, CleanBamboo fabric reduces microorganisms by over 99.9%. In the same process, SGS found that cotton did not reduce microorganisms at all (0% reduction) and actually increased microorganism cultures.
Ettitude’s signature CleanBamboo textile was found by SGS to be “significantly more cooling on the skin than cotton.” Ettitude’s CleanBamboo is silky soft, offering many of the same beauty benefits to hair and skin as silk. Ettitude’s smooth-textured bamboo lyocell pillowcases help to protect your skin from unwanted creases, and your hair from external stress and friction.
What problem do you solve for your customers?
Ettitude offers a high-quality alternative to traditional homewares at an affordable price point, while ensuring minimal environmental impact of its operation.
”While shopping for my home in Melbourne, Australia, I spotted an opportunity within the bedding market to create sustainable comfort for less. My vision of revolutionizing the bedding industry bridged together my entrepreneurial instincts, passion for sustainability, and understanding of fabric technology. After years of testing materials, weaving and dying techniques, and harnessing a decade of experience working in supply chain management and merchandising, we perfected and launched ettitude’s innovative CleanBamboo in 2014.” – Phoebe Yu, Founder & CEO
What do you predict to be the future of bedding and home goods?
We believe it’s possible to live comfortably without harming people and the planet. Everyone should have access to sustainable goods with benefits that enhance your wellness. For example: our unique Sateen+ fabric which blends organic bamboo and bamboo charcoal to offer an antimicrobial benefit.
What are the problems you see with the current textile industry?
Cotton is still the most popular fabric and is not friendly to our environment (referencel facts above). Cotton is known as the “fabric of our lives,” but these well-crafted words hide an ugly truth. Cotton is one of the world’s most environmentally damaging crops and has human rights implications, too.
That’s why ettitude created CleanBamboo, the fabric of our future. Silky-soft, sustainable and full of natural benefits, it’s a clean alternative to cotton.
What is the future of ettitude – What vision do you have for the next 5 years?
Our vision is to become the leading sustainable comfort brand by innovating eco-forward textiles, pioneering people-forward practices, and promoting conscious living because we believe it’s possible to live comfortably without harming the planet.
We have committed to becoming Carbon Neutral certified in 2021. We are evaluating new cut and sew factories that use clean energy sources, such as solar. We will create better internal systems to reduce our transportation impact. Our goal is to reduce air shipping by 50%. This involves making long-term inventory plans and choosing seashipping over air shipping.
In addition, our goals over the next 5 years include:
- To remove all virgin plastic from our products.
- To remove virgin plastic, virgin paper and cotton from all packaging.
- To have all products OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certified.
- To prevent ettitude products from ending up in landfills by launching a textile recycling pilot program in the US and introducing more customers to Loop.
- To set the highest ethical and sustainable standards in our factories.
- To use only sustainable materials in any physical retail or pop up experiences.
What are the challenges you are currently facing?
Scaling production at a rapid pace to match our growth, while also ensuring that we don’t cut corners that would compromise our mission to create sustainable comfort for people and the planet by making today’s decisions for our collective tomorrow.
How do you maintain wellness and community while building the company?
It’s a delicate balance and something we’ve spent a lot of time discussing as a team. Our aspiration is to create sustainable comfort for people and the planet, but we realize that discomfort is inherent in creating change and it takes a lot of hard work! Our company values reflect this tension and include: 1) well-being: we support the whole person; 2) ownership: we harvest what we sow; and 3) innovation: we go beyond our comfort zone to unlock growth.
www.ettitude.com
Images: ettitude
Author: Oona Yletyinen