Loving Earth

Cotton accounts for 3% of all world agriculture, employs 300 million people in 80 countries worldwide and consumes 25% of the chemical pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers used on the entire planet. The World Health Organization estimates that each year, worldwide, 20,000 of the people involved in the growing of conventional cotton die from pesticide poisoning. Organic clothing is clothing that is made from materials that are raised or grown without the use of chemicals in the form of pesticides, herbicides or other chemicals.

For these reasons AKABI chooses to use only organic and sustainable materials to produce our collections. Our organic cotton is from within the East Africa region. It is ‘Made in Africa’ - 100% Organic Cotton & Social Standards Certified and the cotton collections are manufactured in Kenya. The relatively short distance from the farm for growing the cotton to the manufacturing base helps to save the environment and reduce the output of carbon emissions.

We work with a Private Ltd Company in Kenya which is fully GOTS certified also for the entire Supply Chain (http://www.global-standard.org/). GOTS ensures: 100% organic cotton, social standards as well as annual independent audits.

AKABI also recycles used war parachutes to make our jackets and outerwear pieces. Virgin polyester is not very friendly to our planet and so recycling used product is the best option we have found to be style intelligent in our designs.

Environmentally friendly / water based inks for printing are used on our cotton jersey styles to help reduce the impact on the environment. Many screen printers’ use Plastisol inks and this contains PVC and phthalates, which are harmful to the environment. The inks for our prints do not contain toxic chemicals or CFCs and HCFCs, which deplete the ozone. Instead the water-based ink we use have passed the Oekotex Class 1 standard making them safe to use even on babies clothes.

We also use Bamboo as well as Hemp/Organic cotton twills as we aim to be more and more responsible in our business. We do understand that we have a long way to go in regards to materials, transport and everyday sustainability plans, but we are working towards improving our standards. We produce one collection a year and see being ethical to mean considering all aspects of the design process from conception through to fabric selection to production but accept that at times we can only take the small steps in order to get to our intended end. Our intention is to be a sustainable, desirable and ethical made in Africa fashion lifestyle brand. Its our social responsibility to take action where possible and to reduce the environmental impact as much as we can and in all we do. So we encourage you to come on this ride with us and see how well we grow and develop. And whom we are able to help and support along the way.

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