"At Augustine we are committed to working towards a better future for our industry and continue to be mindful of the practices we use to be more sustainable. Each season we are taking more and more steps towards natural fibres and using as many fabrics where possible that are better for our planet.
For example, our 2024 collections are heavily focused on natural fibres with the majority of garments being made from 100% natural fibres or a natural fibre blend. We are constantly pushing to find as many base fabrics as we can in cotton, viscose, linen, silk and rayon.
Although we are a very small company and cannot trace all our fabrics back to the source, we do our best to use less and less man-made fibres.
This is also evident in our activewear brand, Sweat Republic, where we are using more and more fabric made from recycled nylon (fishing nets) and recycled plastic bottles. All of our black fabrics going forward are made from recycled fabrics.
Our packaging has also taken a huge leap into the realm of sustainability.
Our courier bags and shop bags are all made from 100% recycled materials. We also offer a gift with purchase of reusable supermarket bags to avoid customers having to get the supplied paper bags at checkout.
We have been using the same company in China for the past 15 years of business and our relationship with Yoyo and Titi the owners, is very important to us. The factory that makes our clothes is across the hallway from their office so we have a great relationship with them and their small team.
We also love the fact that our clothes live on forever and don't end up in landfill. We continue to be one of the highest searched clothing brands on TradeMe. We have multiple Facebook pages set up by our customers that buy, sell and exchange our clothing, therefore seeing it live on from one customer to the next.
The clothing is great quality and women are happy to pass them from wardrobe to wardrobe making it a circular life cycle for our brand.
In future collection we will continue to strive to use more and more natural fibres and make our footprint on the world as small as possible."
Nathan & Kelly Coe
If you see this image on your garment, then the majority of the main material in that product is made from recycled materials or natural fibres.
A Focus on Natural Fibres
We are working on producing more and more garments which are made with a focus on natural fibres. This means that a large percentage of the garment is made from a natural fibre fabric. To find out the exact make up of a garment, you can check the fabric content on our website or the care label on the garment. We are focused on using as many natural or recycled fabrics as we can in each range.
Below is a list of natural fibres we use:
- Cotton
- Ramie
- Silk
- Wool
- Linen
- Hemp
- Leather
- Bamboo
- Lyocell
- Viscose
Sweat Republic Activewear
We are also working on producing activewear made from recycled fabrics.
Our recycled nylon garments are made from 70% recycled nylon. this recycled nylon is made using discarded nylon fabrics or fishing nets. 1 metre of discarded nylon with make 0.7 metres of new recycled fabric.
Our recycled polyester is made from recycled plastic bottles or other discarded polyester fabrics. Approximately 20, 500ml plastic bottles will make 1 metre of recycled fabric.
Reusable Shopping Bags
Each reusable bag is made using 3-10 recycled plastic bottles which might have otherwise ended up in landfill. Manufactured using a dyeing-free method for colouring fabric created using a low carbon emission production process.
100% Recycled Courier Bags
Our courier bags are made from 100% recycled materials, such as single-use plastic bags, bottles and paper. These materials are processed at recycling facilities and pub back into circulation, doubling or tripling their lifespan. While recyclable packaging is made of materials considered damaging to the environment like plastic, it is a sustainable option because it uses already existing materials, conserves natural resources, prevents pollution, and reduces the collection of new raw materials.
In-Store Shopping Bags
Our in-store shopping bags are made from 100% recycled paper. Old used paper is taken to our factory and recycled and re-made into new paper which we use for our shopping bags.
Giving Back
Part of owning a business is giving back and we do this both monetary and physically.
After the floods in the Hawkes Bay we gifted a whole truck load of stock to women in the region that had lost everything. We also had a large end of season sale last year and at the end of this we gifted unsold stock to 5 charities including Womens Refuge and Dress For Success.
We also work closely with the charity Nurturing Families and gift them stock, so they can have a small shop at their premises to dress ladies in need for free.
