QUT Branded Apparel

QUT’s Organic shirts are Earth Positive
Earth Positive® is a green revolution in promotional apparel: Climate Neutral T-shirts. Organic and ethically made, but crucially, manufactured solely using sustainable energy generated from wind power. EarthPositive® is a 100% organic product, produced under the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and certified by The Control Union and The Soil Association. EarthPositive® is GM free.

Low Impact Farming  Earth Positive work in regions where organic cotton is planted and harvested by hand, without mechanization, and because organic farming does not use petroleum based chemical fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide, it is less reliant on fossil fuels.

Carbon Neutral  EarthPositive apparel is made in carbon neutral manufacturing facilities in India, from 'low impact' organic cotton, and is distributed through carbon neutral warehouses and offices that use only renewable green electricity.

Fair Trade Practices Under the organic standard, farmers and agricultural workers are protected by stringent social criteria, total traceability across the entire supply chain, but also by the ban on the use of poisonous pesticides and defoliants which can severely damage the health of farmers and families. These standards also free poor farmers tied into third world debt to chemical companies on the 'pesticide treadmill'. Justice for Workers  To help tackle the social injustice often seen in manufacturing, commonly known as sweatshop labour, EarthPositive go further, making transparent their manufacturing supply chain, through an independent audit by the Fair Wear Foundation. The FWF exists to promote fair labour conditions in the clothing industry.

Environmentally Friendly  EarthPositive apparel is certified by the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard, Class I.  The Oeko-Tex 100 Standard is a guarantee of the safety of textiles and dyestuffs to human health. It also means we take more care in adopting environmentally friendly production methods throughout the manufacturing of EarthPositive apparel. Wind Powered  The primary energy source for EarthPositive apparel is thirty massive wind turbines that generate a continuous source of renewable electricity. More about EP  Low Water Footprint It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton, equivalent to a single T-shirt and pair of jeans. That's why EarthPositive chose to work in a region that receives up to 95% of its water from the monsoon rain. This was an important consideration, as the monsoon rain reduces the need for large-scale irrigation projects normally associated with conventional cotton farming, which often deprive local villages of scarce water resources by draining lakes and rivers. Look After Our Water The processing of the dye effluent takes place in a controlled closed-loop purification system that uses treatment ponds, sand filtration and reverse osmosis to convert the wastewater into clean water. Transportation EarthPositive has a 'No Airfreight' policy. We do not transport our goods, by air, instead we use containerised ocean shipping, and therefore the carbon footprint generated by transporting our apparel to Europe, Japan and the USA is negligible, more like a carbon fingerprint. EarthPositive apparel should not be criticised for its inability to solve the world's transportation and energy security issues, but we can ensure that our own production methods do nothing to contribute to environmental damage, social injustice or climate change. Transparency The development project for EarthPositive apparel, that has taken two years to complete, will provide the apparel industry with a blueprint in ethical and sustainable production. The Carbon Trust has asked for EarthPositive to be used as a Case Study, so that the clothing industry will benefit from our research and development. Carbon Labelling EarthPositive apparel has reduced the carbon footprint of a T-shirt by up to 90%. However, consumers require an independent verification process and a label over the claims of individual companies. The Carbon Trust is trialling such a carbon reduction label. This carbon reduction label acts as both the verification and communication of the CO2 of EarthPositive® apparel. The Carbon Trust product carbon footprinting method is to become the single standard for a product's carbon footprint in the UK.