"I made your clothes" - reads the sign in the hands of seamstresses and seamsters that can be increasingly observed in the social media of fair fashion companies. This action of the Fashion Revolution is to make curious consumers aware of who has been sewing the garments that are hanging in their wardrobe at home.
Yet that's not enough for us. We would like to show you where the cotton for our collection originates, with which machines the fabric is woven, how the big bales of fabric are dyed and, of course, last but not least, the hands of those who produce our Yoga leggings, tops and bras.
Fair fashion production in Turkey
This is why we have made our way to Turkey, to be more precise, to the mega-city of Izmir, located directly on the Aegean coast. We have been working there with the Textile Manufacturer Demoteks for over 13 years. Eighty employees are responsible for sewing our clothes by taking the greatest care to produce our design ideas into a physical form.
Natural fibers and sustainable materials
But let's start from the beginning: From sustainable materials we use in producing our Eco Yogawear. In Turkey, we mainly process Organic Cotton and Bio-Polyamide from the Castor Bean Plant. The conditions for growing cotton in Turkey are excellent: The demanding cotton plant needs plenty of sun, good weather and preferably no rain at harvest time, as this would destroy the cotton buds. We exclusively use organic cotton for our production, which is grown without fertilizers, chemicals or genetic engineering. Here you can learn more about why Organic Cotton is environmentally friendlier than conventionally grown cotton.
After harvesting, the fiber is separated from the seed and prepared for the spinning process. Depending upon the customers’ request, the cleansed natural fibers are twisted and stretched into yarns of different lengths in the spinning mill. However, the look and feel quality of the end product of the Jersey fabric can only be determined after the selected knitting process for the yarns has been completed. During our on-site visit of the spinning mill, we were able to actually see that the production of organic cotton is strictly separated from that of the conventional cotton – this strict separation is most important as it is in compliance with the GOTS standard.
The end product of the cotton jersey only has a short way to the next station: To the dyeing company Maytekstil in Manisa that provides color, more color and even more color - almost every nuance is obtainable. However, we consciously omit choosing flashy, neon colors, as they do not correspond with the ecological standards we want to meet for Mandala.
The last steps take place at the GOTS-certified textile manufacturer Demoteks: Cutting, sewing, cleansing, ironing, quality control and packaging. In the peak-phase of the working process everyone knows which is his manual action to take in the assembly line. You can notice that the family business is managed by the private owner: The working atmosphere is friendly, the mood of the employees good. Drinking Chai together during tea break with a chat in the garden are part of the daily program.
Fair for humans and the planet
In addition, there are many benefits that other businesses do not offer: all employees can make use of the convenient in-house chauffeur service, can share lunch-time together and depend on regular working hours. Working overtime hours is in the low range with fair pay. Salaries are paid regularly, a signal of reliability.
From the cotton seed to the finished garment, a Mandala clothing article goes through many stages - each one is checked and carefully selected by us. To produce high-quality fashion that gives the customer the pleasure of wearing sustainable garments that do not harm the environment is of great importance to us.
