Sustainable materials do not exist. Period. It doesn't matter what materials your clothes are made of. They still have a substantial effect on the environment. Many clothing companies talk about "sustainable textile production", but as long as sustainable materials don't exist, sustainable textile production doesn't either.
The hard truth is that we need to buy fewer clothes. And when we do need something new, it should be high quality and we must wear it until it is completely worn out. That's your responsibility, and as a clothing company we obviously have one as well. Below are some of the things Northern Playground does today to reduce our impact.
WHAT WE DO TO
USE MORE +
We want you to wear our clothes for many years. To make this possible, we offer help and guidance through three steps: Care, repair and new life. We will supply you with everything you need to take care of your garment, and teach you how to repair. The service also includes 1-2 repairs on the house, depending on your product. Read more here.
OUR MODEL
We turned the traditional business model of clothing companies upside down. Now, we include you and the rest of our customers as much as possible in both business decisions and product development. Read more here.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
We follow strict design requirements in product development. These requirements stress the importance of durability and multi functionality. Read our design philosophy here.
YOU DESIGN
A big part of our model is including you in the development of new and existing products. That way, we are sure that we only create products that will be loved and worn for many years. Join our Community here.
POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT
We work politically to give the environment more attention in the clothing industry. We have (amongst other things) sent multiple letters to the government requesting an environmental tax. We also believe that the industry must take more responsibility, and use our position to front this as best we can. See examples here and here.
SELF-IMPOSED ENVIRONMENTAL TAX
We set aside 15 NOK of every online sale to pay a self-imposed environmental tax. This tax is used for saving and repairing clothing, bringing us closer to our vision of reducing the world's clothing consumption. Read more here.
SLOW FASHION
"Fast fashion" is the environment's worst enemy. We don't release new collections every season. We develop clothes with classic designs that last a long time. Read more here.
COMMUNICATION
We are open, honest and say what other companies are too afraid of saying: There is no such thing as sustainable clothing, and the only thing that will make a big difference is if we buy less. We repeat this as often as possible and will continue to do so as long as we exist. In other words, we spend a lot of time and energy helping people think think twice about consumption. See a few examples here and here.
NO DISCOUNTS – FAIR PRICES
Discounts are in many ways the one of the main contributors to overconsumption. We can't talk about sustainability and offer discounts at the same time. Read more about our discount philosophy here and here.
We also don't design for the lowest possible price. We put quality first, so that you can wear our garments as long as possible and own less. It may not be cheap, but it ensures that animals, people and plants in the supply chain are well off.
LAST WEEK
In 2022 we used our environmental tax to host a care and repair festival. In collaboration with a few other companies, we taught people how to take better care of their clothes, and repaired clothes, bikes, knives, shoes and more. We plan to make this festival a tradition that gets bigger and bigger every year. Read more here.
WHAT WE DO TO
WE CALCULATE OUR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT
We calculate the environmental footprint of our production. Not to brag about low numbers, but to show that every single garment has a negative impact on the environment. Read more.
LOCAL PRODUCTION
THE ORGANIC COLLECTION
GOOD WOOL
We choose wool because it is a natural material, can be used for a long time without washing and fits hand in hand with our design philosophy.
TRAVEL PHILOSOPHY
We must fly less and less. That's something we take responsibility for. At the same time, we believe that traveling enables exploration and fosters good relationships. Trains solve a lot. Read more here.
ENVIRONMENTAL CULTURE AMONG EMPLOYEES
All employees also take their personal environmental impact seriously, and we both discuss and acknowledge our footprints as individuals. For example, no Northern Playground employees drive to work and we eat vegetarian lunches every day. Read more about how we work with environmental culture here.
PACKAGING
We are constantly working to make the company as sustainable as possible. So far, we have used both cardboard and paper packaging for our products. They look nice and are perceived as "sustainable" when customers receive their products. However, these packages have some weaknesses in protection, durability, and the footprint from production is not as positive as one might think.
Therefore, we have now switched to plastic bags to protect large parts of our assortment. Why? The arguments for and against are many, but plastic is superior when it comes to space utilization, durability, and reuse. Norwegians, in general, are very good at recycling plastic, and if the plastic bags from us are recycled correctly, the plastic can be used over and over again.
What is certain is that we all must fight for an oil-free future. We are now partners in a packaging project organized by the industry organization NF&TA, which will research the best solution. Let's hope we find something good! The hope must be to create systems where we reuse (not recycle) the packaging. Until then - dispose of the plastic in the plastic waste or use it for something else sensible!
The discussions around our packaging have been a sore subject in the office. Read about the dilemmas and themes in Behind The Seams, written by Adrian here.
CLOSE PRODUCTION
We produce most of our clothing at Utenos in Lithuania. Utenos takes their environmental responsibility very seriously, and is the only manufacturer in the world that fulfills Greenpeace's environmental standards.
WHAT WE DO TO
BEHIND THE SCENES
We believe that honesty and transparency are key. A few times a year we give our customers an honest peak behind the scenes of our company here.
SUPPLIER LIST
We don't have any secrets. Check out where all of our products are produced, where the materials come from and more on our full list of suppliers (updated regularly).
Distributed by: Oslo municipality
Distributed by: Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences