About Us
Forrest & Fauna is the collective effort of a brother and sister who joined creative forces to realize both of their passions--his, a love of graphic arts and hers, an adoration for cloth and color--and together a mutual dedication to environmental stewardship and social issues.
With a zeal for design, Forrest & Fauna chose the medium of conscious fashion to be their venue. Their collection is produced locally in the Southern California area, where they have a close relationship with all aspects of responsible manufacturing processes. By establishing scrupulous levels of environmental and labor standards, from sourcing fiber all the way through packaging and delivery, continual efforts of minimal impact production are discovered and adopted.
Every garment is made from 100% certified organic, USA grown cotton, which is not only luxurious to wear, but also embodies numerous benefits that a chemical-free fiber has on our agricultural land and waters. And further, all of the dyes and colorants used on Forrest & Fauna apparel are from certified sustainably grown and harvested plant sources. Years of global travel and intensive study have provided the knowledge to use nature’s colors in a manner that is completely non-toxic. Forrest & Fauna are excitingly innovative being the first clothing line to use 100% plant based screen-printing inks.
It is within all of these facets that bring the team their inspiration and enthusiasm. Through the union of old-world knowledge and modern technology, Forrest & Fauna bring forth original, lasting and sophisticated apparel. Read the whole story here.
About our logo
Our logo is an amalgam of different elemental motifs.
The leaf is a combo of an Aspen and a Bodhi leaf. The Aspen has ties to Colorado where and Forrest & Fauna were born. The bodhi leaf has great significance as 'Bo' means 'supreme knowledge' or 'awakening' in the old Indian languages and such concepts are at the center of a social and ecological enterprise.
Another way of looking at it is the leaf is for Forrest, the plant kingdom and the feather is for Fauna, the animal world. Just like the partnership in this business, one could not do without the other in the natural world.
Leaf & feather, from seed and egg mark a beginning, a time for change and rebirth. Leaf & feather provide shelter & flight and speak for our home and our future.
Special Points of Interest
- Fabric: 100% USA grown certified organic cotton.
- Dyes: Certified sustainably grown and harvested, fairly traded plant extracts.
- Silk Screen Inks: Forrest & Fauna formulated their own silk-screen inks. As far as we know we are the only ones doing this process with screen printing inks in the industry at this time. They are formulated from pigment concentrations from plants grown, harvested and traded with ecological standards.
- We manufacture our own goods to maintain quality control, consumption, energy and shipping. We don’t do anything overseas so we can cut down on our carbon footprint.
- All of our fits are custom
- Zippers: The zippers on our hoodies are from IDEAL Earth™ . They are made from recycled plastic (Pull and Teeth 30%) and recycled poly-yarn (Tape 100%) and are fully recyclable.
- Certification: We are working on obtaining organic certification for our garments.
- Our Goal: To be a leader and innovator in fashion by providing an organic collection that is affordable and made in the United States.
- Member of 1% For the Planet: We have chosen to donate proceeds to nonprofit organizations that provide an opportunity for a bit of carbon offsetting and local environmental action.
- Members of Organic Exchange- who supports us with many things including, development and implementation of an organic cotton program with information, tools, consulting, supply chain management, product development and marketing.
Understanding the terminology of how Forrest & Fauna is contributing to the evolution of Eco-Apparel
What is Carbon Offsetting?
It is a way to reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere by balancing or canceling out the amount of these gases through investments made in environmentally nurturing projects. As a member of 1% For The Planet, we contribute 1% of sales to varied environmental groups that are actively working to preserve traditional livelihoods and cultures through agroforestry Internationally or to local Southern California nonprofits that are working hard to rehabilitate coastal waters and watersheds right in our own backyard.
What are Sustainable Processes?
Sustainable processes can be carried out indefinitely with minimal long-term impact on the environment. The following are examples of sustainable systems.
- Closed Loop Manufacturing is a system that collects used products and then reuses or recycles all collected products and components within a closed system.
- Sustainable agriculture refers to the ability of a farm to produce crops indefinitely, without causing irreversible damage to ecosystem health, including effects on soil, water supplies, biodiversity, or other surrounding natural resources. The concept of sustainable agriculture is an “intergenerational” one in which we pass on a conserved or improved natural resource base instead of one, which has been depleted or polluted, as with standard farming methods. Terms often associated with farms that are self-sustaining include “low-input,” organic, “ecological,” “biodynamic,” and “permaculture.”
- Sustainable forestry practices a land stewardship ethic which integrates the growing, nurturing, and harvesting of trees with the conservation of soil, air, and water quality, while protecting wildlife and fish habitats.
Why Organic Cotton?
Cotton is the second most pesticide-laden crop in the world. Five of the top nine pesticides used on cotton in the U.S. (cyanide, dishful, naled, propargite and trifluralin) are known cancer-causing chemicals. And, it takes approximately 1/3 of a pound of chemicals to grow enough cotton to make just one t-shirt. Organic cotton, on the other hand, is grown in certified pesticide-free and herbicide-free soil, using organic farming methods, which produce healthier fabrics by preserve the quality of our water, building biologically diverse agriculture and preventing toxins from entering the human food chain in the form of cottonseed and other byproducts.
What is OE100 Standard?
OE 100 Standard helps ensure that consumers of organic cotton products can be confident that the product contains 100% certified organically farmed ingredients. It also provides a tool for companies to use in confirming that the products they are buying or selling contain the percentage of organic cotton that they have stated.
What does OE 100 Standard require companies to do?
- Purchase their organic cotton from a farmer that is a certified organic producer
- Have a minimum of 95% organic cotton content in their products (there is an allowance for up to 5% trims)
- Handle the cotton in a manner that keeps its identity until it is spun into yarn
- Handle and label the yarns, fabrics, and finished goods containing organic cotton so the purchase and use of certified organic cotton can be verified at each step of the manufacturing process
- Maintain records that confirm that all required steps have been taken
- Have an independent, accredited third party certify compliance with the OE 100 Standard for every party involved in producing the product.
What Is Fair Trade?
A just and sustainable global economic system which is about making sure that products exported internationally from “developing” countries to “developed” countries are produced under fair conditions. This kind of trade practice aims to alleviate poverty by continually and significantly expanding the practice of trade that values the labor and dignity of all people by promoting the payment of fair prices, safe and healthy working conditions and responsible environmental practices.
Why 100% Plant-Based Screen-Printing Inks vs. Conventional Water-Based or Plastisol?
There are two major schools of screen printing ink; plastisol and water based. Plastisol is a PVC based ink and is what the majority of commercial printers use. Water based is, as the name suggests, a water based ink with pigments suspended within it.
Forrest and Fauna screen printing inks can technically be considered as water-based inks HOWEVER they differ greatly from the more common known and accepted ‘water-based’ inks. Many textile screen printers use water-based inks instead of plastisol inks as they offer many advantages, technically, aesthetically and ecologically. However, there is the misconception that industrial water-based inks are completely non-toxic and thus have been adopted by those looking for ‘greener’ printing options. In some cases, water based inks contain petroleum based “co-solvants” that are used to decrease the inks drying time.
As with both types of screen inks, the greatest environmental hazard is with the cleanup of tools, screens and disposal of chemicals. Actually, that’s second to the fact that Plastisol is PVC ink and polyvinyl chloride is a known carcinogen. Aside from that concern, plastisol requires a strong solvent to emulsify the ink to easily remove it from equipment. The cleanup procedure for water-based inks is less noxious than plastisols but the environmentally friendly reputation is partially marketing hype. These inks may not need solvents to clean up but the pigments are potential environmental hazards and need to be carefully filtered out of the water before they go down the drain and many who are using commercial water-based inks do not have the costly filtration systems.
The inks used in Forrest & Fauna garments are of 100% biodegradable plant sources. As the inks permeate and bond with the fibers, they have the same valued “soft hand” and lasting permeability as other water-based inks but again differ in that a majority of the constituents used are food grade items and therefore require no filtration for disposal. We use only biodegradable cleaners and screen-printing components, and are always looking for new ways to improve our operations. We place a great deal of focus and effort towards a screen-printing operation that poses little to no environmental impact and is as sustainable as possible.
Why aren’t we using bamboo fabric?
Don’t get us wrong, we LOVE the luxurious softness of bamboo as much as anyone else, but the highly exalted plant has a major shortcoming in the manufacturing processes. The processing of bamboo wood to a textile yarn uses more energy than regular cotton and is heavily dependant on multiple chemical processes. In truth, very little bamboo clothing would qualify as sustainable or organic clothes. Most bamboo fabric that is the current eco-fashion rage is chemically manufactured by “cooking” the bamboo leaves and woody shoots in strong chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide (also known as caustic soda or lye) and carbon disulfide in a process also known as hydrolysis alkalization combined with multi-phase bleaching. Both sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide have been linked to serious health problems. Because of the potential health risks and damage to the environment surrounding the manufacturing facilities, textile manufacturing processes for bamboo or other regenerated fibers using hydrolysis alkalization with multi-phase bleaching are not considered sustainable or environmentally supportable. Further, many areas of old-growth forest in China are being cut down in order to clear space for the increasingly popular China are being cut down in order to clear space for the increasingly popular bamboo fiber. We are looking forward to the textile industry developing more sustainable solutions for this promising fiber. We are looking forward to the textile industry developing more sustainable solutions for this promising fiber.