It's very important to us to run our business the right way. We know that all clothing has an impact on the environment, and as a clothing company, it's hard to be perfect. That's why we also recognize the cost of making our clothes and continuously focus on taking more and more social and environmental considerations into account in our production. Imagine if one day we could call ourselves a fully sustainable company. We're not there yet, but we're doing everything we can to get there.

In this process, the most important thing for us is to be transparent about everything we do, so that you as a consumer can make a conscious and informed choice when buying our clothes. Wearing LOOW clothing should not only feel good physically, but should be worn with a clear conscience and the knowledge that it has been produced under proper conditions and does not contain harmful chemicals.

Below you can see every step of our operations; from the source of our wool and where it is processed and made into textiles, washed, dyed and sewn, to how it is packed and shipped.

Our production

Wool from New Zealand
The best merino wool in the world comes from New Zealand, which has a long tradition of sheep farming. Here you'll find sheep that produce high-quality wool, as the harsh and varied environment means the sheep develop a good fur. This ultimately results in wool with low fiber thickness. 

As merino wool is a big part of our core business, animal welfare is paramount to us, which is why it's important for us to know that our wool comes from sheep that have lived in the best conditions. New Zealand is the only place in the world where the wool and production meets our standards. We only accept merino wool from farmers who meet the requirements of 'The Five Freedoms of Sheep' and only source wool from mulesing-free sheep. The farms we work with only shear their sheep once or twice a year and are guaranteed mulesing-free. Mulesing is a controversial method used to prevent fly infestation, it can be very painful for the sheep and is illegal throughout New Zealand.

Wool spun in Italy
The Italians have a long tradition, and therefore great expertise, in producing exclusive yarns and textiles from wool. All our wool is spun in Italy at Südvolle Group, which holds a wide range of certifications such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, bluesign©, GOTS, IVN Best and OEKO-TEX® 100.

The spinning mill also uses a wide range of external audits and is involved in relevant associations to ensure that the necessary environmental and social considerations are taken into account. This includes a focus on particularly efficient resource consumption, the use of non-toxic chemicals with regarad to customer-specific RSL (Restricted Substances List), MRSL (Manufacturing Restricted Substances List) and the continuous process towards compliance with the ZDHC-program (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals).

You can read more about Südwolle Group here. 

Fabric is knitted in Denmark
The yarn from Italy is knitted into fabric at our textile manufacturer Sontex in Ikast, with whom we have a close collaboration. It means a lot to us to have local suppliers so we can easily develop textiles for new products and continuously work with them to improve the fabrics we use. It also makes our value chain more transparent and makes it easier for us to check that the production and working conditions are as they should be, as we visit them regularly. 

Sontex DK ApS has a certificate of conformity with GOTS and a STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certificate. The certifications ensure that a wide range of environmental and social rules and regulations are met. You can read more about Sontex here.

Dyeing, processing and sewing in Poland
Our textiles are dyed in Poland at Bilinski. They are OEKO-TEX certified and GOTS certified. You can read more about our dyehouse here.

Our products are sewn at a small family-owned sewing workshop in Poland, where a group of skilled employees ensure that our products are made in the best quality. We've been working with them since we made our very first T-shirts back in 2015, so they know our products and fabrics inside out and know exactly how to make them. You can read more about the sewing shop here.

Elastic from Elas in Herning, Denmark
The elastics in all our boxers come from the Danish company Elas, which produces high-quality ribbons and elastics that are OEKO-TEX certified. You can read more about Elas A/S right here.

Boxes from Göteborgtrykkeriet
Our LOOW boxes come from Göteborgstrykkeriet. Göteborgstrykkeriet is certified according to ClimateCalc, so they track and report their carbon footprint, including raw materials, chemicals, electricity, heat and freight.

You can read more about Göteborgstrykkeriet right here.

Certifications - our benchmark 

To ensure that our suppliers live up to our values and objectives, we require the following certifications:

STANDARD 100 from OEKO-TEX®
We carefully select the companies we work with so we can guarantee that they match our quality standards. It is therefore a requirement for us that they are STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certified.

STANDARD 100 from OEKO-TEX® is one of the world's most recognized certifications for textiles, ensuring that they have been tested for harmful substances. If a textile carries the STANDARD 100 label, you can be sure that every single component in it, i.e. every thread, button and other accessories, has been tested for harmful substances and that the textile is therefore harmless to human health.

In addition, we are working on making our products fully traceable so that we can follow them all the way from sheep to T-shirts, and can document consumption, chemicals, etc. One of our goals is also to get our products OEKO-TEX® certified and be able to certify working conditions, water consumption and CO2 emissions.