At Tierra we love being in the outdoors, sweating in the outdoors, eating in the outdoors, sleeping in the outdoors and socializing in the outdoors. This is why we feel it is our obligation that our activities have the least possible impact on the environment.
A product affects the environment throughout its lifecycle – from production, through its years of use, and after it is discarded. Production accounts for the greatest environmental impact during a product’s lifecycle. This is not only the obvious factors, such as the energy and chemicals needed to produce the materials and to manufacture a product, but also transportation between factories and the choice of packaging. During this stage, we can influence a product’s environmental impact through the materials we use and where and in which factory we manufacture the product. Using materials such as recycled polyester or polyamide consumes less energy in production than if we had used new polyester or polyamide. Cotton is a natural material and is not a finite resource, which is positive in comparison to polyester and polyamide. However, the problem with cotton is that its cultivation and processing requires a great deal of water, pesticides and chemicals. We have chosen to only work with organic cotton and, in some products, to replace cotton with TENCEL™ Lyocell. TENCEL™ Lyocell is a fibre that is produced from cellulose in a considerably cleaner process, one that requires less energy and water. In the spring of 2017 we also introduce new products made out of hemp, a material with great environmental aspects and many other advantages.
We also make demands on our suppliers as regards the work environment, the use of chemicals, and animal husbandry. These requirements are governed by our chemical guide and our Code of Conduct. Naturally, we also demand that our down is not plucked from live birds and that the wool we buy is mulesing-free.