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NASER SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS

Cashmere

NASER as a luxury high end fashion, we are still eager to make our high end luxurious products at a very sustainable level protecting the planet. Cashmere is a particularly rare and precious fiber. Also Cashmere is one of the most valuable natural materials in fashion and NASER as a sustainable brand, we will be attempting to rescue the environment of such a valuable material, we will not use virgin cashmere, and redefining waste is the future.

Innovation

NASER uses many materials but out of all, cashmere as a virgin cashmere has a big environmental damage on the planet, triple impacts of wool, this coincides with our sustainable strategy of not using the virgin cashmere on the long term, so we will use regenerated cashmere made from post factory cashmere waste in Italy. Our research shows Re.Verso™ is a unique platform for re-engineering cashmere materials for fashion, using this material demonstrates our commitment to making fashion circular, which means an industry that is restorative and regenerative by design. Cashmere waste from factories is sorted by hand, which requires a skilled touch to identify the difference between varieties of different fibres. As the majority of Re.Verso™ yarns are not re-dyed, the materials are sorted by colour and fiber, before being sent for testing to ensure fiber content and chemical safety. Re.Verso™ is also GRS (Global Recycling Standard) certified which ensure that all of the recycling steps are traceable and verified.

A creation of NASER masterpieces as pieces of garments from reengineered cashmere, we will be making a blueprint in making a redefinition of waste and demonstrating a distinguished strategy that nothing is impossible.

Protecting the future of cashmere

It takes four goats to produce enough fiber to make a single cashmere sweater, whereas one sheep produces enough fiber to make five wool sweaters. That’s why cashmere has traditionally been considered a luxury material. But today, cashmere has become ubiquitous.

To meet the demand for accessible cashmere products, farmers have increased the number of goats in their herds, which has led to negative environmental impacts, particularly in Mongolia.

Goats graze on the grasses and their hooves pierce the soil surface, which can prevent grass from re-growing. Where grasslands were once rich and thriving, they are now victim to desertification. According to the United Nations Development Programme, 90% of Mongolia is fragile dry-land, under increasing threat of desertification. We will be working on the ground through big groups with the Wildlife Conservation Society to restore the Mongolian grasslands.

Together, we will be working to create a more sustainable system for cashmere production where herders are paid fairly, and where there is an incentive for better quality materials whilst reversing the desertification that has already taken place.


Wool

Our Strategy is having a group of hand-selected farms that will be chosen on a very strict standards based on their commitment to animal welfare and environmental stewardship.

We will use wool because it is one of the most naturally technical materials in the world. It keeps you warm but it also breathes. It has antibacterial properties so it does not require frequent washing. It is naturally water repellent, fire resistant and is long-lasting.

Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute

We believe that wool can only be truly sustainable if it does no damage to the planet, animals or humans. This is the reason that makes us pursuing it, Gold-Level Cradle to Cradle Certification for one of our most used wool yarns. To do this, we will work with one of the key knitwear suppliers who make more than 79% of our wool knitwear yarns. The certification looks at five categories – material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship and social fairness.

To achieve the certification, we will work closely with an independent assessor. Together, we can focus on optimizing our entire wool process, from avoiding the use of pesticides around sheep, to changing the chemistry of dyes, and improving the health, safety and sustainability of the materials.

The Cradle to Cradle Certified Standard drives innovation and positive change for both our brand, and the industry as a whole.

Achieving Gold level certification:

One of the requirements for Gold level standard is ensuring that a biological material can be returned safely to the environment through the use of safe chemicals. Our biggest challenge will be certifying the yarn after the wool that will be arriving at the mill in Italy. The chemicals that mills uses to treat wool will not fit Cradle to Cradle Certification standards. We will have to to work very closely with the mills to ensure them that using safer chemicals is a beneficial change for everyone.

Our ambition for Gold level standard will radically change the way we will produce and care for our wool.

From avoiding pesticides at farms, to the detergents, processing chemicals and the dyes we use, the chemistry we will use to treat our wool yarn will be changed by over 70%.

Wool is a naturally biodegradable fiber, but dyes and finishing chemicals contaminate it. When the wool will be used in our products, it will decompose; it will contain absolutely no materials that will pollute the environment.

Water usage in the area of Italy where mills are located high. As our chemistry will be improved, so will our water usage. Wastewater treatment is in place to degrade molecules that are hazardous to the environment.

Remaining non-renewable energy is crucial for our sustainable future.


FUR FREE

Our mission is that clothing can be luxurious without using leather or fur. There will be no choice except Fur-Free-Fur. Two of our pillars are originality and modernity which will be resulting in a unique brand mixture. This is the future of fashion.

Why we will be using and promoting Fur-Free-Fur? Due to one of the NASER pillars is modernity means evolving and discovering new ways of using alternative materials. Because we want to promote a cruelty-free and ethical philosophy. Because it means moving away from the old and creating the new.

Indeed, Fur is the most unnecessary thing in the world. Those animals are not eaten, if they try to pretend that the fur industry products are by-products they are not. Those animals are bred to be turned into coats.

Why we will only use Fur-Free-Fur

There is no denying it, fur is cruel. 85% of the fur industry’s skins come from animals living in captivity in fur factory farms. These are farms that hold thousands of animals, in most often very poor conditions. Like most intensive-confinement animal farms, the welfare of the animals is not always the first though, profit is. As well as being cruel to animals, fur requires numerous toxic chemicals for preservation and dyeing, which can be extremely harmful for the natural environment and workers.

How we will be making a statement

We have to stand by our commitment to never use real fur. The decision to include faux fur in our creations was primary. We will be proud to create a product that looks and feels like real fur without any of the cruelty factor, but remain equally aware that we do not want to promote fur because of our product’s great likeness to it. we will conclude that by offering a luxury Fur-Free-Fur product that is such a good alternative to real fur we are demonstrating no animal needs to be harmed for fashion and that is an important message for us. Our labels ‘Fur-Free-Fur’ will be on the outside of each garment for awareness

The journey to fur-free fashion does come with challenges. We will work with a few select mills that produce our materials in an environmentally sound way. We will also be conscious that the product itself is non-biodegradable, made from acrylic, polyester, wool or mohair. We therefore encourage customers to care for their items and be responsible with their garments, never throwing them away. Luxury does not mean landfill – it means forever.


SILK

Traditional silk sources are in Como in Italy. Yet with the NGOs of creative pioneers and their technology, we will come up with more explorations of the creation of silk.

Como’s fabric mills have been around since the early 1900s. Today in Como, there are over 500 companies engaged in the silk and textile trade, through manufacturing, printing, dyeing, designing and selling.

we will use a mix of traditional silk and Peace Silk. Peace Silk is essentially made the same way as commercial silk, but in this case the silkworms are able to turn into moths and emerge naturally from their cocoons. The silk is then gathered from the forests after the moths have flown away.

Although Peace Silk causes no harm to silkworms. The method results in broken silk thread that must be woven back together. We have found it difficult to source the quality and quantity of Peace Silk we need to produce our products.

The future of silk

NASER is focusing on innovation means we will be always looking for new ways of bringing sustainability into our design methods while also creating the most beautiful product possible. A partnership with technology innovator Bolt Threads will be allowing us to do exactly that with silk.

Bolt Threads a biotechnology company located in California, is creating the next generation of advanced materials, and changing the future of silk as we know it. And it all starts with nature.

Partnering with Bolt Threads is a big move, because it will feel like everything is finally coming together and the dots are being connected between fashion, sustainability and tech innovation.

By studying the silk that spiders make, Bolt Threads are able to understand the relationship between spider DNA and the characteristics of the fibres they make.

Their technology allows Bolt Threads to replicate these processes, at scale, and create silk with remarkable properties, including high tensile strength, elasticity, durability and softness.

Not only is this method revolutionary, it creates cleaner, closed-loop processes for manufacturing, using green chemistry practices. It also produces less pollution, creates long-term sustainability and it is vegan friendly, because it is entirely made from yeast, sugar and DNA.

This partnership will represent a huge step-change, not only for our brand, but for the future of fashion where our ideas, our resources and our methods of manufacturing are unlimited.


ORGANIC COTTON

Organic cotton is one of our key fabrics which we will create products in a way that enriches the environment and improves conditions for farmers. Organic farming works with nature, instead of against it.

Organic cotton farming was developed by social entrepreneurs, farmers and NGOs who did not like the overuse of pesticides, or the social problems caused by production practice, including farmer debt and sickness caused by chemicals.

Organic cotton eliminates the use of toxic and persistent chemicals, improves soil health and increases water conservation. All of which is better for environment and for farmers and their communities.

These benefits explain why we want to increase the amount of certified organic cotton we use in our future collections. We aim to make the usage of the certified organic cotton around 50%. We will use organic cotton across all of our collections and products – such as kidswear, denim, jersey, knitwear, shirting, dresses, shoes and bags.

The benefits of organic cotton

Conventional cotton farming has a significant environmental impact. It requires toxic pesticides and fertilizers, which causes biodiversity loss and can damage farmers’ health. Cotton crops are also highly water-intensive. It can take more than 20,000 liters of water to produce 1kg of cotton; equivalent to a single T-shirt and pair of jeans.

Organic cotton farming offers a solution. It is a more balanced way of producing cotton that considers the whole ecosystem.

Organic cotton farming also supports biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, and helps to mitigate climate change by increasing the ability of soils to sequester carbon.

Organic farming techniques use significantly less water as the crops are mainly rain-fed instead of irrigated. And because there are no toxic chemicals used in organic farming, there are no unnecessary toxins going into the ground. That enriches the soil and helps biodiversity flourish. Organic cotton farming is also beneficial to farmers. Under the right conditions, organic farming offers better livelihoods because farmers do not have to rely on expensive chemicals. Also, the premium prices paid for organic products helps farmers to increase their incomes. And not using hazardous pesticides and chemical fertilizers is better for farmers’ health.

Organic cotton

It takes four goats to produce enough fiber to make a single cashmere sweater, whereas one sheep produces enough fiber to make five wool sweaters. That’s why cashmere has traditionally been considered a luxury material. But today, cashmere has become ubiquitous.

Organic cotton is grown without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.
  • Organic farming requires crop rotation and composting, which promotes soil health and help lock CO2 into the soil, helping mitigate climate change.
  • Organic cotton does not use genetically modified seeds
Conventional cotton
  • Cotton alone accounts for almost 7% of all employment in some low-income countries.
  • Conventionally grown cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop, nearly $2.6 billion worth of pesticides are sprayed on cotton fields each year.
  • Cotton production uses 2.5% of the world’s arable land, but accounts for 16% of all pesticides used; in India 50% of all pesticides are used for cotton production with negative impacts on farmers’ health.
Organic certifications
  • We believe that standards and certifications when used correctly can be one of the most powerful tools in the industry. They support the integrity of product claims by providing verification from an independent third-party.
  • We will only use organic cotton that has been certified to the GOTS or OCS standard.
Cotton in the EP&L With Kering
  • In terms of volumes, cotton is one of our most used raw materials.
  • Using EP&L tool, we will able to compare the average environmental impacts of conventional vs. organic cotton farming per kilogram of cotton.
  • The environmental impacts of conventional cotton production are driven by the large quantities of water required to cultivate the crop, the conversion of land for agricultural use, and the heavy use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers.
  • Organic farming has a much lower environmental impact as it uses significantly less water from local water resources and does not allow the use of toxic chemicals, which improves soil health and reduces water pollution impacts.

VISCOSE

Sourcing viscose is a method to keep forests healthy and its spices to flourish. We will also able to trace all of our viscose right back to its forest of origin, ensuring that it comes from sustainably managed forests.

Viscose, also known as rayon, starts its life as a tree. As it is one of our key materials, we are committed to making sure that the places we source from are protected and enriched. Because forests provide us with clean water and air, give us food, medicine, resources like timber, as well as being a habitat for the majority of the worlds’ birds and animals and every year, 150 million trees are cut down to create fabric.

For such reasons we will make our ready-to-wear viscose comes from sustainably managed and certified forests in Sweden.

Protecting forests and biodiversity

Healthy forests play a critical role in slowing down climate change because they soak up carbon dioxide, however on the other hand, their destruction (i.e. deforestation) is one of the key drivers of climate change, and accounting for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions.3 Deforestation is also the cause of habitat loss for millions of species. More than 80% of species that live on land (animals, plants and insects) reside in forests4 and once they have lost their home, most species do not survive.

That is why we will be committed to meeting strict forestry standards. Our primary viscose supply chain will be fully traceable, transparent and entirely European. We carefully source pulp from trees that come from an FSC-certified forest in Sweden, which is neither ancient nor endangered. The pulp is then turned into a viscose filament in Germany and then made into fabric in Italy. This gives us a level of traceability that is unprecedented and ensures we are not directly or indirectly contributing to the destruction of forests.

Deforestation

Simply put; deforestation is the destruction of forests by humans.

Deforestation comes in many forms, including fires, clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development and unsustainable logging for timber, however the biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture.

In the Amazon, roughly 17% of the rainforest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching.

Forests and tree have the greatest potential to reduce carbon emissions. Reforestation, avoided forest loss and better forestry practices, could cost-effectively remove 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually by 2030.

Ancient and endangered forests

Ancient and endangered forests are defined as intact forest landscape mosaics, naturally rare forest types, forest types that have been made rare due to human activity, and/or other forests that are ecologically critical for the protection of biological diversity.

Key endangered forests globally include the Canadian and Russian Boreal Forests; Coastal Temperate Rainforests of British Columbia, Alaska and Chile; Tropical forests and peat lands of Indonesia, the Amazon and West Africa.

Sustainable forestry

Managing forests sustainably means using forests in a way and at that maintains their productivity, biodiversity, and regeneration capacity as well as ensuring that they can meet society’s needs now and in the future.

Good sustainably forestry practices mimic nature’s patterns of disturbance and regeneration – balancing the needs of the environment, wildlife, and forest communities, supporting decent livelihoods while conserving our forests for generations to come.


VEGETERIAN LEATHER

As a sustainable brand, we will not use leather, skin, fur or feathers. By taking this stance we are proving it is possible to create beautiful, luxurious products that are better for everyone – animals, people and the environment.

When we established our brand, there were no intentions to do sustainable moves since in this industry it would not be possible to create a luxury fashion brand without using leather or fur. But we changed our strategy to be healthy and working for each other as a brand and care about the planet and our research proved that it could be and there some competitors started already

By choosing vegetarian leather, we are demonstrating how a luxury fashion brand can push the boundaries to make products that are beautiful, sustainable and cruelty-free. No compromises.

A better environmental impact

Such leather' alternatives do not just look good, they are also better to the environment. Using recycled polyester instead of Brazilian calf leather, for example, creates 24 times less of an environmental impact, as calculated through the Environmental Profit and Loss.

Animal agriculture & leather

Leather impacts are driven by land use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with animal agriculture, as well as the energy use and water consumption requirements of tanneries.

The FAO estimates that animal agriculture is responsible for between 14.5% and 18% of global Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, and 65% of this is from cattle (compared to other animal species).

In the Amazon, around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching.

The livestock sector is the world’s largest user of agricultural land, through grazing and the use of feed crops.

Vegetarian leather vs. real leather

One of the most significant drivers of impact is the land use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with animal rearing. Other important impacts are energy use and water requirements of tanneries as well as water pollution resulting from chemicals used in the tanning process.

In Brazil, the cattle industry has been a big driver of deforestation and land conversion, which results in the loss of important ecosystem services. As a result, Brazilian calf leather has a high environmental impact of around €17 per kg compared to polyester which has an average impact of €1 per kg of material.

The comparison between Brazilian calf leather vs. polyester as it clearly highlights how high the impact of leather can be, however even when comparing a low impact source of leather such as leather from France a synthetic alterative has 1/4th of the impact per kg of material.

Although our decision to avoid leather enables us to have a lower environmental impact than those that do choose to use leather, we openly acknowledge that the synthetic alternatives are not without concern.

The most damaging impact of polyester production is the extraction and processing of oil into yarn. However, the shedding and environmental impact of microfibers from synthetic materials has been significantly undervalued in LCA datasets that the fashion industry relies on.

Innovative materials and safer chemicals

We intend to use alter-nappa for our shoes and bags. This breakthrough material is made from polyester and polyurethane and has a recycled polyester backing. This reduces the amount of petroleum we use in our products. And the alter-nappa coating is made with over 50% vegetable oil, a renewable, natural resource. Switching our polyurethanes to water-borne and solvent-free polyurethanes. As well as being less energy and water intensive, they are made without solvents and therefore much safer for people to work with. Our decision to not use leather has enabled us to will help reducing our environmental impact. However, we do acknowledge that the synthetic alternatives we use are not without environmental concerns. The majority of the impact associated with synthetic fibres is due to processing oil into yarn. We will be working to reduce the impact of our alternative materials by using recycled and bio-based materials.


RECYCLED NYLON AND POLYESTER

Our goal is to create a business that is restorative and regenerative by design, striving to incorporate as many circular materials as possible into our collections.

Synthetic materials, such as nylon and polyester, can – and should – be recycled and come from recycled sources. As a global population, we will be using the equivalent of 1.5 planets worth of natural resources (WWF) .

We will extract new raw materials to create products that most likely end up in landfill, where they take centuries to decompose. The world is full of raw material that is already in use, or on its way to landfill, where it will take centuries to decompose. The most logical, and exciting, next step is to reuse what we already have. To turn ‘waste’ materials into something more luxurious to create a truly a truly circular, restorative system.

Regenerated nylon

Our goal is to stop using virgin nylon. To do this, we will be switching the current nylon to ECONYL® regenerated nylon. ECONYL® takes recycled materials to a whole exciting new level by turning waste into resource. To make ECONYL®, waste such as industrial plastic, waste fabric and fishing nets from oceans is recycled and regenerated into a new nylon yarn that is exactly the same quality as virgin nylon.

Currently, the polyester we use is made out of recycled plastic water bottles, which is what the vast majority of the recycled polyester around the world is made from. To date this has been the only commercial option available to us, however we will be seeking and supporting new technologies that will enable us, and the fashion industry, to recycle polyester fabrics back into fabrics. Only 1% of textiles are currently recycled back into textiles and we believe that it is time for the fashion industry to deal with its own waste.

It is our goal to only use recycled polyester– but our plan period is longer than our projection for recycled nylon simply because the technology we need to reach this point is not yet available to us in a sustainable and circular way.

Our planet has a waste and overconsumption problem, wreaking havoc on our environment. Single-use and disposable items, particularly from plastic, are ending up in landfills, with over 300 million tons of plastic produced every year. we must take actions.

Fashion from the ocean

We depend on oceans every single day with every breath we take and every drop of water we drink. Oceans cover 72% of the Earth, supply 70% of the oxygen we breathe, holds 97% of the planet’s water, and lock away 30% of carbon emissions. But our ocean is under threat.

Every year, approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters our oceans. This is not only a great threat to marine wildlife, but to human health. And, if this continues, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050.

We will be partnering with Parley for the Oceans to raise awareness for ocean conservation and to fight marine plastic pollution. As part of our mission to combat marine plastics, we will later create new products made from Parley Ocean Plastic™


METAL

We are working to reduce the environmental impacts of our metal consumption by investing in low-impact, recycled or recyclable metals.

13% of our total environmental impact was a result of our use of metals, and 97% of all our metal impacts were due to brass.

One of the biggest environmental impacts associated with brass comes from the mining of copper.

Copper does not break down in the environment, and high levels of it can sometimes be found in the ground and water sources surrounding mines. The biggest impact of metal extraction is water pollution and the levels of copper within local water sources leads to

However, we will develop a stainless-steel and an aluminium alternative that we will use for some of our chains. These chains have a lower environmental footprint as there is no copper mining involved and they use more sustainable coating processes.