Everywhere Apparel Blanks

Everywhere's range of t-shirt blanks / Source: Everywhere Apparel

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3 MINUTE READ

Ian Crawley

WHAT WE SAY:

Swag sells because it works. And while there are far too many low-budget, badly made and eminently disposable items, handed out in their billions at trade shows and events, the industry is not going to simply stop.

Which is why we love the thinking behind Everywhere Apparel’s collection of plain t-shirt and hoodie ‘blanks’. If we ever do swag, we will be giving them a call.

KEY FACTS:

Everywhere Apparel has launched B2B and B2C ranges of garments made from Circot - the 100% GRS-certified recycled Cotton it produces via its closed-loop process.
For its primary B2B market, Everywhere provides printable, blank t-shirts and hoodies (clothing without branding or other decoration) that can be used for employee apparel and giveaways, for example at corporate shows.
Everywhere’s clothing features QR code labels. Owners can scan the codes to receive recycling information and request a prepaid mailer, which they can use to return items for store credit.
The company’s mechanical recycling process is both waterless and dye-free, which limits the current colour palette to neutral tones: black, white and heather grey.
Its D2C line is available via its website, with prices ranging from USD 36 for a t-shirt to USD 64 for a hoodie.

Women’s black t-shirt / Source: Everywhere Apparel

Everywhere's product range made from Circot / Source: Everywhere Apparel

DIVE DEEPER:

Everywhere says its closed loop system has four main advantages over conventional cotton or recycled polyester production: it does not use water, dyes or chemicals; unwanted garments are diverted from landfill; the carbon footprint is reduced; and no microplastics are released.
Instead, when compared to 100 organic cotton t-shirts, the company claims that the equivalent number of its Circot t-shirts requires 112,000 fewer gallons of water, generates only one-fifth of the carbon emissions and eliminates 62.5 pounds of landfill waste.
The company offers its wholesale clients simple environmental calculators to enable them to promote the quantitative impact of switching to recycled cotton garments across the metrics above.
Inbound textile waste is mechanically recycled by the company’s shredding partners in the US and Mexico. It is then spun into Circot yarn before being knitted into garments in Guatemala or Los Angeles.
Everywhere says that lower quality textile waste is diverted to be used as building insulation or rags, although it is not clear what happens to any non-recyclable material that it collects.

"...We chose to open source our closed loop system free of charge and make the technology available to anyone interested. By launching with a focus on the blank apparel industry, we ensure this innovative approach to sustainability has the broadest possible reach."

Irys Kornbluth - Co-CEO, Everywhere Apparel

Key Design Considerations:

Is this about a sustainability story or sustainability at scale?

While it is great to see 100% recycled fabric ‘in the wild,’ the reality is that Everywhere is merely scratching the surface of the 40 million tonne problem. For designers working with bigger brands, think about how you could think much bigger than a few hundred t-shirts to give away at your next offsite.

Is Everywhere the new Ford?

The items are available in any colour, as long as it is black, white or grey. While you might instantly recoil, consider that forward-thinking consumers are already attuned to the idea that imperfections are the new perfect and the circular aesthetic is not about endless, perfectly uniform, choice. How might you embrace these constraints?

While certifications help, they are not a free pass

Everywhere’s blanks are made from 100% GRS-certified recycled cotton, sourced within the US. The Global Recycling Standard is managed by Textile Exchange, which was identified as one of the better organisations in Changing Market’s deep dive into the limitations of sustainable certifications and bodies, License to Greenwash. While Everywhere is relatively transparent about the location of its supply chain (if not the actual factories), whenever you see a brand promoting its certifications, remember to ask what these really mean. Dirty supply chains can still be certified.