The Word on Wool
Choosing Eco-Friendly Materials:
Every purchase you make from Smeeny Beanie Knits is a choice to be a more earth friendly consumer.
What does eco-friendly mean?
To me, it is minimizing our impact on the environment and creating products in an ethical and responsible way using as many sustainable materials as possible.
Living in the mountains, I love the outdoors and being environmentally responsible is important to me. When I first started my business, I knew I wanted to give back and pledged to donate 5% of my profits to the National Park Foundation. I also knew that I wanted to be as responsible as I could when it came to my materials. At first, this meant using cork fabric tags for my hats, faux fur pom poms handmade by small woman-run businesses, recycled kraft paper for my tags and business cards, and recycled poly mailers for shipping.
Becoming a More Eco-Friendly Brand
As my business has grown and changed, I want to do even more. In the last year, I’ve completely transitioned to 100% recycled paper packaging that is easily recyclable. The company is an eco friendly company based in Colorado, so it feels great being able to support local as well! I’ve also increased my product lines that are made with 100% ethical and sustainable wool. At first, I was hesitant to make this transition because the yarn was much more expensive which meant that I would have to charge much more than my “standard” beanies. As I thought about it more and more, I realized that this was something that was incredibly important to me and knew that even if I made fewer sales, having my product line reflect my values was more important. This season, most of my products are made with 100% ethically and sustainably sourced wool and only a few styles are made with a wool and acrylic blend. For those allergic to wool, products that I do make using acrylic yarns will be as high quality as possible.
But wait, isn’t acrylic yarn vegan and more sustainable?
Acrylic yarn is derived from synthetic man-made polymers, also known as plastic. Though there are many benefits to acrylic yarn, I want to minimize the use of plastics in my business so am reducing the number of products I am making using acrylic blend yarns.
Isn’t there a lot of cruelty in the wool industry?
I source my wool yarn from Malabrigo, We Are Knitters, and Wool and the Gang. All three of these companies source their wool from Peru and ensure an ethical supply chain throughout. This means that the yarns are made with wool from free range sheep and without the practice of museling. These companies also ensure ethical working conditions and safe jobs for women in Peru and Uruguay where the wool is made into yarn. In regards to sustainability, the wool is processed using environmentally friendly methods and dyed using chemical free dyes.
wool is cool
Did you know that in addition to being very warm yet breathable, wool is also biodegradable, moisture wicking, odor-resistant, and a sustainable renewable resource. For those sensitive to wool, the Malabrigo Yarn that I use is 100% merino wool which is incredible soft and comes from merino sheep. The fibers are much finer and softer than “regular” wool and those with wool sensitivities are not known to be sensitive to merino. If you have any questions regarding any of the products, please see the FAQs page.
Progress Not Perfection
There is still more to do. The clothing industry is large and vast and even within the much smaller handmade industry, there are many many options. I hope that by creating items that do reduce our impact, I am giving you an eco-friendly choice when it comes to buying a handmade gift, an essential piece to your hiking wardrobe, or a luxuriously cozy treat for yourself.
Let’s make progress together and make more choices that are good for the earth :)
Stay Wild,
Chereen
Further Reading:
To read more about the yarn companies that I source from, click on the links below.
