Responsible Goal Achieved! The Sustainable Fabrics Frank And Oak Uses In 100% of Its Fashion

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As retailers shift towards responsible manufacturing, the sustainability of fabrics is more important than ever. 

In the past few years, fabric mills have been turning to surprising raw ingredients — from seaweed and pineapple leaves to coconut fibers and kapok trees — to innovate “cleaner” fabrics into our wardrobes.   

As it stands, clothing production and retail represent at least 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with most of the impact coming from raw materials and processing, according to a report by the World Resources Institute and the Apparel Impact Institute. 

Just as worryingly, we are discarding unwanted pieces at a rate of one garbage truck’s worth per second. Polyester, the most widely used fabric in the world, is made from petroleum and is not biodegradable — when fast-fashion polyester designs are dumped in landfills, they stay there. Intensive, agrochemical farming practices for fabrics such as non-organic cotton are also damaging soil quality, polluting water and destroying natural habitats. 

A recent report by First Insight and the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania found that all age groups are now willing to pay more for sustainable products. But cost aside, brands are increasingly using next-gen, eco fabrics in their collections because customers are curious and ready to experiment with interesting and innovative alternatives.

Frank And Oak, the Canadian lifestyle and apparel company established in Montreal just over 10 years ago, has been working on this problem for years. With its long-term investment in innovative materials—and partnerships with sustainable suppliers—it recently announced that its entire range is now “100 percent responsible”. 

This is exciting and impressive news, especially when so many brands are still stuck in the transition phase, always promising that a few more years down the road, they’ll get to their stated goals and commitments. Frank And Oak is already there, and it wants to keep pushing forward. 

So what does “responsible” mean? Strict eco and ethical standards are required of all Frank And Oak’s fabrics and partner factories, and every garment contains either organic, cruelty-free, biodegradable, or recycled fibers.  The “100 percent responsible” pledge also filters through to finishing touches, from recycled buttons to vegetable-ink dyed hang tags.

“Our goal is to make beautiful garments but also to think about the materials we use and how they are made,” says Elisabeth de Gramont, Frank And Oak Chief Brand Officer. “We’ve really made it a priority to make sure all of our collection is crafted and designed with products that make less of an environmental impact.”

Fashion is always looking forward to the next big trend. But here are some of the ways in which Frank And Oak has woven sustainability into its core for the long term. 

Kapok

Kapok, a flossy fiber also known as Java cotton, is harvested from trees in South American and African rainforests and needs only rainwater for irrigation. Its cultivation doesn’t require agrochemicals and also avoids the problem of soil erosion that is common to cotton plantations. The delicate organic fiber is “usually blended with organic cotton for durability and quality purposes. It is also biodegradable alone or when blended with cotton,” de Gramont says. Frank And Oak partners with a Dutch organization that sources kapok and manages sustainable cultivation. 

You can find classic pieces in kapok at Frank And Oak such as a raglan-sleeve trench, and casual poplin-style men’s shirting. 

SeaWool and SeaCell

SeaWool combines discarded shells from oyster farms and used PET bottles to spin an innovative yarn from waste products. Frank And Oak worked directly with their manufacturer to improve the Taiwanese-sourced Seawool  to make the resultant fabric softer and easier to wear. As its name suggests, this functional fabric has a wool-like handfeel and low thermal conductivity (making it excellent for insulation), with the added benefit of UV protection. 

SeaCell, which features in chunky Frank And Oak sweaters blended with organic cotton, is crafted from seaweed and natural cellulose. Frank And Oak isn’t hoarding this innovation, either. “I’ve noticed there are a few more people talking about SeaCell, but the mills aren’t selling a lot of it yet. We actually would like more brands to use it as an alternative to cotton,” says de Gramont.  

Yak wool 

We’re fans of yak wool here at EcoCult. Not only is it one of the warmest fabrics available, thanks to downy fibers brushed from the yak’s thick winterproof coat, it’s also less disruptive to natural steppe grasslands than cashmere goat farming. Frank And Oak has a fully traceable yak wool programme, the result of close collaboration with Himalayan yak wool farmers. It works with Shokay textiles, who are “able to trace all their yarns from the herding communities in Tibetan regions of China to our final stage of production”, de Gramont says. The fabric provenance is tracked by blockchain technology, ensuring authenticity. Frank And Oak in turn donates 1 percent of its yak collection proceeds to the herders for grassland conservation in Sichuan province. 

You can find cozy yak wool knits, beanies and winter accessories at Frank And Oak, though as we’re headed into spring, you’ll have to wait for the new autumn/winter collection for the full drop of new styles.

Single-fiber fabrics

Frank And Oak focuses not just on the manufacture of a fabric, but also its future recyclability, prioritizing non-blended fabrics. “Less than one percent of textile waste in the US is recycled,” notes de Gramont, a figure Frank And Oak wants to help improve. Technology is advancing in the fabric recycling sphere, and some years in the future we might have blended fabric recycling at scale. But for now, mono-materials are the most sustainable design choice. This applies equally to both synthetics such as polyester and natural materials such as cotton. “Mono-fibers are the best for recycling. If you have 100 percent cotton underwear you can bury it in your own garden and it will biodegrade,” de Gramont says. “Where it becomes tricky is if it’s a blend of materials, even with 2 percent Spandex.”

Research indicates that Frank And Oak would be able to recycle “almost 80 percent of its collection fiber-to-fiber”, de Gramont says (wool to wool, or cotton to cotton, for example).  The brand is also developing take-back programs that would enable Frank And Oak garments to undergo a second life cycle or responsible recycling after a period of use. “We’re educating ourselves more on textile recycling,” de Gramont says.

Recycled and Recyclable Denim

All Frank And Oak denim contains some recycled cotton and most of it is produced in a factory that has a cutting-edge laundry to distress the fabric for the desired effect, with minimal use of water, energy and chemicals. Based in Dubai, the Indigo Garments factory recycles most of the water it does use for other production processes. 

Unusually, Frank And Oak is also designed with zero rivets to improve its ease of recyclability—it’s much easier to break down a pair of jeans when it doesn’t have little pieces of metal in it. 

What’s Coming Up?

Projects such as the traceable yak program and SeaCell take time to bring into action. Frank And Oak works ahead to ensure a pipeline of innovation, and the brand is currently focused on bringing traceable merino wool to its collections at an affordable price point. 

“It’s great to have SeaWool and SeaCell but if that’s only 5 or 10 percent of what we sell, we’re not being authentic to the mission,” de Gramont says. The Frank And Oak “100 percent responsible” pledge is a mandate across the organization, she adds. “Our goal is to challenge our design and sourcing team, but also our merchandising and buying teams too. We all need to tackle this challenge together to have a real impact.”