Environmental Peace and Qs

page 2 of 2 | PREV 1 | 2 

Who does Q Collection's fabric dyeing? If an outside source, how do you ensure that the company uses low-impact dyes?
We partnered with existing textile mills, using a mill in Switzerland doing a pioneering work with Michael Braungart and Bill McDonough (of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry) to reduce their footprint. One of our challenges has been finding textile mills that are willing to one, fully disclose the dyes they have been historically using and two, willing to substitute in our preferred dyes. We currently use chemical, not natural dyes, but have been screened by the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA), a German non-profit that screens chemicals and materials for their human health and environmental impacts. All of the dyes are 100-percent biodegradable.

What do you mean by "ecological" cotton (which is used as the backing for Q's velvet textiles) and who verifies that claim?
The European Union has a term, "Oeko-Tex," which doesn't go to the extent of certifying cotton as organic but allows for the mixture of organic and non-organic cotton that is washed so thoroughly that it eliminates all traces of pesticides residues. We also have a new textile that is "EU Flower" approved, another European eco label applied to products that meet standards for low environmental impact throughout their lifecycle.

The company web site mentions researching potential materials for their impact on indoor air quality, but do you factor in durability in your research, so that furniture (or furniture components such as upholstery and cushion fill) lasts for a long time and doesn't end up in landfills?
Everything we're making uses high grade materials: high quality glues, no particleboard, solid wood. Our products are made the way furniture used to be made. We don't want to contribute to landfill waste.

Is there one material you use that you think is more valuable in terms of lower environmental impact than the others?
I would say the material we use that has the highest positive environmental impact is either the certified wood or organic cotton we use. Cotton, I have always been told, is the world's most polluting crop. In terms of health it would probably be using water-based, non toxic wood glues instead of formaldehyde glues.

Have you ever considered using salvaged wood in your designs?
We've never used salvaged wood in our designs because we need consistency of quality. My sense with salvaged wood is that you'll have a lot variation. For the Q Collection, we use all Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified solids, but we haven't been able to afford to pay for FSC certification yet. Some of our partners down the supply chain find the expense too much to consider. We need to find a species that we can get in good quality all year round in the amounts we need. We have run into a few situations where we had to discontinue the use of a certain species of wood due to fluctuating supply. We can only use species that we know for certain will be available consistently.

Resources
McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (www.mbdc.com)
Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (www.epea.com)
Oeko-Tex Association (www.oeko-tex.com)

PREV 1 | 2