What We Learned About Fashion and Sustainability- from Lotus & Michael-The Art of Shirts

We learned. So can you. 

We can all be better for our customers.

After all, what else counts?

Here are some of the lessons we learned and applied, from many years in the fashion industry, which we passionately carried out in our mens and women’s shirt line, Lotus & Michael- The Art of Shirts:

1- There is almost no plastic or synthetic used in our packing, packaging, or shipping? Only the butterfly clip is plastic (not for long!) . Our shirts are wrapped in paper for shipping to us and to you.

Your typical shirt packaging has plastic clips, plastic bag, plastic inner collar band, and plastic buttons- at least. Shipped in cartons with extra cartons inside. Shipped to customer in plastic zip bags. How much global trash for each shirt?

How bad is this?

Mens shirts volume 2019 (3.5 Billion pieces)

Women’s shirts and blouses 2019 about the same

This means 7 billion items packed in plastic (just the SOLD, not including the inventory)

2- We ship the product to our customers in 100% kraft paper custom bag with the shirts wrapped in paper.

We spent a lot of money and time to develop a package that would be waterproof and not consume resources. Some people’s shirts cost less than our bags.

3- Our buttons are mother of pearl, not plastic, which are thinner (easier to button) and stronger?

Plastic buttons have to be thicker, and are more brittle. SO- hard to open and close, and your laundry more likely to break them, oops.

MOP buttons are a natural shell material which does not need to be so thick, and is much easier for people with dexterity issues (or in a hurry) to manage.

Try replacing those plastic buttons when your laundry or machine broke them…

4- Our shirts should be built of high quality and construction materials so our customers’ shirts will last much longer than today’s average, thus reducing disposable clothing waste in the environment.

In the world of textiles, the fatter the yarn, the less time it spent getting spun tightly to provide great quality; like the difference between a coarse and tight rope. Finer yarns can be woven more tightly and create a dense and durable surface. 

Today’s typical shirt will react poorly to the normal wear and tear you give it; 3-6 months, if worn continuously, it looks like shit and you don’t want to wear it any more (or you do and look like you need a handout).

Our shirts will far surpass those requirements; each shirt is tested BY US to meet the highest durability standard available. Ask your current shirt vendor if they do that.

So one of our shirts per, say, 2 years may equal to 4 of theirs. 

NOW, let’s reanalyze the price and the consequences on our environment.

5- We finish our shirts to be wrinkle free, so our users need to spend less time and energy to iron.

Finishing process adds a benign substance that infuses the fibers and lets the shirt look new and wrinkle-free all day, while reducing the amount of heat and time necessary for ironing or pressing.

6- That both our mens and women’s fit has been tested to be flattering and complimentary on most body types and equally well on both genders.

What company today can honestly say they studied women’s shirt fit and they understand it or, more important, even care about it? We did.

We have decades of experience with fit, and we know that, given the right fit, wearers will all look great. If the fit is right, custom fitting will only improve the fits-great equation by 5% (maybe); So we are spending all that money and time on 5%?