The Ecodesign Regulation

The Ecodesign Regulation is an EU framework designed to improve the sustainability and circularity of products throughout their lifecycle.

This week marked an important milestone. The Digital Product Passport infrastructure went live, with textiles identified as one of the EU's priority sectors.

Fashion is no longer later. It’s happening.  

We built for this

It’s always been a priority for me to build something that was sustainable.

Our fabrics are made from 100% GOTS certified organic cotton. Our factories are powered by renewable energy.

Our dyeing process alone, is worth reading about, all garments are dyed in a closed loop system where water comes out clean enough to drink.

Using low-waste digital printing technology and water-based inks that conform to GOTS and Soil Association organic criteria is crucial to circularity. Our inks contain no animal-derived products and are not tested on animals.

And we print on demand, reducing overproduction.

Organic cotton garments awaiting production. Building sustainability begins long before the first print is applied.

Why DPP?

Looking at textiles, most people don't know much beyond what's printed on the care label.

There is no dye information, which is traditionally toxic and uses and wastes a lot of water.  
No manufacturing information, where was it made, does the product contain restricted chemicals?

Yes, these can be found in clothing.

There is no recycling or repair information.
And nothing about how much carbon was produced when making it.

Up till now all that has been required are garment care labels. Wash cold, no tumble dry, fire warnings.

It’s the beginning of the end for greenwashing. “Made sustainably” is no longer going to cut it.

People, Product, Profit

This is how it should be.

We’re nowhere near, sadly. But these regulations walk us toward a circular future where ending fashion waste is an outcome.

It’s not just textiles, steel, batteries and iron are in the priority groups. If you’ve been reading this blog from the start, you’ll know Ive been bitching about low quality products built to last a year for as long as I’ve been building.


We are a long way from the kind of future I would love to see, where every product has been designed for its entire life cycle. This is where it starts.

What happens next?

Testing.
Phased rollout.

At the time of writing, the DPP regulations have only impacted very large producers.

Large producers are now prohibited from destroying their unsold textiles and footwear.  

Early days

As with all new regulations, there will probably be challenges along the way.

Like what to do with the 30% of clothing that doesn’t get sold.

You can see the changes already, a large fashion retailer here in the UK has been advertising the same green dress for the past two months. Now it’s all about re-wear, reuse, recycle.

When I started Mongrel Logic, I wasn't trying to follow regulation. I was trying to build a better way of making products. Seeing circularity become part of legislation feels like confirmation that the industry is finally moving in the right direction.

We're still at the beginning. But for the first time in a long time, it feels like fashion is being asked to think beyond the point of sale.

Ultraviolet Fractal

Model wearing Ultraviolet Fractal - Organic Streetwear for those unbroken.

When I drew Ultraviolet in the early 2000’s, I was wrestling with a lot of the same concerns as I am now. Not because my life hasn’t moved, it has, but the global issues I was thinking about at 17, haven’t.

Unless you count backwards as movement.

Creator or Destroyer

It’s about wrestling with the existential and where you place judgement. If you fix it here, does it break there? How do you know anything? How do you know what you don’t know? Are we creating or destroying? Earth or Purgatory? Are we alive or dead? That’s what I thought about at 17 – read into that what you will.

I’ve just finished Ultraviolet Fractal

The next chapter in the story. It’s the twenty year later version of the same questions. It’s the start of Ultraviolet as a character, and each new iteration, is an exploration of that story.  Organic streetwear for those unbroken. Still building, still trying, still fighting. Still figuring it out.

Textile investigation

Olive and water - the design problem in one image

Not the sleuth, cat burglar kind of investigating. The kind where you realise you have been staring into a screen and not blinked for fifteen minutes. It’s also the term you land on when you were trying to think of something Inspector Gadget related and can only recall the rude versions.

Keeping you dry

Isn’t just challenging, it’s often toxic. Waterproofing is an active area of innovation and because of this, many brands that are in the business of keeping you dry have their own R&D, working on new materials, new methods. This is where textile innovation, waterproof fabrics, and sustainable streetwear start to collide.

Oil and water

I’m looking at this from the perspective of dye and print, and how textiles behave in real garments. Finding something that holds dye, specifically when it comes to translating artwork to garment, that is also waterproof, is a bit like oil and water. 

Enter the Manchester textile industry

I know, I know, cotton. Honestly, I keep coming back to it, regardless of where I go.  Ventile was developed by the Shirley Institute in Manchester, England. A dense, weatherproof cotton fabric that works without synthetic coatings. It’s a long story involving the need for a new type of flight suit for the RAF. But it resulted in PFAS free weatherproof material.

Materially aligned

I could list many more examples of innovative design like Colorifix, using engineered micro-organisms that create dyes, replacing what has traditionally been a heavy chemical process.  It’s fascinating, and it’s all feeding into the development of the designer range. Even if it makes ‘the’ list of what not to use. It’s already fed into our core range, and why we chose GOTS certified organic cotton. And it’s why we print the way we do.

Go-Go…textile innovation

I know I’m not making flight suits. Designing something that lasts, without relying on harmful materials or processes, is crucial. If you’re going to make it, how does it break down, how does it return, that is where this list becomes, shorter. For now.

Built through circular systems.
Shop the Core range.