Tag: Tonle

Meet Tonlé, the San Francisco-based womenswear brand made entirely from surplus fabric discarded by apparel manufacturers in Cambodia. The brand’s motto is “every thread matters”: the scraps they cannot transform into new clothing are cut into strips and individually hand sewn into “yarn” for new clothes. The scraps left after that are mixed with recycled office paper and sticky rice to make tags. Working in this fashion leaves 2-3 percent waste, compared to an average of 40 percent in a typical factory, the company claims on its website. Packaging is made from recycled paper and cardboard — except when wholesalers or warehouses specifically demand a plastic wrap.
https://fashionunited.uk/news/business/zero-waste-fashion-q-a-with-tonle/2019051743229

“Living in North America you can easily separate yourself; you don’t see landfills or trash being burned. You don’t see waste in the ocean,” Rachel Faller, founder of Tonlé, tells Teen Vogue. “In Cambodia, you see the influx of trash from the way corporations design and manufacture products.”
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/zero-waste-movement-women-owned-brands

In just the past five years Rachel estimates her company has diverted 35,000 pounds of fabrics that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill, or worse.
https://abc7news.com/fashion/inside-tonle-san-franciscos-only-zero-waste-clothing-boutique/5164624/

This is a process known as zero waste, a radical notion that forward-thinking fashion-industry types are finally waking up to. Faller cuts large scraps down to make clothing like tea-length wrap dresses, coats and tops, while smaller scraps are spun into yarn-like material to be woven into other new clothing. Whatever’s left, even the smallest scraps, is made into gift cards, notebooks and hang tags.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/style/article/Tonle-brings-zero-waste-women-s-fashion-to-13550039.php

For Tonlé apparel-brand owner Rachel Faller, entering into fashion wasn’t part of her career plan when she studied textile design at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she focused on fine art and sculpture.
https://www.apparelnews.net/news/2018/oct/25/using-reclaimed-fabric-promote-sustainable-manufac/

The textile and clothing industries continue to be the backbone of Cambodia’s export-driven economy, employing 800,000 people around the country, which is 86 percent of all its factory workers, and contributing 40 percent to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). The country is also home to Sustainability Champion, Tonlé, one of the frontrunners in processing pre-consumer waste.
https://theaseanpost.com/article/refashioning-fashion-industry

Just like our food systems, clothing production can be extraordinarily wasteful. It’s a disturbing and upsetting fact that at least as much energy, labor and raw materials that go into a meal we eat or a pair of jeans we buy is wasted on one that’s trashed. Yes, we throw almost 50 percent of our food away, and it turns out that statistic is probably true for fashion, too.
https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/natural-beauty-fashion/blogs/fashion-company-doing-something-about-textile-waste

Faller’s goal is to fight back against some of the fashion industry’s biggest ills: textile waste and unjust labor practices. Tonlé, which is based in Cambodia and sells its products internationally, employs Cambodian women, pays them a fair wage and allows them to work reasonable hours ― and it makes all its clothing without sending a single scrap to landfills.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tonle-fashion-company-zero-waste-fair-labor-clothing-cambodia_us_57ee9e2de4b024a52d2eb366

tonlé designs and makes comfortable, wearable clothes that are as original and beautiful as the people who make them. We adhere to principles of transparency, fairness, and waste reduction in everything we do, from the big stuff like wages, down to the little things like the materials in our buttons.”

https://www.mynewneighbour.ca/blog/brand-love-tonl

tonlé is an eco and socially conscious brand that started out in Cambodia 6 years ago. It’s zero waste production and we also help the communities in Cambodia.
http://www.phatrice.com/news/rags-to-riches-lydia-shares-how-tonle-is-changing-the-way-fashion-is-done-in-cambodia/