Support local sustainable brands
I am delighted to say you can now find the DM collection at sustainable luxury store Conscious Atelier in Naas Town Centre. A selection of our large and classic silk scarves, and our handmade silk pyjamas and pillowcase sets are all available to shop now for Christmas.
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This beautifully curated store hosts the best in contemporary ethical fashion, with independent designers that insist on offering conscious, thoughtful, high-end luxury designs and focus on sustainable and circular processes.
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The aim of the new store is also to bring more awareness around sustainable fashion, sourcing only responsibly crafted labels with sustainable, ethical values. Our silk pyjamas and kaftan tops are handmade by a seamstress in Rathmines County Dublin and the kimonos jackets in Naas, County Kildare.
All silks in the Debbie Millington collection are made with 100% mulberry silk. The silk printing company I use is highly reputable and based in the UK. Obviously here it is imperative that all aspects of production operate under humane working conditions, with respect of workers and their human rights.
This print company also supplies the silk fabric which is sourced from a silk mill in China. By visiting the weaving mill for the last 25 years, the print company has been able to see for themselves the ethical working conditions that the employees enjoy. These positive work environments clearly demonstrate sound working conditions, which is reflected in their desire to produce the best quality silk fabrics.
Our collection silk scarves are printed and machine/ hand rolled at the UK location. All other end products such as our silk pyjamas , kimonos, pillowcases and kaftan tops are handmade in small batch quantities here in Ireland.
The silk Kimono Jackets are handmade at a studio in Naas County Kildare and our pillowcase sets and pyjamas are handmade at a studio in Rathmines County Dublin. At no stage of the process is any silk wasted. Any off-cuts from making pyjamas are remodelled into hair scrunchies and any unused printed silk scarves are remodelled into other garments.
All silks are digitally printed, a process of manufacturing that is the most environmental, cost-effective and higher quality option for textile printing.
Digital printing on silk has certainly a greener reputation than the more dated manual screen printing processes. It is the most eco-friendly of all the printing processes due to less use of bleaches, chemicals and the massive amounts of water normally required to process the fabric.
In this process effluent is kept to a minimum at the UK factory. They monitor water and coating consumption and ensure that they are fully compliant with the UK’s waste framework directive by paying for specialists to dispose of our waste by-products.
The process uses 25% less energy than the alternative screen printing methods, less water and non toxic inks. The factory only uses non toxic “Azo Free” dyes and biodegradable inks, and has now changed to a non-hazardous energy saving scheme by using recycled water in part of its cleaning and washing process.
The print company proactively works to ensure their products are free of restricted substances and I have received relevant certifications assuring that the printing will not involve hazardous substances, and are safe and sellable. They continue to update me with changes to their inks and manufacturing processes, committed to following new research focused on the environmental impact of textile dyeing and printing in their factory.
It has always been key that the print company will minimise their impact on the environment and adhere to Ethical Trading Requirements (ETRs). Waste fabrics at the factory are collected by a recycling specialist who shred them and use the resulting fibre as bioenergy, incinerating it to create heat sources and electricity. Plain fabric offcuts may also be donated to education and charity facilities.