Our choices are highly considered, ensuring we are accountable as designers at all stages of the production process. Our core values and expertise help us navigate our participation in the current world by acting as a filter for every decision we make. We strongly believe it is our responsibility to encompass a wide range of actions to help reduce our impact on the environment and the people that live within it.
With a primary focus on the environment and our impact, Weekly Essentials focuses on breaking away from the confines of seasonal dressing and moving into a new perspective where the wearer has artistic control, assembling styles in ways that speak to their truest self, regardless of trends, seasons or occasions
This permanent range also looks to champion a diverse fibre basket, introducing the wearer to a variety of certifiable natural fabrics, designer surplus and as always our vintage and repurposed one of a kind materials. Each style is permanent, but the fabric is limited to each drop creating a sense of exclusivity and value towards the cloth, a sentiment we want to nurture moving forward.
Our Weekly Essentials range will grow to accommodate new styles that speak to the natural cycles of the seasons, again introducing new fabrications and ways to wear each piece with the current offerings
Our One of a Kind collection focuses on marrying a place for creative play with our slow fashion principals. This allows us to explore and innovate, without being constrained by scalability, giving us space and flexibility during the making process.
Released sporadically, these limited pieces predominantly focus on reuse principles, employing methods such as up-cycling and deconstruction, to reinterpret used and discarded fabric into new and unique outcomes. Made by hand in-house, this specialized way of working creates a strong sense of value in both the product story and exclusivity of each piece.
Prioritising a high quality of make ensures all of our products maintain their value throughout the various cycles of use. Designed with integrity from the beginning - through fit, construction and choice of materials - our products are intended to last a lifetime. Maintaining and celebrating the making of garments also ensures we are contributing to a thriving local industry, keeping onshore production alive and passing on these highly specialized skills to future generations.
As we continue to produce in-house for any of our Made to Order or Bespoke pieces, we have now paired with local ethically aligned factories to produce limited run units, allowing us to meet demand whilst maintaining agency over our production line and ensuring no products go to waste or are overproduced.
We are committed to creating pieces with the entire life cycle in mind with the goal of eventually closing the loop. It begins in our studio with the fabrications we choose, the manufacturers we work with and how we envision our garments performing when we hand them over to you.
Designing for the use cycle takes into consideration how the garment will perform long term, whether it needs to grow and evolve with the wearer through additional seam allowances, the inclusion of adjustable features such as elastic and ties or generous hems for personalized alterations. Equally the construction is led by the fabrication and performance, certain seams that are put under pressure are reinforced through added lining, facing or variations in stitch detailing.
If the garment does finally reach the end of its life, we have designed some styles to be biologically circular (which means the material and trims are designed to return to the earth through natural cycles of decomposition) and others to be easily decommissioned (taken apart). We achieve this through designing seams and joins for disassembly, this can include ensuring seams are pressed open and not locked together by overlocking or designing for monomateriality - a term used to describe a garment that is entirely made from one material composition including all the trims, which allows for fibre recycling.
Overall, our aim is to produce garments that have embedded value through their meticulous craftsmanship and contemporary design that they can cycle through many hands, and many lives before they are taken apart and re-imagined.
Material choice contributes to a large portion of a garments environmental impact, therefore we approach sourcing with a strict lens. Firstly, we prioritise onshore sourcing to reduce carbon miles, ensure transparency and support local fibre production. We do not believe in using any virgin materials unless they are 100% natural and traceable to the source, which means for the most part our fabrics fall into two categories: designer surplus or dead stock.
Designer surplus is the excess fabric produced by another designer who has created a brand new material, but for various reasons has over estimated the amount they need. These excess rolls that can range from 50m-100m+ sit in warehouses around the world and are bought in job lots by fabric merchants who trade in this ‘excess’ fabric. Often this fabric is referred to as deadstock, however we do not believe this fabric has no worth and it is rarely damaged goods.
There is demand for this ‘excess’ which begs the question as to whether or not mills are intentionally over producing knowing there is an additional market for them, which perpetuates the cycle of over production and waste. Deadstock on the other hand, is material that is damaged, no longer has perceived value and is generally marked for landfill. This can include post consumer existing garments or other textile based products such as upholstery.
We strive to find a balance between using designer surplus (which allows us to scale certain styles as we can source more meterage and know the material composition) and deadstock that can be used for small production units or One of a Kind pieces.
Once material origins have been established we choose based on fibre content. We preference 100% natural where we can and also monomaterial (try to avoid synthetic blends). We do however strive to work predominantly with second hand materials which can limit our agency over this. For more details on each garment, please review the Fabric tab which discloses the full sourcing information.
Our external buttons are 100% Corozo fruit seed, sourced sustainably from Panama City, via Green Ivory Inc or Button mania based out of Melbourne. Our internal buttons are made in Italy from recycled hemp and are in conformity with OEKO-TEX standards.
Our designer labels are made from 100% recycled polyester, designed and sourced through Avery Dennison. Due to their singular composition, these tags can easily be recycled as petrochemical feedstock. However, the technology for this is still in development so we would much rather harvest them from your garments when you are finished with them.
We are in the process of fully transitioning all sewing thread to either verifiable Lenzing Tencel thread or GOTS approved Organic Cotton thread. However, we still have existing polyester Gutermann thread that is used to reinforce our tailored pieces to ensure seam integrity.
We’ve invested in new care labels and size pips that are made from 100% organic cotton, printed with Oeko Tex 100 certified inks. The tape is whitened according to GOTS standards using oxygen based whiteners and then digitally printed with our information. Made by Britannia Packaging Leicester, UK.
Elasticated styles use a new bio based elastic sourced from Charle Haberdashery based in Germany. It's composed of 65% GOTS Cotton from Turkey and 35% Natural Latex Tree Rubber from Malaysia, Certified Oeko-Tex 100. The rubber and cotton are woven together by a family owned business who obtain their electricity from an in-house hydroelectric power plant. The factory’s heating energy comes from a private wood pellet heating power plant with the wood gathered from their own forest.
All of the paper we use from swing tags to tissue paper is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved and our e-commerce mailers are made from a derivative of corn and can be composted.
Our swing tags are produced by Crush [sourced and designed with Avery Dennison] and are the first of its kind. We're big supporters of introducing waste back into the cycle and this swing tag is composed of 15% organic citrus by-product. It is FSC certified and GMO-free, with the remaining percentage made up of post-consumer recycled waste and FSC certified paper. It is produced with 100% green energy, with the carbon footprint being reduced 20% by using by-products. Any other unavoidable emissions are offset by Carbon Credits that can be used to fund other activities that absorb CO2 out of the atmosphere.
We support and prioritise research and development. This is a fundamental aspect of how Coreprêt creates new products and we believe in taking the time to get it right. Too often we are encouraged to prioritise speed and maximum output at the expense of quality design. We believe by taking it slow we are allowing ourselves the time and creative head space to ensure all aspects of what we do align with our sustainability goals and express our design identity.
Coreprêt has always been a platform to showcase experimentation; across product, business structure and scalable slow fashion methods. By priortising innovation, we allow ourselves time to interrogate unconventional ways of working such as up-cycling, redesign (of our own existing products) and internal waste streams where one product's waste can inform the next. Continually building towards a brand that encompasses more than material product output.
Care and consideration are at the heart of what we do. As outlined in our cycles of use, we want to fully equip you to extend the life of your garment for as long as possible. Each product page includes additional care instructions and we’ve created a universal Care Guide that details each fabric and our recommendations on how to clean, maintain and store your garments.
Caring for your garments properly can drastically reduce the environmental impact of your clothing. Simply holding onto your clothes for longer than 9 months will reduce your environmental impact by 20-30% and knowing how to properly wash and clean your clothes will reduce your water and energy usage, and ensure your garments live a long and healthy life.
Hemp is a rapidly renewable fibre, it can grow on marginal land with minimal water, requires very few chemical inputs and no herbicides or irrigation water are needed during the growing cycle. It is naturally resistant to pests and disease and the left-over leaves and stalks inject nitrogen back into the soil allowing for fertile crop rotation. It is one of the strongest natural fibres and is highly valued for its durability, breathability and natural antibacterial properties. Combined with a small percentage of Silk, this textile blend is luxurious, resilient and timeless.
Check out the Monday Pant's for more details.
