Bundle up in Sustainable & Ethical Coats
If you are looking for the perfect sustainable winter coat that will look great all year round, has tons of pockets, and doesnโt compromise your values, look no further. culthread makes coats, jackets, and other garments from recycled materials, and is committed to uplifting women in its value chain. Staying warm and stylish all winter long never looked and felt so good.ย
Jackets Made by Women for Women
culthread was founded by Rina L. Einy, a self-described cat with an array of lives. A former Olympic tennis player, and JP Morgan trader, she found herself working as the Director of a family-owned outerwear manufacturing company, yet unable to find the perfect coat that she wanted, encompassing style, sustainability, practicality, and comfort all in one.
When shopping for outerwear, Rina could not find a single option that was truly eco-friendly, cruelty-free and had the number of pockets that she, as a mom and business owner, needed. Finding versatile, practical,ย sustainable outerwear committed to making a good impact on people and the planet should not have been so hard, but it was. So Rina decided to create it herself.
Thus, culthread was born in 2018 to give women ethical and sustainable clothes, especially sustainable winter coats so that they can work, nurture, and have fun. culthread offers sustainable jackets that keep us warm, knowing that every item we wear is made with the fair labor of expert women.
Why Invest in a Sustainable Winter Coat & Jacket?
Those puffed waterproof coats that keep us warm and dry in winter, fall, and spring are unfortunately usually made with fabrics like down-feathers for insulation and toxic chemicals in the supply chain to make water droplets slide right off. Not to mention, how they are conventionally crafted under unfair and unsafe conditions.
Down feathers are warm, light, and soft to the touch, hence why the outerwear industry uses them so much. But the reality is that in most farms they source them with cruel practices: plucking the geese and ducks while they are still alive.
This is why the Responsible Down Standard was created, to help ensure that down feathers were not sourced from farms that fell under these unsustainable practices. However, PETA has stated that there is no way to have access to cruelty-free down, other than using synthetic feathers.
On the other hand, when made from wool or leather, there is a myriad of unsustainable practices that can go on in supply chains that are not doing their due diligence. Starting from animal cruelty, going all the way up to deforestation, using harmful chemicals in processing, waste management, and bad working conditions.
Additionally, some companies use C8 and C6 to make their eco-friendly winter coats water-repellent. These two types of repellents contain forever chemicals that take ages to disintegrate and poison our skin and our water streams, aka PFCs. C8 has already been banned in the US and Europe.
culthread’s Sustainability and Eco-Friendly Materials
It does not have to be this way, and culthread is a testament to this, using more sustainable fabrics and production methods. For example, instead of stuffing with down feathers, the padding on culthread’s puffer jackets that keeps you warm is made from recycled material: 100% GRS-certified recycled plastic (PET) from the company Mirea.
A quality fiber, the recycled fiber down insulation from Mirea (Vietnam) not only keeps bottles out of a landfill but is also long-lasting. culthread also uses it on their versatile, rainproof bags.
culthreadโs Sustainable Fabrics
Not only that, their puffer coats and bags are also made using recycled PET in their outer shell, insulation, and lining, a fabric sourced in Vietnam, where their atelier is located, to reduce transport CO2 emissions. They also use Fruit-Cycled Recycled Vegan leather made from Pineapples and coated with water-based PU.
For their latest collection, they crafted their biker jackets to keep you warm and dry, as well as their long coats, with coffee-cycled vegan leather: a recycled material made from coffee grounds and recycled polyester fabric. This innovative sustainable material is sourced from China and helps solve the issue that only 1% of coffee waste is currently being used, and 99% of it goes to landfill.ย
Their hoodies and T-shirts are also made with recycled materials and eco-fabrics. Instead of using wool or conventional cotton, they use virgin GOTS-certified organic cotton and post-consumer remanufactured organic cotton. culthread then prints them with low-waste technology printing, and manufactures them in a facility powered by renewable energy, and that is audited for labor and social standards.
What About Rainproof Chemicals?
Their jackets and coats are also made rainproof by using C0, a more eco-friendly water-repellent alternative to C8 and C6 coatings. Unlike C8 and C6, C0 doesnโt contain the toxic PFCs that can remain in our waterways and bodies forever.
Is RPET Sustainable?
As with any material it dependsโIt depends on its use and the way we care for the products. It takes approximately 70 million barrels of oil a year to produce the virgin synthetic items we wear. Overall, only 5% of plastic is recycled and 35% of the worldโs ocean microplastics come from laundering our polyester clothes.
We need to stop the production of virgin plastic and start recuperating more of the plastic that is already polluting our water and land. When we use recycled PET, we need to use it responsibly: itโs much better to use it for outerwear and accessories that donโt get washed very much versus a t-shirt that gets washed regularly.
In this sense, culthread is consciously using RPET. They use it for items that are designed to last a lifetime and that require very little washing, such as coats, jackets, and bags.
You can care for RPET products more sustainably by using a microplastic filtering laundry bag or acquiring a filter for your washing machine.
Sustainable Packaging and Delivery
Their sustainable practices do not stop at their products, they also make sure their packaging is made from deadstock materials and offcuts. These deadstock shipping bags can be used as a laundry bag, beach bag, dog treat bag, basically an everything bag.
Their mailer bag is biodegradable, recyclable, and plastic free. Their paper packing tape is also fully biodegradable and made from 100% plastic-free materials. Just one more way culthread considers every detail.
Encouraging Circular Behavior: Dress For Success
But to be eco-conscious a brand should not stop at delivery, which culthread also hires primarily from carbon-neutral couriers. No, a brand that makes sustainable clothing also has to consider where its products will go after you stop wearing them, for whatever reason. Since their eco-friendly coats and bags are crafted to be durable and to stand the test of time, they encourage their customers to donate the items they can no longer wear to Dress For Success.
Dress For Success is a non-profit that uplifts women so they can achieve financial independence, by providing a network of support, development tools, and professional attire, which is where culthread comes in. Their founder, Rina, was a Trustee on the Board of the London affiliate for three years.
As you can see, culthread is committed to lowering its environmental footprint by bringing you the best eco-friendly garments, with more sustainable materials like organic cotton, that remain long-lasting and elevated.
culthreads’ Ethical Winter Coats and Jackets
culthread is an ethical company. Its items are handmade in its atelier in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh city. 80% of culthreadโs leaders are women and 74% of their artisans are women.
In an industry that drastically underpays its workers, most of whom are women from the Global South, culthread prides itself on paying 3 times the Asia minimum wage and above Global Living Wages. Not only that, the people that work in their workshops are afforded benefits such as healthcare, pension, caregiver, and compassionate leave, as well as sick leave and annual leave.
Additionally, the brand continuously supports other community initiatives like crisis.org (which helps people directly out of homelessness), Collective Health (which helps refugees around Europe by distributing clothes and hygiene items), and Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary (a place for homeless, abused, neglected, used, and slaughter-bound animals).
When you wear their ethical and sustainable jackets you can rest assured that you are making a good impact on people, because they are made with 100% fair labor.
How Did culthread Score on Our Sustainability Rating?
At Eco-Stylist, we aim to make it easy for you to find the most sustainable brands to put together your look, head-to-toe. This is why we carefully vet and score every single brand we show you in our directory. Sustainable and ethical, culthread is also transparent. This is why we gave them our highest rating: Gold.
They call it โcultruthโ and it is their way of sharing the traceability of their supply chain with their customers. They own their final production factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and they share conditions there such as wages, benefits, and hours.
They also share information about the rest of their supply chain, with 100% traceability of tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers, 45% of tier 3, and 35% of tier 4, with a goal of 100% traceability in the next 4 years. They share certifications for their supply chain such as Oeko-Tex, PETA, and GRS.
They source most of their materials from China and Vietnam to lower the transportation of greenhouse emissions to their atelier. culthread takes sustainability seriously.
culthreadโs Scores
Transparency: 3/3 Excellent
Fair Labor: 3/3 Excellent
Sustainably Made: 2/3 Good
Overall Rating: Gold
You can take a deeper look at their brand rating here.
culthreadโs New Collection of Coats and Ethical Vegan Leather Jackets
culthread is about style, not trends. As such when designing their selection of sustainable winter coats and jackets, they do not cater to trends, and their new collections are based on finding amazing recycled materials like vegan leather made from coffee grounds and GRS-certified recycled PET bottles, with a water-based PU coating sourced from China.
Their new rainproof biker jacket that is coffee-cycled, will fit you like a glove and still has enough pockets to ensure it is the only thing you have to wear when you go out. You can channel your inner Debbie Harry, knowing you do not have to compromise your values to look effortlessly cool.ย
culthreadsโ biker is committed to making a good impact, and so are the rest of their products. The same goes for their rainproof coffee-cycled long coat that could very well have Neo-level powers to get through The Matrix.
culthread aims to make women feel confident, protected, and warm; to make women look good while doing good. This time though, they are also doing so in playful colors that will bring the shine you need in the dead of winter.
Made from silver and gold coffee-cycled fabric, their latest rainproof puffer bags and sleeveless puffer jackets are gonna make you feel like you are not just wearing the ABBA party, but also the love.
The love of the expert women that made them, the HQ team that designed it, and the planet and animals that are better off because they aim to use as few virgin materials as possible.
It is not only their fabrics that are made from eco-friendly materials. One thing made from a new sustainable material is their zippers. Rina looked far and wide until she found ones that were not only made from OEKO-TEX and GRS-certified recycled polyester but also durable. Because long-lasting is better for the environment.
If you are looking for the perfect gift for yourself, or even for the mom’s in your life this upcoming May, look no further. culthread’s carefully designed and crafted sustainable fashion is empowering, practical, comfortable, and eco-friendly.
It will be your best sustainable choice for outwear: made from recycled plastic bottles, coffee-cycled vegan leather, and recycled zippers, it will be the perfect extension to your look made of the ethical brands you can find in our directory.
Is It Possible to Find Ethical Down Jackets?
Yes, these vegan down jackets are not only sustainable but also ethical (no animals are harmed in the process). As we said before, culthreadโs padding is made of 100% GRS-certified recycled plastic (PET) from the company Mirea.
So Then, What Are The Most Sustainable Winter Coat Brands?
As mentioned, our research is designed so that we only recommend the best brands to you. Not only does culthread pass the test, but they achieve our highest rating: Gold.ย Shop culthread.
For more of the most ethical and sustainable options check out our brand guide.
Want More of the Best Sustainable Brands?
To make your whole outfit ethical and sustainable, you can find sustainable fashion options in a myriad of brands. We did the work of finding the ones that make an impact so that you donโt have to. Check them out in our directory.
Looking For Vegan Ethical Fashion Brands?
We’ve got a filter for that in our brand guide. There, you can find vegan recycled or hemp shoes offered by brands like 8000 kicks or Thousand Fell, socks by Arvin Goods, undergarments from Organic Basics, and so much more.
Eco-Stylist is reader-supported. If you make a purchase using our links, we may earn a commission. We only feature fashion brands that pass our sustainable brand criteria. Learn more here.
This Article is Sponsored by Our Friends at culthread.
Adela is a Colombian storyteller, content maker, strategy consultant, & event producer, specializing in sustainable fashion, mental health, and gender issues.
