Change Products
Trigema Change® is optimised according to Cradle to Cradle®
for the biological nutrient cycle.
The eco-effective garments we developed are products that:
- are recyclable,
- utilise resources instead of consuming them,
- are 100 per cent composed of wholesome, non-critical substances,
- are of particularly high quality.
- their raw materials have been produced in an ecologically safe manner,
- the resources used for their production can be reinserted into the nutrient cycle
when the product reaches the end of its useful life,
- they never turn into waste,
- either their manufacturing process nor the products themselves generate any unusable or toxic substances.
In short, these products are good all around:
Eco-effective. Cradle-to-Cradle®-certified. Produced locally and fairly.
- What is eco-effective about Trigema Change®?
- How we manufacture Cradle-to-Cradle®-optimised products
- Organic cotton supplier
What is eco-effective about Trigema Change®?
All Cradle-to-Cradle®-certified products made by Trigema® carry the label of: “Trigema® ecoeffective cotton apparel” and have been optimised for biological recycling in cooperation with the international environmental institute named EPEA.
Designing products like these requires that all components can be returned to the eco system without concern or hesitation. Trigema Change® garments are based on organic cotton, which is a natural, biodegradable vegetable fibre. Eco-effectiveness, furthermore, requires that all other ingredients be composed of a similarly biodegradable material. This is why our yarn is also composed of 100 per cent organic cotton. While harder to work with and significantly more expensive than synthetic fibres, this yarn gives outer fabric and seams their homogeneous properties and ensures that they can be dyed using the same substances. A clear advantage and the next point of relevance at the same time: the dying and finishing chemicals.
As the dying and finishing chemicals remain in or on the fibre, they have a significant impact on a garment’s biological compatibility. If they affect the respective organism while the garment is worn or decomposing, the chemicals are harmful to a person’s health, interfere with the degradation process or cause damage to the soil and the ground water. We filtered all substances out of the dyes that have been categorised as “risky” in accordance with a human ecotoxicological risk evaluation and replaced them with substances that are defined as positive.
One single colour contains a great number of pigments and substances which, in turn, contain a multitude of ingredients. This is what makes Cradle-to-Cradle® optimisation an extensive and highly scientific process. We have successfully completed this optimisation process after two years of cooperative research in cooperation with the EPEA Institute for ongoing evaluation of raw materials. Today, we have dyes and finishes at our disposal that, without exception, are harmless and can be recycled biologically given the right conditions for biodegradation. We use these substances and organic cotton materials to manufacture Trigema Change® and our biodegradable wellness products.
How we manufacture Cradle-to-Cradle®-optimised products
After harvesting in Turkey, our organic cotton sets out on a journey to the North into neighbouring Greece. Here, the fibres are cleaned, combed, and spun into yarn. Once processed into fine yarn, the cotton is shipped to us in the Swabian Alps, where we have our fully automatic knitting machines turn them into flexible and light jersey or sweat fabric. .
A thread is, thereby, transformed into a textile surface whose initial fibre is still clearly visible thanks to its brownish-white hue. At the next stage of production, the fabric is, therefore, dyed and finished. Prior to that, the fabric needs to be bleached. We use only so-called hydrogen peroxide bleaching agents for bleaching as they are environmentally sound. Bleaching is then followed by a treatment with Cradle-to-Cradle®-optimised dyes and finishes. The process involves several stages during which the fabric is subjected to baths, machines and tenters before it is wrapped around rollers and made ready for cutting. The cutting process we employ is digital. Using a specialised CAD programme, we arrange the individually cut pieces on the computer in such a way that the textile surface is utilised perfectly, keeping waste at a minimum. For this purpose, long panels of fabric are stacked on large tables in layers of up to 150 plies before being cut with a fully automatic mechanism at a rate of 18 to 20 metres of fabric per minute.
Sorted by items and tagged with production cards, the cut pieces are then transferred to the sewing shop where 700 experienced seamstresses will make finished products from single cut pieces. The yarn, buttons and tags we use in our Cradle-to-Cradle®-certified garments are delivered to us from authorized suppliers based in Switzerland and Germany. At the sewing shop, the ingredients are managed to ensure that the Cradle-to-Cradle® products are stitched together with the correct yarn.
When completed, each product is subjected to a thorough quality inspection before they are folded together and prepared for shipping. Before they ship, the garments are sorted by item number, colour, and size at our warehouse, which stretches over three storeys at our main plant. As soon as we receive your order, our sales staff requests the respective product from our warehouse from where it is transferred to our shipping department. There, the item is packaged, addressed and shipped out to you.
Organic cotton supplier
Our organic cotton is made at a GOTS-certified family company in Turkey, which cultivates cotton along with organic fruits and vegetables near the city of Izmir.
Further information about Cradle-to-Cradle®: here >> 
Further information about GOTS and organic cotton: here >>