Two brothers from the Isle of Wight have made huge inroads in the green sector making their clothing company totally sustainable. One a renewable energy engineer, the other a business graduate, Mart and Rob Drake-Knight have proved that clothing really can be green, despite their limited resources.

Would your readership be interested in their story?

Rob Drake-Knight; Sales and Marketing Director
info@rapanuiclothing.com / 01983 401982

Press Release: Jan 08 - "Launch" - Free to Use.
Rapanui Clothing is an organic and sustainable clothing company based on the Isle of Wight, using organic, natural and ethical fabrics Coupled with their response to climate change (using factories with their own wind and solar panels, biodiesel vans and carbon offset warehousing), Rapanui has a fair claim to being one of the greenest clothing companies on the planet, on its product’s credentials alone.

Set up by surfing brothers Rob and Mart Drake-Knight, 23 and 21 respectively,the brothers were motivated to influence environmental change after becoming ill from surfing in polluted waters. Mart wears scars from a skin infection caused by pollution; Rob spent three days of a holiday in France in bed due to sickness caused by field run-off. Added to these personal issues, Mart’s studies in the field of Renewable Energy engineering gave the brothers insight into the convergence of crisis our planet is facing. They felt they wanted to make a difference.

Rapanui is the vehicle of this inspiration; garments are manufactured in Fairwear Foundation audited factories – ensuring that at every stage of the garment manufacturing process workers are guaranteed a fair deal. Their products are also undergoing licence for fair trade.
For finishing, local businesses are used to support the local community and minimise transport emissions. All workers are provided with a bike, cycle rack and shower access at our HQ.
The garments themselves are made of sustainably coppiced bamboo, organic cotton and convergence cotton. Our organic products are also double-certified under the soil association standard and the global organic textile standard.
Convergence cotton is our latest fabric; grown using organic agriculture methods on land re-claimed from commercial farmers. Within three years the plot will show no trace of the previous owner’s chemical footprint.
These fabrics are softer, more breathable, hypoallergenic, biodegradable and recyclable.
It is a fact that 17 teaspoons of chemicals end up in the soil for each high-street cotton tee.
 “We hope to inspire customers to change their lives in a way which helps them to become integrated with nature as we were in the past, whether choosing 'green' fabrics or simply thinking about their environmental impact.”
Rapanui also pays a self-imposed ‘earth tax’. 5% of profits are donated to conservation charities such as the the ‘trees for life’ project in the Caledonian forest, Scotland and the Marine Conservation Society. 

“Rapanui offers consumers the opportunity to buy into an ethos, to take the first step in ‘going green’ or to continue their ‘green’ lifestyle in their fashion-wear.”  
Rapanui also provide schools, colleges, universities and adult learning environments with talks on climate change, presenting the facts, not opinions. At the events education is paramount, ‘top tips’ are detailed on how to reduce carbon emissions and environmental impact in the home and elsewhere. 
“We want to use the influential power of fashion to provoke change.”
For further details please contact:
Rob Drake-Knight at sales@rapanuiclothing.com or direct on 07762410094. For the office call (01983 401982)