Rapanui Blog

Rapanui is an Eco-Fashion company from the Isle of Wight, that makes Organic, Ethical clothing using Renewable Energy with award-winning traceability. Rapanui is about making eco-fashion cool.

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Eco-Fashion Brand Making Waves in Fashion Industry

An ethical fashion brand based on the Isle of Wight has launched a new range of clothing that aims to bring eco issues to the forefront of the fashion industry. Included in this range is a collaborative t-shirt with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

Rapanui was set up by brothers Rob (25) and Martin Drake-Knight (23) in early 2008 with £200 of savings. It has quickly grown into an award winning brand, earning recognition at Enterprise UK’s Young Brit Awards and the Sustainable Business Awards.

After gaining some recognition the brand decided to use their new found popularity and work with the MCS to organise a giant beach clean. The record clean was conducted at Grange Chine, a short mile long stretch of beach on the Isle of Wight, and resulted in an unbelievable 114 bin liners full of waste, over half a ton. This is one of the worst cases in a non-disaster event. What was recyclable of the waste was done so and the rest was sent to the local Energy to Waste plant.

Since then they have also reduced their carbon footprint by over 80% compared to the industry standard, things like shipping products from the factory by boat rather than using carbon heavy airfreight or using camels instead of trucks to transport between the field and the factory.

Every Rapanui product is made from organic natural fabrics, so your clothes are free from pesticides and artificial fertilizers, in a wind powered factory audited by the Fairwear Foundation. This ensures that every worker gets a fair wage and clean and safe working conditions.

Now their site features a fully interactive map of the entire lifecycle of every product with images, videos and all the facts and figures, letting customers investigate products for themselves finding out where their clothes come from and how they are made.

Co-founder Martin Drake-Knight says “We believe It’s not that people don’t care, it’s just that they don’t know. If we can inform and educate people as to where clothing comes from and how it is made they can make informed decisions as shoppers.”

Check out the new men’s and women’s MCS Organic T-Shirts on our website.

There is a wealth of information for any interested customer to read through on Rapanui’s website, including a Wikipedia style resource with all the essential knowledge on their Eco-Fashion page, they are completely open and honest about the entire process of their clothes, how they are made and what impact each piece has on the environment, yet at the same time provide garments that perhaps you wouldn’t expect from a company whose main concern is about reducing the environmental impact of the fashion industry.

Find out more about men’s organic clothing and also women’s organic clothing.

Check them out at

www.rapanuiclothing.com

And let them know what you think.

ENDS

Notes to Editor
Photos attached - Model cleaning up the beach in a MCS Organic T-Shirt

For further information please contact Rob Drake-Knight, on 01983 873430 or email rob@rapanuiclothing.com

Visit their About and Traceability pages to learn more

July 17th, 2010