Smartcel™ is a patented, innovative, and fully sustainable fiber made by infusing wood fibers with the highest quality of zinc oxide – an essential trace element that provides skin protective and anti-bacterial odor preventing properties. The result is a next-generation sustainable textile that is organically produced and provides care and protection for the skin.

Produced through the lyocell process – an innovative and eco-friendly production method where organic wood cellulose from beech and eucalyptus are solubilized in a solvent to create fibers that can be spun into a yarn. In contrast to other cellulose-based textile fibers such as Viscose and Modal, the lyocell process takes place in a closed-loop system entirely free from harmful chemicals and with 99% of the solvents used being reused – meaning no chemicals are released as waste.

The cellulose fibers are then permanently embedded with high-quality, pharmaceutical grade-4 zinc oxide through a patented, high-tech process, that guarantees the positive properties of the zinc oxide are preserved – even after multiple washing cycles.

The fibers are then spun, resulting in a yarn of the highest quality which is:

• 100% organically produced (certified)
• Fully bio-degradable (certified)
• Entirely free from harmful chemicals and certified hypo-allergenic (certified)
• Made entirely from renewable raw materials
• Made from ethically, sustainably, and responsibly sourced wood fibers (certified)

The unique combination of organically produced cellulose and the highest quality of zinc oxide provides a number of benefits:

• Zinc oxide has strong anti-bacterial properties proven especially effective against odor-causing bacteria – meaning your garments stay fresh longer and you won’t have to wash as often
• Zinc oxide has been shown to have positive regenerative effects on skin
• Zinc oxide protects against free radicals which have been shown to cause damage to skin cells
• Natural UV-protection rating UPF 50+ meaning at least 98% of UV-rays are effectively blocked – protecting skin from damage

The natural difference in moisture between our skin and the fabric enables an active exchange of these beneficial substances through the process of moisture diffusion.

What's the deal?

Textile dyeing is one of the most polluting aspects of the global fashion industry. It’s devastating the environment and posing health hazards to humans and other living organisms but almost no one is talking about it. Everyone is talking about organic this, organic that, which is good but not enough. We need to talk about every dirty part of the fashion business, ignoring this is plain old greenwashing.

What's really the problem?

We can divide the problem into two major categories, chemical, and energy use.

Let’s talk about the chemicals:

For millennia, people used natural dyes to color fabrics. In the middle of the 1800s the first synthetic dye was created, a purple substance that easily transferred onto textiles. With it came a torrent of environmental problems. Today, the dyeing industry uses more than 8,000 chemicals. Many of these chemicals, including sulfur, arsenic, and formaldehyde, are harmful to both nature and human health. The chemicals that end up in our water cause widespread pollution across textile-producing countries, affecting our whole ecosystem. Have a look at this wonderful red water in Bangladesh. Fancy a nice walk?

Let's talk about energy use

The fashion industry uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually, enough to fill 37 million Olympic swimming pools, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Dyeing along with finishing is the most energy-intensive process involved in creating clothes. There are many different ways of dyeing to ensure that colors bind to the fabrics. Unfortunately, the common ones are cheap (which most often equals bad) and therefore many companies use these.

So what's finishing?

Finishing is when chemicals or treatments are applied to the fabric to give it the desired look or feel – such as bleaching, softening, or making the garment water-resistant or “anti-wrinkle”. If you have garments with these properties they have probably not been made in a sustainable and ethical way.

What do we do?

All our garments are created only using non-toxic dyes and sustainable dyeing methods. Compared to commonly used dyeing methods our process of dyeing uses 70% less freshwater, 60% less energy, and ensures no workers are exposed to harmful chemicals. All our dyes are OEKO-TEX Standard 100-certified.

The bad news

Let’s start with the bad news. Your ”sustainable” and ”conscious” shopping choices probably aren’t as sustainable as you think. Even if you buy a garment that’s been sustainably produced using organically grown or recycled materials, up to 70% of the total carbon footprint of that garment will be caused by you.

The good news

The good news, however, is that there’s clearly huge potential to significantly reduce your environmental impact with some pretty small changes to your everyday habits.

Ok, so what's the solution then?

Studies show that more than 70% of dirty laundry is washed due to the presence of body odors. If you’re like us, apart from the occasional stain, you wash your clothes when they no longer pass the smell test and don’t ”feel fresh”.

Although sweat is often associated with odors, your sweat itself isn’t the actual source of the foul smell. Instead, it’s a build-up of bacteria naturally found on your skin and which breaks down acids in your sweat that causes the odor. Washing with detergent usually solves the problem, but most of the time it’s actually not necessary at all.

All garments in Hues Laboratories’ organic cotton line come with BIO-ME® – a non-migrating, anti-bacterial coating that effectively prevents odor formation entirely without the use of silver (read more on that here) or other harmful substances.

Here’s how it works:

1. Microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, etc.) on your skin are attracted by the coating
2. Once in contact with the coating, their cell membrane is punctured
3. This deactivates the microorganism, completely preventing further growth and stopping odors from forming
4. The coating is permanent, meaning the anti-microbial and odor-resisting properties of your clothes remain throughout the garment’s life cycle.

The bottom line

While we’re doing everything we can to help you minimize the environmental impact of your clothes by making sure our production process is as sustainable as possible, up to 70% of a garment’s carbon footprint may ultimately be caused by your everyday washing habits.

The Bio-Me® coating in Hues Laboratories’ organic cotton line means your clothes stay fresh longer and you won’t have to wash as often. Compared to washing a sweater after every use, simply wearing it 3 times before washing, washing cold, skipping the dryer means up to 80% less energy is used. Less frequent washing also means less wear-and-tear of your clothes (just think of all the lint leftover in the dryer – that’s your sweater being gradually worn down) meaning your clothes last longer.

We can’t change your habits for you but we do what we can to make it easier for you to do your part.

What's the deal?

The short of it: Half of all new garments produced every year are made from virgin polyester – brand new colorful plastic made from pitch black crude oil. The process uses 50 billion liters of crude oil, releasing 280 million tons of CO2. We only use post-consumer recycled polyester made from discarded PET bottles gathered locally by our supplier in Turkey. The environmental benefits of choosing recycled polyester instead of virgin polyester are staggering but there’s a lot of pitfalls and dishonesty making the choice harder than it should be – keep reading to find out how.

Ok, why is polyester so bad to begin with?

Polyester is generally speaking a fantastic material. Since its introduction as a cheap and convenient fabric in the 1950s, its properties have made it the most popular and widely used textile fiber in the world. The problem is that it is entirely made from fossil fuels – crude oil to be more specific. Actual black petroleum. Not only is the oil industry itself incredibly polluting, the process in which crude oil is turned into polyester is also really bad.

Each new polyester garment produced requires:

530ml of crude oil, 32 kWh of energy, releasing 5,5 kg of CO2

When you take into account that 55% of all new garments produced every year are made from polyester, those numbers quickly become pretty scary:

50 billion liters of crude oil, 3 134 TWh of energy, releasing 536 billion kg of CO2

The global fashion industry is responsible for approximately 10% of the global carbon emissions so when considering polyester account for 55% of all new garments, it becomes pretty clear polyester is a major contributor.

Recycled polyester

You’ve hopefully heard of recycled polyester because it’s nothing new really. Chances are some of your favorite brands are selling you clothes marketed as recycled polyester. Ask them to specify whether they exclusively use recycled polyester and we’re willing to bet you’re in for a nasty surprise. It doesn’t take much scrutiny before to uncover some of the monkey business involving polyester:

1. The absolute majority of polyester garments produced and sold today are made from virgin polyester – that’s the textile fibers made from scratch using crude oil.
2. The garments you see marketed as being ”recycled” usually only contain a small amount of recycled polyester. The rest of that garment is the same virgin polyester bullshit as everywhere else. Some brands openly state that for them to label one of their products as being ”sustainable” or ”recycled” – only as little as 20% of the contents need to be organic or recycled. That’s a pretty low (and dishonest) bar if you ask us.
3. Even a garment labeled as ”100% recycled” doesn’t always imply what you think it does. You see, recycled polyester can generally be divided into two types:

• • Post-consumer recycled polyester

This is any type of polyester that has been created by recycling plastics that have already been used for various purposes – in our case, it’s discarded PET bottles that are shredded and turned into polyester fibers. This is probably what most of us associate with the term ”recycled”.

1. • Pre-consumer recycled polyester

As a contrast, this type of polyester is created by gathering the scrap pieces of fabric leftover on the factory floor after producing polyester garments and then recycling those. Although using materials efficiently and minimizing waste caused by leftover fabrics is fantastic and definitely something that should be done, marketing it as ”recycled” is to use the term ”recycled” pretty loosely.

Why recycle?

Let’s take a brief moment to compare recycled polyester to virgin polyester and the answer should be clear.

ZERO crude oil, 60% less energy, 40% less CO2

The bottom line

The best thing you can do is to buy second-hand – hands down. Next best is to make a solid effort to buy new stuff less often, make sure the things you do buy are of higher quality. Choose which clothes you buy based not only on price and the latest trends but also on the impact that’s being made on our environment.

Polyester and plastic products as a whole won’t be a viable alternative in the long term.

As a first step in eliminating our dependency on fossil fuels and non-renewable resources, we might as well make use of the stuff that’s already here. Offering a cotton sweater as an alternative to a polyester windbreaker is not likely to force other brands to make changes – the demand for synthetic windbreakers will still be there. Offering comparable products made out of recycled materials with a significantly reduced environmental impact, however, is a step in pushing others to follow suit.

What's the deal?

The short of it: you probably think that by now, the majority of cotton is organic. We can’t blame you – since it’s talked about everywhere it sure feels like we’ve come a long way. So you probably don’t pay that much attention to whether you buy organic or not, since everyone else seems to be doing the right thing. Right? That’s what we thought too, but here are the facts – only 1-2% of the global cotton produced is organic.

Ask your favorite brand if they exclusively use organic cotton or if they’re greenwashing by mixing it with the conventional kind. Chances are you will be disappointed.

So why does this matter? Conventional cotton is really bad, but cheap. Organic cotton is much better but requires some sacrifice on your part. Either take our word for it or read on to find out why and just what kind of sacrifice we’re talking about.

What's really the problem?

Cotton, the most widely used textile fiber on earth, is mostly thought of as a wholesome, pure, and natural fiber – probably because it comes from a plant in the shape of white fluffy balls of raw cotton fibers.

In reality, however, there’s not much ”wholesome” or ”pure” about 98% of the cotton grown around the world today, and it sure as hell isn’t ”natural”. Today, 98% of the cotton produced annually is grown using ”conventional” farming methods.

In order to maximize how much cotton can be grown from a single hectare of land, conventional cotton farming makes use of every trick in the book, with devastating effects on people, animals, and the environment.

Why does it matter?

“So, what’s the big deal?”, you might ask. Isn’t increased efficiency and productivity a good thing? Well, to be fair, it is undeniably great for both your wallet and mine. All these shortcuts and aids enable the cotton producers to offer you and me products at a price that has never been lower. You can literally buy a t-shirt for less than the cost of a single cup of coffee. That’s pretty sweet, right? Sure, but the trade-off is not as sweet.

The research is crystal clear, and it has been for decades – chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, soil additives, defoliants, and other substances unambiguously fuck up the environment. That stuff doesn’t just disappear, it ends up in the soil we live on, the crops we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink.

So, what's this organic stuff?

Ok, so now that we’ve established that conventional cotton sucks, what’s all this talk about ”organic”?

Organic cotton is grown using non-genetically modified plants, entirely without the use of chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, soil additives, defoliants, or other synthetic agricultural chemicals. The crops are 90% rain-fed and the cotton is picked by hand, minimizing stress on the plants themselves and on the cotton fibers – ultimately leading to softer, longer, and more durable cotton fibers. You basically get a higher quality of the raw material.

Compared to conventional cotton it sure seems like a no-brainer.

So (again), what's the problem then?

Ok fine, so conventional cotton is bad and organic cotton seems like a pretty good alternative. So what’s the problem here?

The problem is that as of 2021, still only 1-2% of the cotton grown globally is organic and it’s not going to change by itself. At the core of the issue is that the yield – that is the amount of cotton you can produce on a given piece of land – is lower for organically grown cotton (at least initially). That means cotton producers that switch over to organic farming have to charge higher prices in order to maintain their profits, and in extension, that means fashion brands need to charge you and me higher prices in order to maintain their profits.

And – hand on your heart – are most of us willing to pay the higher price?

So, while the call for ”organic this” and “organic that” has undoubtedly risen lately, most of us are still tempted to look for a bargain.

Adding to this is the shameless greenwashing that you have probably been fooled by – we sure know we have. A frighteningly large number of fashion brands are opting to simply mix in 10 or 20 % organic cotton with their regular cheap (and dirty) conventional cotton, call it ”more sustainable”, ”responsible”, ”green” or even flat out lie and call it ”organic” and then keep offering it at the same cheap prices. As long as those dishonest players are allowed to trick us into thinking the cheap stuff we buy is organic cotton, the demand for actual organic cotton will never catch up and the price will remain higher.

The bottom line

Today, if you’re still selling clothes made from conventional cotton, you’re either greedy, lazy, or ignorant. Although we too used to be guilty of ignorance, we are 100% committed to only using organic cotton. Whenever you buy a garment containing cotton from Hues Laboratories, you can be absolutely certain that the cotton is organically grown and GOTS-certified. The origins, as well as the certifications for each individual garment, can easily be viewed using your phone to scan the sewn-in chip.