Frequently Asked Questions

Venm’s eco-wear is made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textiles. PET is a clear, durable, and lightweight plastic identified, usually on the bottom of a container, by the code “1”. PET is widely used to package foods and beverages (plastic water bottles), and even items from shampoo to cooking oil. 

Venm’s recycled PET material is sourced from consumers who recycle curbside, then broken down into pellets, heated, and stretched to form yarn. Our textiles are woven in a landfill-free facility where employees reduce, repair, and reuse plastic, office paper, corrugated boxes, paper tubes, batteries, and wood pallets. Our PET saves energy and natural resources by bypassing the need to extract fresh petroleum from our earth. Manufacturing our PET textiles saves a half-gallon of gas with every pound made.

Because plastic never biodegrades, and nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists today, repurposing PET to make textiles is a conscious way to keep existing plastic from polluting our environment.

Whether in a landfill, or part of the over five trillion pieces of plastic found in our oceans and on our shorelines, PET has toxic effects to our planet, wildlife, and humans. Please watch one of our favorite videos to better understand the hazardous impact plastic has on our environment and why we need to collectively reduce our consumption:

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/

Our outer labels are made from organic cotton. Conventional cotton is highly dependent on pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers to grow, and produces run off that leaches into our soil and waterways. Cotton is responsible for 25% of all pesticides used worldwide each year. (World Bank). Organic cotton is a much more sustainable alternative, however, only represents about 1% of all the cotton grown worldwide

The textile industry is one of the largest polluters in the world, producing a lot of water waste. The World Bank estimates that almost 20% of global industrial water pollution comes from the treatment and dyeing of textiles.  Altogether, more than a half trillion gallons of fresh water are used in the dyeing of textiles each year. (Eco Watch)

Venm’s prints use water based temperature sensitive inks that travel from a liquid to gaseous state, then solidify to become part of the structure of our textiles when heated. This creates absolutely no water run off or waste. Because the ink becomes part of the makeup of the fabric, our prints will not crack, fade, or run.

This technique only works on specific fabrics and is the perfect method for our recycled PET clothing.