Circular fashion software company creates bespoke, sustainable T-Shirts

Teemill uses recovered, natural and plastic-free materials for both their T-Shirts and packaging, enabled by a circular model

Spotted: Software company Teemill is a leading force in the aim to change the linear nature of the fashion industry into a circular one. As three out of every five T-Shirts that are bought across the globe “end up in the bin within a year”, according to BBC Earth, their focus is on making a circular supply chain for T-Shirts.

This platform works by allowing you to design your own T-Shirt brand, which you can sell through Teemill. This part is all free, and for a small fee, you have more design options, the chance to customise your store’s URL, and other benefits. 

Teemill uses recovered, natural and plastic-free materials for both their T-Shirts and packaging, enabled by a circular model consisting of six areas: organic cotton, water, renewable energy, no surplus production, material flow and packaging. The main part of this is the organic cotton from which all the T-Shirts are made. this cotton maintains its purity but is fertilised without toxic pesticides, and no part of it goes to waste; the seeds are sold for cow feed and vegetable oil after harvesting. Due to the lack of plastics and synthetic materials in the cotton, it is then able to be recycled continuously. 

This part is enacted through Teemill’s encouraging all buyers to return their products once the T-Shirt has been worn out, or not used anymore. In the care label of each T-Shirt is a QR code that, when scanned, creates a free post label back to Teemill. Moreover, when the t-shirt is sent back, the buyer earns credit towards their next purchase.

Even the packaging is sustainable; the company uses only plastic and synthetic-free materials for their paper mailing bags, and big t-shirt orders are shipped in cardboard boxes, sealed with paper-based tape. Likewise, Teemill is committed to using renewable energy and reaching a zero-carbon emissions status in its overall manufacturing process.

“Slowing fast fashion down a bit won’t fix it. But when we take the waste material at the end, and make new products from it at the start, it changes everything. That’s what we’ve done,” said Martin Drake-Knight, co-founder of Teemill.

Here at Springwise, we love the Teemill concept so much that we’ve launched our own Springwise “Innovator” T-Shirts on their platform. Purchase your own here, or take our latest survey for a chance to get one for free.

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