About the Whetstone Collection
For the Whetstone Collection, we are pleased to have worked with Daniel Sanders, a pioneering textile entrepreneur who helped establish the organic cotton industry in the United States.
What's the deal with organic?
“Organic” is an imperfect certification, to be sure, but let's talk about some assurances. This cotton was grown without any pesticides, without nonorganic fertilizers, and without prohibited additions. Cover crops are also used to reverse harmful soil erosion and stop monocropping.
How It's Made
Daniel's organic cotton company, Spiritex, buys the cotton from Texas and from there, it’s shipped to a North Carolina cotton mill.
The mill processes the cotton to the specs of the partners.
Our apparel is made to the absolute highest specifications. Tees are made with combed and ring-spun yarn, in which tiny threads of cotton fiber are combed and woven into a soft, supple yarn. Ring-spun fabric is more absorbent, more textured and more beautiful.
Soft, Safe and Premium
The number of “singles” in the ring refers to its thickness. The higher the number, the better. Our shirts are made with 30 singles—it's like wearing a linen sheet for a shirt. (For comparison, the average tee is made with just 18. The yarn is specially treated with beeswax and then sent to a knitter. An expert “finisher” does the bleaching. Many producers opt to bleach their cotton, but at Whetstone we avoid this harsh step to retain natural coloring and appearance. We do work with finishers for any final touches required for a perfect Whetstone look and feel.
The carbon footprint in the making of the garments was kept to a minimum. Once the cotton is received, Spiritex maintains less than a 100 mile footprint from raw material to mill. Compare that to raw material shipped many thousands of miles overseas, and in some cases on a round trip voyage converting cotton to fabric.
This is one of the many reasons we were so excited to pursue this partnership. We’re adamant about these sustainability principles.
Protecting the Land and our Waterways
Now let's talk about the dye. Textile industries are notoriously responsible for major environmental pollution problems globally. One of the main reasons is that factories release contaminated dye runoff into wastewater, which can seep into local ecosytems. Our garments are intentionally made using low-impact dyes. That means you don't need to use as much.
Also, the dye house we’ve selected has its own carefully monitored water treatment facility, where water is treated and stabilized before being released.
We don't use any chlorine or any other caustic substance when we scour or color. Instead, we use hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide: fiber reactive dyes that break down without leaving toxic remnants in waterways.