News

Farm To Fabric™

INSTYLE's new traceability program - FARM TO FABRIC™ - allows you to select a fabric and see how it is made beginning with the farm that produced the EthEco® wool fibre.

You can see the environment the sheep were farmed in, meet the farmers and their families and learn about how they manage the land with minimal environmental impact.

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To trace your LIFE Textiles® click here

Bruce, Hugh and Geoff Taylor - EthEco® wool growers

INSTYLE signs first ethical + environmental wool supply agreement

Fabric made using wool from a breed of Merino sheep that don’t require mulesing will soon be available, through Australia’s first-ever ethical wool supply agreement for the furnishings industry.

Former CSIRO scientist, Dr Jim Watts, developed the Merino breed to have softer, more flexible skin that has less wrinkles and folds, known as SRS® sheep for their Soft-Rolling- Skin. The absence of skin corrugations ensures the animals are not at risk of developing flystrike and therefore do not need to be mulesed like the traditional, more-wrinkled Merino breeds.

Chad Taylor, SRS® Wool Producer, Michael Fitzsimons Managing Director  of INSTYLE CONTRACT TEXTILES and exclusive producer of EthEco™ furnishing fabrics,  and SRS® Sheep Breeding Consultant Dr Jim Watts showing superior quality and staple length of EthEco™ wool.

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BACKGROUND

Instyle Contract Textiles Pty Ltd is a specialist in the design, marketing and distribution of commercial interior furnishing textiles (for offices, healthcare, hospitality, transport, education, public buildings, etc).

INSTYLE designs and develops its own distinctive range of LIFE Textiles® upholstery and screen textiles in its award winning Sydney design studio which are then produced by manufacturers located in Australia and New Zealand.

Since 2002 INSTYLE has made a substantial effort to integrate sustainable practices throughout all aspects of the company – from management, product design, and marketing through to operations. 

The development of LIFE (Low Impact For the Environment) Textiles® was a collaborative effort with The Woolmark Company of Australia, and is a key part of INSTYLE’S sustainability strategy.

LIFE Textiles®, released in late 2004, was the first sustainable textile collection in Australia to:

• use 100% eco wool® and certified organic wool sourced from Australia or New Zealand;
• use local manufacturers;
• have minimal impact over the entire lifecycle.

In recognition of these efforts, INSTYLE is proud to have won three awards in the 2008 Sustainability Green Globe Awards;

• The Premier’s Sustainability Excellence Award
• Industry Environmental Sustainability Award
• Small Business Environmental Sustainability Award

INSTYLE won the 2008 United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Awards in the Business Sustainability Environmental Best Practice Program Category.

INSTYLE was also a Banksia Awards finalist for two consecutive years, 2006 and 2007, in the Sustainability category. 

SRS Company Pty Ltd
SRS® is a unique system for the breeding, management and quality accreditation of Merino wool fibres through a select group of wool producers.

The SRS® trademark is the symbol of authenticity. Only fibre that has passed from the SRS® member growers through the breeding management and quality accreditation may bear the trademark. 

A FEW MORE OF LIFE'S ACHIEVEMENTS

INSTYLE CONTRACT TEXTILES is proud to have won three
Awards in the 2008 Sustainability Green Globe Awards.

• The Premier's Sustainability Excellence Award,
• Industry - Environmental Sustainability award,
• Small Business Environmental Sustainability award.

Michael Fitzsimons Managing Director of Instyle receiving an award from the Hon. Verity Firth Minister for Climate Change and the Environment.

INSTYLE WINS 3 SUSTAINABILITY GREEN GLOBE AWARDS

Click the image or here to download the pdf.

Invitation to work on the US Sustainable Textile Standard. INSTYLE.

A Sustainable Textile Standard for the USA

Tracy Mak of INSTYLE was invited by The American Association for Contract Textiles (ACT), of which INSTYLE is a member, to the U.S.A. to take part in developing a Standard for the design and manufacturing of sustainable textiles.

INSTYLE'S Environment Manager, Mak met with industry, environmental agencies and non-profit environmental organisations and representatives at a two-day meeting in January at NSF International's headquarters in Michigan, U.S.A.

`The Sustainable Textile Standard', will be a collaborative effort between ACT, GreenBlue - a non-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of `cradle-to-cradle' Design Principles, and NSF International - a Standards Development body.

Mak believes the standard has the potential to advance industry practices, 'The draft standard is comprehensive because it addresses raw materials, safety of chemical inputs, energy, water, recyclability and social responsibility. The final standard will hopefully become a blueprint for an Australian industry standard.'

The standard is to be further developed by working groups and Mak was asked to take the position as the leader of the workgroup investigating International textile standards.