“WE ARE A GREEN GROUP”

The Tetribérica group has a strong involvement in sustainability. We want to make sure that fashion continues to be enjoyed by future generations. We work within a circular economic model, to create a truly sustainable fashion industry that is good for the people and the planet.

What we already do:

We believe that sustainability, quality, and people's welfare go hand in hand - and they are our core values and the pillars that guide us through all our practices.

• We offer in-house yoga classes for our workers, a canteen, and benefits that go beyond expectations;
• 30% of our energy needs are met by our solar panels;
• 75% of our production already uses recycled polyester fibers and organic cotton;
• All our illumination is LED;
• Our design team is “green” conscious oriented. One of our commitments is to work with a zero waste philosophy;
• All our textile wastes, garments with defects and others are transformed into new yarns by "Sasia" a Certified Portuguese Company of recycling fiber wastes;
• We started the renewal of our automobile fleet for electric ones;
• We are certified for GOTS (GLOBAL ORGANIC TEXTILE STANDARD), OCS ( ORGANIC CONTENT STANDARD), GRS (GLOBAL RECYCLE STANDARD), SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit), ISO 9001 ( Quality Management System) and we are part of SEAQUAL INITIATI- VE and BETTER COTTON INITIATIVE (BCI).
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GOTS - GLOBAL ORGANIC TEXTILE STANDARD

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is an internationally recognised organic textile standard. Since its introduction in 2006, GOTS has demonstrated its practical feasibility and is supported by the growth in consumption of organic fibres and the demand for a unified processing criteria from the industry and retail sectors.

GOTS ensures the organic status of textiles from the harvesting of the raw materials through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing all the way to labelling, in order to provide credible assurances to the consumer. The standard covers the processing, manufacturing, packaging, labelling, trading and distribution of all textiles made from at least 70 percent certified organic natural fibres. The final fibre products may include, but are not limited to, yarns, fabrics, clothes and home textiles. However, this standard does not set criteria for leather products. Learn more

OCS BLENDED - ORGANIC CONTENT STANDARD

The Organic Content Standard (OCS) applies to any non-food product containing 5-100 percent organic material. It verifies the presence and amount of organic material in a final product. Further OCS tracks the flow of a raw material from its source to the final product. This process is then certified by an accredited third party.

The OCS relies on third-party verification to confirm whether a final product contains the accurate amount of a given organically grown material. OCS allows for transparent, consistent and comprehensive independent evaluation and verification of organic material content claims on products. OCS covers the processing, manufacturing, packaging, labelling, trading and distribution of a product that contains at least 5 percent certified ‘organic’ materials. It can be used as a business-to-business tool to give companies the means to ensure that they are selling quality and getting what they pay for. Learn more

RCS / RCS BLENDED – RECYCLED CLAIM STANDARD

The Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) verifies the presence and quantity of a recycled material in a final product. This is done by third party verification of the inputs and the chain of custody. It enables transparent, consistent, comprehensive, and independent assessment and verification of claims of recycled material content in products. Learn more

GRS - GLOBAL RECYCLE STANDARD

The Global Recycle Standard (GRS) was originally developed by Control Union Certifications in 2008 and ownership was passed to the Textile Exchange on 1 January 2011. The GRS is an international, voluntary, full product standard that sets requirements for third-party certification of recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices and chemical restrictions.

The GRS is intended to meet the needs of companies looking to verify the recycled content of their products (both finished and intermediate) and to verify responsible social, environmental and chemical practices in their production. The objectives of the GRS are to define requirements to ensure accurate content claims and good working conditions, and that harmful environmental and chemical impacts are minimised. This includes companies in ginning, spinning, weaving and knitting, dyeing and printing and stitching in more than 50 countries. Learn more

SMETA AUDITS

The Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) is a web-based system designed to help organisations manage data on labor practices in their supply chain. Members have the benefit of being able to publish their SMETA audit reports directly on the SEDEX system for viewing by all customers.

SEDEX members have agreed the Best Practice Guide, a common methodology to improve audit standards and promote mutual acceptance of audit reports. In addition to the principles in the ETI Base Code, SMETA also review performance against the right to work of migrant workers, management systems and implementation, sub-contracting and home working and environmental issues.

Implementing ISO 9001:2015 enables continuous improvement of our organisation quality management systems (QMS) and processes. In turn, this improves the ability of our operations to meet customer requirements and expectations.

ISO 9001:2015 is based on eight quality management principles:

• Customer focus;
• Leadership;
• Involvement of people;
• Process approach;
• System approach;
• Continual improvement;
• Fact-based decision making;
• Mutually beneficial supplier relationships.

Quality Management System certification from SGS help our organisation develop and improve performance. ISO 9001:2015 certification enables us to demonstrate high levels of service quality when bidding for contracts and a valid ISO 9001:2015 certificate shows that our organisation follows internationally recognised quality management principles.

SEAQUAL INITIATIVE

Seaqual Initiative is a community of individuals, organisations and companies working together to help clean our oceans, raise awareness of the issue of marine litter and highlight those helping to fight it.

It works with the waste management and recycling industries to transform marine litter into Upcycled Marine Plastic, so that leading brands and manufacturers can create inspiring sustainable products. Find out more here. Tetribérica is proud to be part of the Seaqual Initiative.

We're proud to work with members of the Better Cotton Initiative

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) — a global not-for-profit organisation — is the largest cotton sustainability programme in the world. In the 2018-19 cotton season, 2.3 million BCI Farmers received training on more sustainable farming practices and produced 5.6 million tonnes of Better Cotton – that equates to 22% of global cotton production.

Tetribérica is not a member as we do not acquire cotton directly, but we are part of the BCI platform so we can acquire our materials from BCI members and deliver BCI garments. Find out more about BCI here.