Black dye needs two phases: Colour application and fixation. The later inclused an oxidation process, and overall black contains a greater amount of dye than any other colour. Theoretically it should be more expensive for that reason, but mostly it is not. The reason seems to be that cheaper and more toxic substances are used to compensate for the higher production cost.
Several years ago a friend who worked in the textile industrie told me that there is no way of producing “organic black” clothes. Is this still the case?
What dye do you use, and where does it come from? Which substances are in these clothes? And why do you offer dark clothes that seem to be more toxic than bright clothes? How this agree with your philosophy, and why did you make that choice?
Don’t get me wrong, I wear black only, but I have never cared about a healthy lifestyle and put up with the fact that such clothes are toxic. As some kind of “necessary evil”…
The second thing that I worry about is how fast it washes out. The clothing that you have offered before the new clothing line started washed out very rapidly, I had to throw it away after washing it two times for that reason…
Let me get back to you on this one, @mbs. We will chat to our factory who will be able to find out, but due to Eid they might not get back to us for a little bit. Apologies for the delay!
I was making a joke about your obsession with coffee flavoured Huel products not the fact that you eat Huel in general, which, makes no sense as we all eat Huel…
The dyestuff for our jersey comes from Portugal, an example of one of our key suppliers is a company called Huntsman, however we do use a number of different dyes.
The dyes we use can be set at a lower temperature using less water.
I know that doesn’t cover every dye we use, BUT it’s worth noting that all our clothes are GOTS certified. More on this now.
So generally and specifically to answer your question about dark clothes - Our dark clothes aren’t more hazardous because our fabrics are GOTS certified which means that they don’t use hazardous dyes. GOTS certification covers the whole process, dyes as well as fabric and production. GOTS prohibits the use of hazardous dyes and chemicals, the GOTS approved dye stuff is the same as other colours with the same environmental impact. So black has the same impact as other colours. And this goes for all our Huelwear range.
With the above info obviously it does fit with our mission
Also, for further reassurance, we are also only working with mills who hold Oeko Tex certification - this means that they are rigorously tested whether they contain harmful substances
And we aren’t done. We think we can do even better than we are already and are looking into a process called cold pad batch dying. This will reduce water usage and further reduce our impact.
Hope that answers your questions and again sorry for the delay. I can answer most Huel food questions off the cuff but am not as familiar with Huelwear so need to talk to the team and in this case - factories hope you understand.
I already wash at low temperatures and with a laundry detergent specifically made for black clothes. Here it did not help, though…
But perhaps this is less important because there are lots of people wearing washed out, faded black tones, and they don’t have a problem with that. It is some kind of personal obsession that I want strong, dark black.
And you also offer other, brighter colors, and I guess you will add new ones - just as you keep adding new flavours for the “food range”. Much faster than some years ago.
I think I might be more ok with the branding of the jeans than the t-shirt. It’s pretty big, but most other jeans have some kind of logo or patch there, so it’s not much worse.
But I guess maybe I don’t want any branding at all on a regular white t-shirt. That’s the kind of thing I want to be totally neutral, and the patch is quite eye-catching in that location. I much prefer the little tag on the bottom of the current free t-shirts, because it’s out of the way.
I think my overall issue is that I’d love to do something good and wear these sustainable clothes, but it feels a bit showy to advertise to the world that I’m a Huel bro.
Yes Andrea we’ve stopped selling them, only available now for first-time orders. Sorry the answer wasn’t easier to find, but Phil has dug it out for you! Definitely check out the Huelwear t-shirt, I’m going to get myself a few for sure!
When a friend ordered some clothes I decided to also try it.
And for the new products it’s similar, the black washes out quite rapidly. Either I will renew it with a black dye or give it to another person. As I only wear black clothes these products are not for me. And yes, I did everything that works for my other clothes…wash it at only 20 degrees, use special washing detergent for black clothes etc.
My friend avoids black though, as he’s a very pale type. And he loves the clothes. He really invested a lot and said it was definitely worth the price. Great fabric, less skin problems, he saw lots of benefits in it.
Regarding the labels:
Most of the shirts look as if the label could be removed carefully with a knife. It is not printed onto the shirt but a separate piece of textile that is sewn onto it. And you could wear a belt to cover the label on the jeans.
Ah that’s not ideal, it would be great to see what you mean by them washing out rapidly. Could you upload a photo of their current state? If you had a photo of them before that would be even better. Obviously it’s difficult to compare via photos as light, camera quality, settings etc will change it quite a lot.
If you feel like this isn’t right then do get in touch with the team.
hope you understand.
