AUSFAHR Beyond Greening
The blend of innovation, creativity and passion is what led co-founders Steve Hohenwarter and Lauren Seldomridge to produce the new premium denim line and sportswear collection, AUSFAHR. The company will launch during one of the most arduous times in recent United States history, which has led AUSFAHR to place close attention to detail and the finer things in life. By finer things in life, we do not just mean the quality of our clothing but people and the importance of relationships. AUSFAHR has taken on a holistic view of sustainability, one that continues to take on new strategies to make our community and product better. We launch AUSFAHR at our first fashion show, Project Ethos June 5th, 2009.
Our mission is to inspire through creative design and practices.
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We at AUSFAHR believe that it is our responsibility not to do harm to the environment. To us sustainability is more than just pollution control, which has led us to rethink our production process starting with the raw material. Since the qualification of being a sustainable product is predominantly open to interpretation, we follow Walter Stahel’s Five Pillars system because we know sustainability is a multifaceted concept with all aspects holding the same priority. The first pillar is nature conservation. The natural environment is the base for life on earth and one of the biggest scourges of the 21st century has been farmland depletion and abuse. This is why we have chosen Safe Denim for our cotton and denim material. Safe Denim is dedicated to manufacturing processes and farming practices that enable them to produce “food and fiber indefinitely with minimal impact to the environment.”1 Safe Denim uses technological advances to use 45 percent less water to grow cotton than 25 years ago and have substantially reduced the area of land required to produce enough cotton to meet demand. Also, they use Integrated Pest Management systems to control pest and minimize environmental exposure to chemicals. Over the years they have been able to contribute 30 million acres for food production, conservation and wildlife habitat. The second pillar is limited toxicity that we currently find as one of our greater challenges. To prevent any of the dyes from leaching into the environment we use a plant-derived resin to seal the dye. This resin also keeps the integrity of jeans. The third pillar adds innovation, entrepreneurship and productivity to the eco-friendly approach. For this we have gotten more specific and have instituted guidelines established by The World Business Council for Sustainable Development
- Reduction in the material intensity of goods or services,
- Reduction in the energy intensity of goods or services
- Reduced dispersion of toxic materials
- Improved recyclability
- Maximum use of renewable resources,
- Greater durability of products, and
- Increased service intensity of goods and services
We carry these guidelines from raw materials to the consumers’ use of the product to increase efficiency to forestall such threats as climate change and the loss of ecosystems. The forth pillar is social ecology. Equality and human dignity are factors often neglected in sustainability frameworks, yet theses factors are essential for sustainable development. All of the farming and production processes AUSFAHR’s denim undergoes occur in the United States within relatively close proximity to one another, which enable us to have a close and direct relationship with those involved. This engagement ensures human rights and dignity are kept at the highest standards. The fifth pillar is cultural ecology that sums up all other aspects of a sustainability framework since it takes into context ethics and responsibility from the level of an individual to a corporation. In regards to cultural ecology AUSFAHR’s Denim Line is grown, cut, sewn and washed in the United States. More specifically we have invested in a localized economy in Texas where the cotton is grown to where it is developed. By having this localized system we are able to measure “miles to the market,” reduce carbon emissions, have higher economic multiplier effects, and have the absence of resource-intensive packaging. In addition, our denim line rarely needs to be washed and if necessary, washed in cold water and hang dry to encourage our consumers to be energy conscious.
We strive for new business strategies to continue to take the entire planet as the context in which we do business; to be part of the solution to social and environmental problems not part of the problem. We pass our concern to the public by providing a superior denim and sportswear line that is unique and encourages social responsibility through our mission.
