Our Sustainability IMPACT

“Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth... these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women's empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.”
Ban Ki Moon

We at Due South Clothing are proud to work with Empower Eco and the Eden Reforestation Projects as our charity partners. Read on below to find out more about our charity partners and how you can contribute to the Sustainability of the planet through Due South Clothing.

EMPOWER ECO

Empower's ethos is to generate value from the plastic they collect in the world's oceans. Not only are they helping to remove harmful microplastics from one of our planet's most important ecosystems, but they are also helping to fight poverty by providing a wage to those in need.

The plastic that is collected is done so by underprivileged people in poor communities. Plastic collection is a great opportunity for these waste collectors as they receive a fixed amount of money per kilo of plastic collected. So not only do they help clean up our oceans and planet, but they also gain more food, security and opportunities.

But the work of Empower does not stop with collecting. Empower is building a "global plastic waste ecosystem." By giving plastic waste a value, they are able to stop plastic from leaking into the environment and incentivize the collection of leaked waste through cost efficiency. All of the plastic collected is passed on to recycling manufacturers, who in turn use it to create recycled products such as some of the fabrics for our Due South tees.

EDEN REFORESTATION PROJECTS

Eden's goal is to reduce extreme poverty and restore healthy forests by employing local people to plant millions of trees each year.

Trees are vital to our planet and to our continued existence on this blue planet In the fight against climate change, trees are an extraordinary resource. While fossil fuels, when burned, release carbon that warms the planet, trees absorb carbon to grow. They store this carbon within themselves, in their trunks, roots and surrounding soil, in a process known as carbon sequestration. In return, they release oxygen, the very molecule we need to breathe.

In addition to mitigating climate change, forests have other important functions for the Earth's biosphere. They provide habitat for a vast majority of the Earth's plant and animal species. Forests also play a major role in water supply, soil conservation and climate regulation. Eden takes a holistic approach to reforestation and ecological restoration. They partner with villages committed to restoring their forest, and then hire and train locals to plant new trees. Reforestation provides villagers with a steady income that helps them support their families. The villagers protect their new forests because they have a vested interest in them, and as a result, the seedling survival rate is an astounding 80%. If you include natural reproduction, the rate is even higher. Only native trees are ever planted.

NOT ONLY WILL YOU BE MAKING AN IMPACT ON OUR ENVIRONMENT, BUT POTENTIALLY CHANGING SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE...
There is even a chance that you will end up "wearing" the plastic that you have helped to collect.

To date, The Eden Projects has planted over 21,000,000 trees throughout Africa and Madagascar. Every t-shirt you buy on our Impact Collection, goes towards helping Empower to remove 1kg of plastic from our oceans or to the Eden Projects to plant 5 trees.