ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Biddle Sawyer Silks' Environmental Policy

As one of the UK's leading silk printers & wholesale silk suppliers, we're committed to reducing the impact of our operations on the environment.

Sustainable digital silk printers & wholesale silk suppliers

Biddle Sawyer Silks’ commitment to the environment runs through all aspects of our operations – from the manufacturing of our silks to the inks and dyes we use in printing, right down to the amount of waste we produce.

It’s our utmost priority to ensure that we’re operating in a sustainable way, whilst continuing to be the go-to supplier for the highest quality printed silks and wholesale fabrics to leading fashion houses and designers in the UK.

Our ethos is to maintain and continuously improve on our high eco-standards to ensure that our products are produced in the most eco-friendly manner, with a high level of care and responsibility in both ecological and social aspects.

Our sustainability accreditations

We're GOTS Certified

Biddle Sawyer Silks are the only organic silk supplier in the UK, certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard.

GOTS ensures that fabrics are manufactures under strictly monitored environmental and social criteria. All of our GOTS certified silk woven fabrics contain at least 95% certified organic fibres, are free from toxic chemicals and have been produced in fair working conditions.

We're Bureau Veritas Certified

Biddle Sawyer Silks are proudly accredited by Bureau Veritas, one of the world’s leading certification bodies.

Recognised for our commitment to sustainability, Bureau Veritas support and continuously monitor our sustainability strategies, and work with us to further improve our efforts in the move towards developing a more environmentally sustainable industry.

How we operate sustainably

Biddle Sawyer Silks are one of the few digital printers with effluent license, meaning that we have to adhere to very strict environmental policies, outlined by law.

Digital printing

Standing as the UK leaders in digital silk printing, it’s our mission to lead by example in the way of operating eco-friendly and sustainable digital printing methods.

The advanced technologies of digital printing are more sustainable than any other textile printing methods by nature, but we go above and beyond to ensure that our practices are as efficient and eco-friendly as possible.

Our eco-friendly silk printing process

Ensuring that our silk printing processes have minimal impact on the environment is crucial to us, and that’s why we control the entire process in-house.

As the only UK silk merchant to own and operate our own state of the art digital printer, we control all stages of the printing, processing and finishing of our products.

We have invested highly in improving our energy saving methods, which include heavy duty insulation in our printing rooms to minimise heat loss, and the addition of a highly efficient burner to regulate our steam processes and reduce fuel usage as a result.

Inks

All of the inks used in our printing methods are AZO dye free, water based and free of any potentially harmful chemicals and toxins.

Fabrics

We never work with synthetic fibres, and are committed to only working with the highest quality natural silk fibres, for both quality assurance and ecological advantages. All fabrics are to European REACH standards.

Waste

We’re committed to ensuring all fabric waste is kept to a minimum, and make a conscious effort to always reuse all waste due to roll on and roll off from print beds.

Chemicals

All chemicals used on site are sourced from reputable suppliers, manufactured in Europe or the UK. We actively avoid using highly toxic chemicals, or those containing carcinogens.

Print

We don’t sublimation print due to unnecessary waste. We do print direct to fabric, in order to minimise surplus inks, chemicals and fabric waste.