(WE) L💚VE YOUR CLOTHES

In addition to the message that children's clothing brings, we also consider the ecological and ethical aspect very important. Therefore, when putting together our range, we have chosen sustainable materials that are ethically manufactured.

Sustainable for us means:

• of natural origin (thus no plastic is released during washing, recycling, and in the worst case, disposal),
• As much as possible from organic cultivation,
• colored with ecological dyes: safe for your baby, nature, and the people who made the clothes,
• of good quality so that the clothing will last a long time,
• fairly made with fair wages and good working conditions for the makers and of course without child labor (our clothes are fairly made in India, the United States, Portugal and Turkey, our accessories are fairly made in the United Kingdom, Thailand and Bali).
• timeless designs that are not discarded en masse at the end of the season: the arrival of new designs does not mean that the clothes of the past season or past year must lose value, after all, they were worked just as hard.

But a more sustainable origin does not necessarily ensure a sustainable life for clothing. Due to the short life of many clothes, the clothing industry is not exactly a green industry. Therefore, in addition to the "reuse, refuse, repair" principle, we also strongly support the "wear, care, share, repair" principle.

WEAR
Kids love to crawl, clamber, roll and romp. Our clothes are designed with this in mind: practical, comfortable, quality and bright! We also like to buy "on growth": pants legs or sleeves that you can roll up, adjustable waists, dresses that fit well from below the knee to above the knee, ...

CARE
With the right care, our clothes will last extra long. You'll find washing instructions with each item, and thanks to the Love Your Clothes campaign, you'll find some tips here in advance (you can find the more comprehensive, British campaign here). The general rules are:

• 30°C is often enough to wash clothes (non-delicate underwear and stockings may of course be washed at 60°C for good hygiene),
• Washing at a low temperature improves color retention, and swishing at a low speed reduces lint,
• use an ecological detergent,
• fabric softener can easily be omitted,
• drying on a laundry rack gives your clothes a much longer life.

Bright children's clothes on the clothes rack also add a cheerful note to the home or garden.

The dryer is often more ecological to use for non-clothes (such as towels) as they can be more easily swept at a high speed without incurring much damage, which also means the dryer uses less because the laundry is already drier at the start.

SHARE
Our selection consists of quality and mostly unisex clothing, which makes it super convenient to share and pass on! Pass your clothing on to friends, family, acquaintances, sell it at second-hand fairs or online or go swish.

There are also several local organizations that, among other things, provide material assistance to (underprivileged) mothers where you can go to donate wearable clothing: Moeders voor Moeders (Antwerp, children's clothing up to 14 years old), Baby-Nest (Ghent, children's clothing up to 8 years old), Nasci (Brussels, children's clothing up to 14 years old), MamaStart (Bruges, children's clothing up to 12 years old). Taking too small clothes to a container or having them picked up is also an option, but then it is not always clear whether they will end up well, Charlie Magazine wrote an interesting article about this. In Antwerp, De Collectie is already trying to process, recycle and sell as much of the collected clothes locally as possible, for the time being this should be possible for about 50% of the collected clothes.

REPAIR
Children's clothing leads an intense life and can (or will ;-)) wear out a bit even with the best care. A lint remover can sometimes do wonders! Small holes or stains can be easily camouflaged with iron-on patches, for the bigger stuff you can go to professional sewers, or to a sewing or repair shop. Comfortable clothing with an unwashed stain or unrepairable hole, can often serve as pajamas in addition to play clothes! If there is nothing left to do with your garment as a whole, fortunately you can still upcycle or recycle it, into a cheerful garland, for example.