GREENCASH
Ever since 1988, ZO-MA s.r.l, has been dealing in the market of textile raw materials, namely staples and wastes.
With a huge experience in processing and recycling an extended range of textile raw materials, we decided to put our know-how to best use and initiated additionally, among other things, to produce yarns.
GREENCASH is born from this initiative and from our will to produce both an environmentally sustainable yarn, GRS (Global Recycle Standard) certified, as well as a luxurious yarn with superior quality features (such as very soft hand, thermoregulation, superior pilling score and better dimensional stability), unlike the majority of other ecological yarns presently available.
Furthermore, we also wanted it to be technically superior or, at least, comparable to the non-ecological alternatives available in the market.
GREENCASH has three fully recycled (more precisely, UPCYCLED) GRS certified components:
- Cashmere – entirely post-consumer recycling.
- Extra-fine Wool (19 microns) – entirely post-consumer recycling.
- Polyamide – entirely pre-consumer recycling (from textile waste).
The other component is:
- Birla Viscose™, a fiber produced by Birla Cellulose™ with wood pulp from certified sustainable tree farming, which earned the top spot on Canopy Planet’s ranking of the most sustainable global viscose producers in 2021 (https://hotbutton.canopyplanet.org and https://canopyplanet.org).
Consequently, GREENCASH is a yarn with a very reduced environmental footprint.
Besides to these environmental concerns, why did we decide to blend these specific four raw-materials?
Well, here's why:
Cashmere and Extra-fine Wool
Both the Cashmere and the Extra-fine Wool provide:
- A very soft and natural hand touch.
- Odor control.
- Thermoregulation: resulting from these fibers abilities to absorb moisture very quickly and losing it slowly, thus avoiding the body to cool down too fast as moisture evaporates.
Moreover, both the used Cashmere and Extra-fine Wool have entirely been recycled (GRS certified), which makes them environmentally responsible and sustainable.
- Birla Viscose™, a fiber produced by Birla Cellulose™ with wood pulp from certified sustainable tree farming, which earned the top spot on Canopy Planet’s ranking of the most sustainable global viscose producers in 2021 (https://hotbutton.canopyplanet.org and https://canopyplanet.org).
Birla Viscose™ has a high moisture regain. This fibre has also the ability to absorb moisture very quickly (just like Cashmere and Extra-fine Wool) and then losing it a little bit faster (unlike Cashmere and Extra-fine Wool, that lose moisture quite slowly), gently cooling down the body as the moisture slowly evaporates. Birla Viscose™ also provides a soft and natural hand touch and odor control.
Besides, Birla Viscose™ is produced in a strict environmentally friendly and fully renewable way.
Polyamide
We choose 100% post-consumer recycled Polyamide because it provides:
- Increased color fastness: unlike virgin Polyamide, post-consumer recycled Polyamide has an increased color fastness to washing and to light.
- High tenacity, durability, elasticity, and resistance, rendering the product more resistant, durable and with a higher pilling score.
- Very soft touch.
- Wicking properties (ability of quickly moving moisture away from the body and from the sweater, without absorbing it, thus contributing to the body's thermoregulation).
It’s not by chance that major sports brands all over the world use polyamide as one of their prime choices when it comes to high-performance sportswear. (E.g. the official kits of all major football clubs).
A major goal: THERMOREGULATION
When body internal temperature rises, the sweat glands release moisture, which, as it evaporates off your skin, will take this extra heat energy with it, bringing body temperature back to normal. The rate at which sweat evaporates off your skin will make you feel warmer or cooler.
These four fibers “working” together help regulate the body’s natural temperature in a more efficient way by regulating the moisture (sweat) absorption and evaporation rates: 40% of the moisture is very quickly absorbed, but evaporate quite slowly (warming sensation) given the roles of both Cashmere and Extra-fine Wool, 30% of the moisture is very fast absorbed and evaporates relatively fast (moderate cooling sensation) due to the characteristics of Birla Viscose™, and 30% of the moisture is practically not absorbed and thus evaporate very quickly (fast cooling sensation), due to the behavior of the Polyamide, resulting in a sweater that is comfortable to wear over an extended range of external temperatures.
In a 300 grams’ sweater, without sacrificing quality, we save about 22000 liters of water, heavily reduce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, textile waste and consumption of energy and scarce resources, translating into a much reduced environmental impact.
GREENCASH: ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE LUXURY