Microfibres Update From Product Director Debbie Luffman

Product Director Debbie gives us a rundown on how we’re getting involved in the conversation surrounding microfibres. 

A strong sustainability ethos and a love of the ocean has motivated Finisterre to be interested in the topic of microfibres for some time and it was through meeting Sophie Mather, materials futurist at Biov8tion that we began to understand that there is little true understanding of the problem, let alone the solution. 

What interests us is that she wants to study the causes and effects to inform design and fabric selection and work towards re-engineering fabrics at the polymer stage to make better fabrics. It’s why we’ve decided to sponsor Sophie’s 'Don’t Feed The Fish' campaign, a project you can learn more about in our Q&A with her on the Broadcast.

We are not jumping to conclusions as to which fibres are ‘better’ or ‘worse’; but we will be paying close attention to the study’s findings along the way, in order to get a deeper understanding of the problem, to inform our textile decisions, evolve our product and lessen our impact.

"We are aware that there are customer recommendations being promoted by other brands and retailers, but we do not feel that these suggestions are necessarily the right answers given the research we have been studying.  Due to this we are working with the industry to ensure our customer suggestions are substantiated by true research and scientific testing.  Whilst this is being carried out we reach out to our customer to be part of this change, by being mindful of the products they are buying, how much they wash them, and asking the brands they buy from what they are doing to support this issue.  The more the consumer can request change, the faster we will collectively come to a solution.” - Sophie Mather

It is thanks to Sophie that we are Consortium Leaders for the European Outdoor Group, an organisation who will hold a meeting in June to review the data gathered to date. From there we can collectively formulate a clear and consistent response to the consumer as to what they can do.

It’s a complex topic, and one we wish to get right before confusing customers. Stay tuned for more updates from the workshop on how we are getting involved in the conversation.