90% of NWHR’s clothes, including their sweatpants, are made by GBTX in Northern Portugal. The factory is 190km from NWHR’s offices allowing the team to visit regularly. NWHR share that it is a family run business with a good working environment. The factory is GOTS certified and audited by SMETA for labour standards.

NWHR’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier suppliers (fabric, yarn and cotton) are also GOTS certified.

NWHR is a team of 5, four women and one man. Employees have flexibility to work from home or the office as suits their routine and enjoy 30 days of vacation compared to the 22 days allowed by Spanish law. NWHR is committed to being an inclusive business and actively support the LGTBI community in their social networks. 

NWHR only works with heavy fabrics over 210gsm, using high quality organic yarns that are not dyed with harmful chemicals. This means their clothing is crafted to last.

Certified organic cotton protects the environment and also farmers who may suffer ill health when coming into contact with the intensive fertilisers and pesticides used in conventional cotton production.

NWHR only uses vegan dyes. The washing and dyeing takes place at GBTX where a solar plant in the factory heats the water and this accounts for 35% of the total energy use of the factory. The laundry also has a water treatment plant that allows almost all of the water used in the treatment of fabrics to be reused in a closed system.

NWHR cite ‘self-criticism and the desire to improve’ as fundamental values of the business. They would like to explore the use of additional lower impact fabrics such as hemp and Pyratex. In addition they would like to see the factories they work with increase the % of renewable energy they use and change all their lights to LEDs.