Druthers is a New York City based fashion house and leader in sustainability. Our raison d’etre is to create timeless designs while pushing the supply chain toward environmental sustainability. All the while, continuing to work with the best brands and factories to produce great collections and products. Our commitment to quality is key to sustainability in all respects.

Druthers was created by career fashion designers who have built and curated many globally renowned brands since the mid 90's. We are not a "start-up" from another industry. Our team is made up or fashion industry professionals doing our own thing.

Druthers works with many like minded designers and the industries best product developers to create quality garments with the cleanest aesthetic. The Druthers team is comprised of a diverse group of amazing and talented individuals that transcend the old way of hierarchy.

Druthers is committed to helping the planet outside the scope of our manufacturing and consumption practices by supporting sustainable facilities and groups who support recycling and global clean up efforts. We seek to further lower our carbon footprint by donating a portion of our proceeds to One Tree Planted.

We care deeply about the planet and creating a business that gives back to nature. That’s why we’re thrilled to share that we’re partnering with One Tree Planted/@onetreeplanted to plant a tree for every order we receive. Trees clean our air and water, create habitats for biodiversity, contribute to our health and well being, and create jobs for social impact. We’re honored to have reforestation through One Tree Planted as an integral part of our business model

Druthers Ethos

Classic silhouettes are reformed by updating fit, yarn, fabric, and manufacturing techniques to provide the world with an honest and responsible approach to clothing. We make all of our garments with sustainability in mind in Japan, U.S.A., and Portugal.

Our Process

Since our launch in 2014, Druthers has only worked with factories we know and respect, with a focus on craftsmanship and fair treatment of our factory workers. Our knits and cut-n-sew styles are made in the Tokyo and Osaka regions of Japan. Underwear is made in Portugal with select styles made in the U.S.A. Our fabrics are made in France, Japan, Portugal, and the U.S.A. Our yarns are grown or recycled in India, Japan, Spain, France, and the U.S.A. Our Wool is AWEX certified Merino wool from New Zealand.

We typically do not use dead-stock fabrics as we believe they promote the production of more non-organic virgin textiles to fulfill depleted dead-stock inventory. Our goal is to push the organic cotton supply chain and increase demand and production of the recycled textile industry. The exception is working with other brands to collaborate by using remnant fabric from their production to make boxer shorts.

We strongly feel that a main component of sustainability is the length of a product's life cycle. We are able to achieve this by mixing high quality craftsmanship with high quality and innovative yarns and fabrics. Druthers is always striving to use sustainable yarns including long staple organic cottons, recycled cotton and poly blends, recycled or animal friendly certified humane merino wool, ECOPET recycled plastics, natural dyes, FSC recycled packaging, eco friendly shipping & packaging solutions, and more. As a small business, we are able to use sustainable fabric and packaging solutions throughout all of our products. We require these solutions from our supply chain partners and they have grown with us to supply our demand from the beginning.

These photographs were taken by Druthers founder Adam Gianotti at our factories in NYC and Japan. We look forward to sharing more photographs and background on our factory partnerships each season.

Druthers uses organic cotton yarns throughout all of our product categories. Our boxers are OCS (Organic Content Standard) certified organic cotton made in Portugal. Our undershirts are GOTS® certified organic cotton made in Portugal. Our socks and knit hats are made in Japan with multiple types of organic cottons - blended organic cotton with long staple cotton from India, 100% organic cotton with natural botanical dyes from Japan, 100% organic cotton dyed with food waste products (coffee grounds, blueberries, etc.) from Food Textile project, Sally Fox natural dyed organic cotton, and more!

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed by leading standard setters to define world-wide recognized requirements for organic textiles. From the harvesting of the raw materials, environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing to labelling, textiles certified to GOTS provide a credible assurance to the consumer.

GOTS was founded by four well-reputed organizations: Organic Trade Association (OTA, USA), Internationaler Verband der Naturtextilwirtschaft (IVN, Germany), The Soil Association (UK) and Japan Organic Cotton Association (JOCA, Japan). Two of these (IVN and JOCA) are textile industry organizations, while the other two (OTA and Soil Association) are organic organizations rooted in organic agriculture and food. Together, they hold extensive experience in promoting 'organic' and all had developed individual processing standards for organic textiles. GOTS came about from the desire to harmonize these standards so that they were internationally recognized. The GOTS organization draws on the advice of, and input from, other relevant international stakeholder organizations and experts for regular standard updates.

Food Textile is a sustainable project originating from Japan that extracts ingredients from fruit and vegetable waste disposed of by food companies, uses these ingredients to make dye, and provides fabrics and products color using these dyes.

Food waste is a global problem. In Japan, roughly 28 million tons of food are thrown out yearly. Every year, the world produces roughly 1.3 billion tons of food waste. This accounts for approximately 30% of the food that is produced.These dyes contain many foods that could be eaten but are otherwise thrown away.

Breathing new life into what would otherwise go to waste, the Food Textile Project reutilizes waste food products as dye. Food Textile thread is colored with dye made from safe food products. This natural dye accounts for over 90% of the dye used. The gentle colors are proof of the minimal use of chemical dyes.

The program proposes a new way to solve the problem of food loss. All Food Textile fabrics have passed colorfastness tests - they keep their colors and can be used for years to come.

YAGI® Peace by Peace Cotton Project

PEACE BY PEACE COTTON PROJECT (PBP) was founded in 2008. The project aims to include funding and selling items made using cotton grown in India, supporting farmers in transitioning to organic farming methods through Chetna Organic, a local non-profit organization, supporting local producers, supporting children in entering school, and providing aid with scholarships.

The project has supported roughly 15,000 farming families in transitioning to organic farming methods by 2019, and this framework, which links consumer behaviors in Japan with support for overseas producers, is also highly praised by parties related to international cooperation such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Breeding and growing organic naturally colored cottons since 1982.

The first cotton to be organically bred and grown in the USA. Opening minds to the possibilities of textiles that can enliven the soil while growing and comfort our eyes and skin while wearing, no chemicals required.

AWEX Certified Merino Wool and Recycled Wools

Druthers continues to only use wool that is certified humane, no animal torture (non-mulesing), and reused or recycled wool. Our merino wool is sourced from New Zealand and Japan and is used in socks, beanies, sweaters, and base layers.

Recycled Cotton & Plastics

Druthers uses many recycled cotton yarns throughout all of our product categories as well. Our socks and knit hats use a range of recycled products including ECOPET yarn for jacquard designs, Seaqual® recycled polyester, GRS certified recycled yarns, Japanese recycled cotton from Nara Prefecture. Each thread is made from virgin cotton waste and dyed at Japanese factories.

Global Recycle Standard (GRS)

The Global Recycle Standard (GRS) was originally developed by Control Union Certifications in 2008 and ownership was passed to the Textile Exchange on 1 January 2011. The GRS is an international, voluntary, full product standard that sets requirements for third-party certification of recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices and chemical restrictions.

The GRS is intended to meet the needs of companies looking to verify the recycled content of their products (both finished and intermediate) and to verify responsible social, environmental and chemical practices in their production. The objectives of the GRS are to define requirements to ensure accurate content claims and good working conditions, and that harmful environmental and chemical impacts are minimized. This includes companies in ginning, spinning, weaving and knitting, dyeing and printing and stitching in more than 50 countries.

ECOPET® Quality From Waste

Plastic PET bottles and old clothes are transformed into new fibers.

ECOPET® is made from used plastic PET bottles, clothes, and fiber waste.
It is then transformed into the desired products using the various technologies.

Seaqual® Yarn

SEAQUAL^® YARN is a high quality 100% post-consumer recycled polyester yarn containing SEAQUAL® MARINE PLASTIC from SEAQUAL INITIATIVE.
SEAQUAL^® YARN is almost identical in physical properties to virgin polyester and is available in a variety of sizes and finishes (both in continuous filament and staple fiber).
SEAQUAL^® YARN is used in a multitude of applications including apparel and accessories, contract and automotive upholstery, home furnishings and technical textiles.
SEAQUAL^® YARN contains approximately 10% SEAQUAL® MARINE PLASTIC (from plastic marine litter), the remaining 90% is post-consumer PET from land sources.

Let's repurpose this...

Stay tuned for more updates on material and factories. We will be updating our charity section this month. Thank you for your support!