Bleubird has Landed at Portwest

Bleubird, the Eco-Conscious Northern Irish brand, has just arrived in-store and online! 

We are delighted to unveil our new brand partnership with Bleubird and we are excited for you to discover their range of eco-conscious clothing and accessories. 

As the world continues to deal with a global pandemic and the planet continues to fight climate change, we have started to make some changes to the way we do business; to ensure we operate in the most environmentally friendly, sustainable, and ethical way possible.

Here at Portwest Ireland, we have four retail outlets along the Wild Atlantic Way and sell our outdoor wear online through this website. We pride ourselves on producing exceptional outdoor clothing for over 100 years and although our name is renowned globally for our workwear and PPE; here in the retail side of our business we are still striving to become Ireland's favourite Outdoor Store.

Our mission is to inspire outdoor adventure and outdoor activities through accessible and affordable gear and outdoor clothing while maintaining a continuous focus on our customer's and employees’ experience. Our aim is to achieve this while minimising our environmental impact.

One way we have started to make a change over the past twelve months; is by working more closely with suppliers who create sustainable clothing ranges. As part of our expansion to our Eco-Conscious Range we have sourced a new collection of clothing and accessories from the Northern Irish based brand, Bleubird; which was born from a passion of the mountains and the ocean.

Bleubird was founded by Matt Creighton, who is originally from Belfast but spent 6 years in the French Alps, working throughout the winter as a ski technician and spending summers by the running tides of western Europe, searching for waves. He began printing t-shirts in a self-taught printing process with old picture frames in his bedroom at the ski resort and in 2016 he moved home to pursue his dream of building and expanding the Bleubird brand.

Founder and Creative Director of Bleubird

Founder, Matt and his self-taught production process from his bedroom, La Rosière, France, 2016

Headquartered in Newtownabbey in Co. Antrim, Bleubird now has an extensive supply chain, a large warehouse and distribution team and is shipping their extensive collection of clothing, accessories, changing robes and outdoor equipment around the world while their business ethos remains focused on eco-friendly and sustainable practices.

The latest Venture Collection, which is now available in Portwest, is inspired by the colours and landscapes of nature. The designs were born from nostalgia of adventures, and it is their most eco-friendly collection of products yet. The range is made from Organic Cotton, printed with 100% water based, eco-friendly inks, packaged in biodegradable bag and labelled with recycled and recyclable tags. Not only is this range Peta Vegan, Fair Wear and OEKO-TEX approved they also plant one tree for every item purchased.

Whether you are a surfer, hiker, or a kayaker, you will have seen the impact of climate change and you will know that there is a lot of work to be done to battle to restore our Earth. With a shift in awareness and an increase in acknowledgment for the need for change, our team here at Portwest are making all the changes we can in the way we do business as part of our effort to make a difference.  

Along with our eco-conscious collection of products from suppliers with green credentials, we also took the first steps in our strategy to make our own products more sustainable. Some adaptions were made at the manufacturing stage in the production as we stopped using plastic kimble tags on all the Portwest branded clothing ranges and we replaced them with a cord made from hemp, which is a natural fiber

We also started making all our product tags from recycled card, which means, we in turn, are also recyclable. We began sourcing cardboard cartons which are made from an even higher levels of recycled cardboard than we previously used, and we also testing out biodegradable bags made from corn starch and other plant-based materials to replace our plastic polybags. 

Although we are proud of these initial changes, we know that there is so much more we can do as a business. Some other plans that are in the pipeline including continuing to reduce excess packing and in turn prevent excess waste. We plan to increase the amount of recycled fabric in our product range and hope to test some eco-friendly carton sealing tapes. 

Some of the Portwest outdoor shops Autumn/Winter 2021 fleeces be labelled with the average number of PET recycled bottles from which they are made from, and we also plan to use more eco-friendly production processes and in turn discontinuing the use of some rainwear fabric and waterproof clothing. The use more eco dyes in the production process of new collections we design and manufacture is also in the pipeline.

To shop the range of eco-friendly clothing and accessories from Bleubird Apparel, call into one of the Portwest clothing stores or visit the website TheOutdoorShop.ie. The ranges are perfect for summer and their unisex designs are bang on trend.

 

Eco-consciousSustainability

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