Sustainability and Materials

Sustainability has been at the heart of Paraffle since it was created. A lot has changed and grown since then, but we are proud to continue to maintain a high ethical standard for the planet and workers around the world.

Transparency is very important to us: you deserve to know where and how your kits are made. As a small business we have found some areas where it is not possible to be perfect. We want to let you know about these too, where we are still working to make changes and do the best we can.

However, some materials are not manufactured in the UK. We research global suppliers thoroughly to make the most ethically and sustainably informed choices.

Fabric

The global textile industry has huge problems with modern slavery and waste; we want to minimise the damage we do as much as possible.

The fabric in your embroidery kits is 100% organic cotton, which is grown and weaved by a family company in India. It is dyed responsibly by the same firm, using low impact dyes and processes which recycle the water used in the process.

All tote bags are made in India from 100% organic cotton. Supply chain transparency has allowed us to verify that they are made without abusive or exploitative labour. They are GOTS certified.

Our cushions are all 100% organic cotton, made by BIDBI. They have high ethical standards and promise a fully traceable production of materials. They are Fairtrade and GOTS certified.

The Aida fabric in all cross stitch kits is made in Germany by Zweigart (the inventors of the fabric). This means you are receiving the best quality fabric available.

Thread

The thread in the kits is DMC Mouliné stranded cotton, or DMC Mouliné Light Effects Stranded thread for metallic colours. In a couple of kits you’ll find a single-stranded gold or silver thread, which is made by Au Ver à Soie.

All the thread is made in France. We’ve tried and tested alternative threads made in the UK but found these French threads to be the best options on the market, and quality is not something we’re willing to compromise on.

Packaging

All of our packaging is plastic-free and recycled or recyclable. We love the designs on our kit bags and boxes, but we know you’re buying the kit not the packaging, and so when you’re finished with the kit we wanted to make sure there aren’t thousands of Paraffle products sitting in a landfill.

• All kit bags are made from fully recycled kraft paper.
• All kit boxes are made from FSC certified cardboard.
• Our mailing bags are climate neutral, and are entirely both recycled and recyclable.
• All kits are entirely plastic free.

Waste

We have refined our kits over the years to ensure you are given everything you need to complete the design, with as few materials left over as possible.

We’ve designed compact paper instructions for each kit, and doubled up your thread organiser as a needle card. This reduces waste, and also the amount of printing that has to be done. We still give you a generous amount of thread (and if you ever run out just pop us an email!), fabric and felt to give you a little leeway for practicing any stitches which are new to you. This is how we have balanced waste minimisation with giving you the full learning experience.

We also minimise waste on our side of the business. We cannot guarantee that our suppliers use the most ecological packing options. Therefore, all packaging that is received into the Paraffle studio is reused either by us to ship larger orders & wholesale, or given to some other great businesses operating in the same building who use them to ship their products.

We use up all components from discontinued products. Any unused materials are donated to local charities, art banks or embroidery groups. This means that we aren’t filling landfill with materials still in good condition.

We are not perfect, and we still have some solutions we are working on. We know that many repeat customers are building a stack of stitch guides and instructions which is waste we don’t want. Our pattern packs have been designed for stitchers who don’t need the full instructions and stitch guide, and those who already have some crafting materials at home. This means that there is less waste and unused materials, however we are still thinking of a way to ensure you can have the complete kit experience without any materials being unused or leftover.

Always transparent

We will always be transparent. This means being open about shortcomings so you can make the best informed choices, not greenwashing or pretending we have the perfect solutions to global manufacturing limitations. We are always keeping up to date and researching new options to make our kits as environmentally friendly as possible, and we welcome constructive criticism and new ideas.