About Hazel
Hazel was born with the idea of creating a meaningful sustainable brand to dress babies with the safest products. They combine premium materials that are the softest and healthiest for your baby's delicate skin, so that our beloved little ones will feel comfy and joyful! And they strive to be more conscious about the well being of our world, from people to nature - for now and for the future generations.
Hazel uses only TENCEL™ lyocell - a sustainable, breathable, antibacterial, hypoallergenic, moisture-wicking fabric that's sooo gentle on the skin. Their garments are dyed using biodegradable, non-toxic and hypoallergenic plant-based dyes.
At Hazel they support their community by producing locally in Bali. They are slow fashion. And hope to be loved for many years and handed down to many little ones. They use eco-friendly packaging. They have a zero waste program and give back to moms and kids in need.
TENCEL lyocell
What are TENCEL™ Lyocell benefits? First of all, it is a silky soft high quality fabric - perfect for babies' delicate skin and for underwear. It is breathable, super lightweight, helps to regulate temperature and wrinkle-resistant. Comparing it to cotton, it is ten times more resistant to bacterial growth and 50% more absorbent, helping wick moisture from the skin. Lyocell material offers great strength and elasticity, which transforms it into a durable fabric.
TENCEL™ fibers come from mainly beech, birch, eucalyptus & spruce trees, harvested from sustainably managed PEFC or FSC-certified forests. The wood pulp is dissolved to form the fiber that is then spun into yarn and woven into cloth - so how is it more eco-friendly that other fibers?
Not only because it is made from sustainably sourced wood but also because traditionally, viscose process' uses harmful sodium hydroxide, whereas Tencel replaces it with a close loop NMMO process. This non-toxic solution is 99% recoverable (renewable) and recycled time after time to produce new fibers and minimize waste. It requires less water than cotton, less energy in the production compared to most other fabrics, and it's compostable.
Tencel received the same ranking to GOTS Cotton on the Environmental Benchmark for Fibers by Made-By, a Dutch organization. It got the European Award for the Environment from the European Commission in the category “The Technology Award for Sustainable Development” and it is certified USDA biobased.
Plant-Based Dye
Natural dyes are biodegradable, non-toxic and hypoallergenic. Additionally, they don't contain harmful chemicals nor carcinogenic components, common in artificial or synthetic dyes. Imagine how good this is for your little ones' skin! When we choose plant dyes over synthetics, we help to preserve the environment and lower human dependence on harmful products. Many times, residuals from the textile dyeing process end up in our oceans (and harm the factory workers who do the dying) The process of color treating fabric contributes to as much as 20% of the world’s water pollution!
Natural dyes produce no waste. Leaves and bark are easy to extract without killing the trees, the leaf waste is processed into compost to fertilize the soil (closed loop process) and leftover water is filtered by enceng gondok plants before flowing into the river. All of these raw materials are grown at the factory's own plantation on the island, in the village of Tampak Siring.
Another interesting advantage of plant dyes is that they provide higher UV absorption - by wearing clothes dyed naturally, you'll protect your skin more from the sun’s harmful rays.
More Positive Impact
At Hazel, they feel very proud of working mostly and mainly with small companies based within the same island, run by local families and handmade - 2 businesses are women owned and run like Hazel! This allows them to support local communities and create a strong relationship with their owners and employees. They work with companies that promote gender equality, ethnic and religious diversity, that respect reasonable working hours, and pay a living wage. They regularly visit the different production sites to be involved in their processes, assuring that they work in safe conditions and are complying with their high Code of Conduct.
The office, sewing factory, most of the packaging suppliers, fabric distributor and the dyeing studio are all located within a 15 km radius of Bali, which allows them to reduce theirr carbon footprint even further. Even the fabric they use is produced in Indonesia. They only import NoIssue compostable mailers.
All of their products and packaging have been mindfully considered. They are either natural, recyclable, from a recycled element, compostable and/or all of the above. From the detergents to the mailers - they are 100% plastic free. And to minimize waste, they don't put any unnecessary tags on the clothing and run very small batches.
Last but not least, they are proud of working with a company that collects leftover fabric threads and turn them into yarn to be hand-woven into carpets or table runners, giving what would be waste material a second life. And they give women from the nearby village the opportunity to be in a safe and formal employment while at the same time preserving Bali’s beautiful dyeing and weaving traditions - combining social responsibility with environmental sustainability.
Since September, they've been working with tailors, that due to COVID have lost most or all of their clients here in Bali, to transform some of their fabric scrap waste into scrunchies, bandana bibs and pacifier clips - and selling them locally (soon on the website).
The procedures from these items are donated to Bali Street Mums Project, giving back to this beautiful island that they are happy to call home. The amazing people behind this organization help mothers and their children who have been on the streets and give them refuge at their safe house, they teach the moms skills so that they can earn a living and educate their kids - "By saving families once, they’re empowered to sustain themselves for generations".