ʻĀina Aloha Lifestyles

When you choose Onepaʻa Hawaiʻi you choose our environment, you choose something bigger than yourself.  We do not pride ourselves on this; we see it as incredibly important to our life, work, culture, and the industry as a whole.

There are a lot of reasons why a product or material could be considered "responsible". Currently, at Onepaʻa Hawaiʻi every product in our shop has at least one to many aspects of responsible earth-minded production built into it.

The U.S. throws away up to 11.3 million tons of textile waste each year - around 2,150 pieces of clothing every second.

Sources: Bloomberg, Environmental Protection Agency

Responsible production is important us. We’re getting greener every step of the way, while still providing you with quality products.

Around 85% of all textiles produced by the fashion industry end up in landfills, making it a major contributor to environmental damage. What’s more, one in every five items produced by the fashion industry reaches landfills without being worn even once. 

We are currently working with on-demand suppliers as we kickstart this journey which means, most of the items we get an order for are not made until they are ordered, avoiding textile waste from overproduction. In addition, our printing partner’s high-quality printing tech creates almost no wastewaters and uses less energy than standard industry printers.

Printing

Many of our products are printed with the direct-to-garment (DTG) technique, which is a printing method where ink is first sprayed directly onto the garment, and then it soaks into the fabric. It’s like printing on paper, but on clothing. We use Kornit printers that generate almost zero wastewater and use less energy than standard industry printers, which lowers our carbon footprint. 

It is not a perfect model but it is a step in the right direction.

The inks we use for printing are Oeko-Tex™ certified, vegan, water-based, and free of harmful chemicals. Onepaʻa Hawaiʻi takes the environment seriously, that’s why we make sure to use manufacturers who properly take care and dispose of any left-over inks according to the ink supplier guidelines.

Plastic Free Tees

One of the more exciting areas is our line of Plastic-Free tees for the whole ʻohana. Why? 

Polyester has overtaken cotton in the 21st century.

"Almost every piece of clothing we buy is made with some polyester, the data shows. Although the dataset is made up of mostly fast fashion retailers, it’s not just fast fashion that loves polyester. Lululemon joggers? Polyester, nylon and elastane. Gucci skirt? Polyester." - Bloomberg Article February 23, 2022

Polyester + nylon come from petrochemical products created by the same oil and gas companies driving greenhouse gas emissions today and projections are expected to skyrocket.

"The global market for polyester yarn is expected to grow from $106 billion in 2022 to $174.7 billion by 2032. Yearly polyester fiber production is projected to exceed 92 million tons in the next 10 years–an increase of 47%."

Clothes made from polyester and nylon have been around for a while now. These textiles have allowed humans to create much of the swimwear, fitness, and foul weather gear we see in the markets today but due to its low cost and capabilities they also now make up most of our everyday clothing. Go ahead... start checking those little white info tags on your clothes. You may be surprised at what you find.

Packaging

>>INSERT ICON IMAGE<<

Because our products are made-to-order this also means there is no special “boutique” packaging. Though we agree this can be a special touch it also contributes to waste, unnecessary carbon production and landfill. We are however working to find an even better solution using a 100% recycled and 70% PCW (postconsumer waste) plastic free mailer for smaller packages, eliminating plastic all together. In Hawaiʻi, not a single plastic bag can be recycled, which means they either end up in a landfill, the ocean or in the soil. It is paramount to us that we find the best solution to this crisis. For any plastic bags we do receive from our manufacturer it is shipped to Washington State where the recycling facilities are up to date and can give these resources a second life.

Statement About Production Times

95% of our products are made to order (MTO), which means we start making it once you place the order. It does take a little bit of time for it to be created and sent out, but this allows us to avoid overproduction, wasted materials and vital resources. You may wait an extra day or two but you will be a part of this movement when you choose Onepaʻa Hawaiʻi.

The production team will send out your products as soon as they are created. It takes about 3–7 business days to create your products. Average shipping time is 4-8 business days depending on the order's destination. For more questions feel free to reach out to us at onepaahi@gmail.com.