PACT Organic Underwear

PACT is your everyday underwear. It's made with the highest quality soft, organic Turkish cotton, with 5% elastane for a perfect stretch. PACT may be stylish and sexy, but it's designed to be comfortable for everyday living and is the best choice for the sustainably-minded consumer.

According to Yvon Chouinard, "There's no such thing as sustainability. It's just kind of a path you get on and try - each day try to make it better." At PACT, we're committed to operating in as sustainable a manner as possible while still running a viable business. On our journey putting this company together, we've made numerous, carefully considered decisions about how we can best accomplish this goal. Each of these decisions was made for a reason, and with that in mind, we'd like to share with you exactly what ingredients go into making your PACT underwear. We know we aren't perfect, but sustainability is a journey, not a destination. We're in this for the long haul, and we know we are going to continuously adapt to reduce the impact of the underwear we sell and be a vehicle for social and environmental change. <<

This is truly a regional manufacturing model that vastly reduces the carbon footprint of our supply chain. In fact, by manufacturing with a regional supply chain in Turkey and shipping the product in bulk to the US, our overall environmental impact is smaller than if we tried to manufacture the same product with a geographically fractured supply chain in the US. <<

The cotton that eventually turns into PACT underwear is grown at Egedeniz's own organic cotton project, the Kadioglu Organic Cotton Project, located in the Izmir region of Turkey. You can rest assured that the cotton is certified organic and non-GMO: all processes from the fields through ginning, spinning, knitting or weaving, washing, dyeing and manufacturing are certified by the Dutch controlling and certifying organization Skal, a part of the Control Union World Group. Furthermore, Egedeniz is the first factory in Turkey to receive GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification and, unlike many factories around the world, every one of Egedeniz's processes are GOTS certified. Additionally, all of Egedeniz's processes are certified by the National Organic Program (NOP) of the USDA.

What about Fair Trade? Turkey is not considered a "developing" country by the Fairtrade Labeling Organization FLO-CERT, so goods from Turkey cannot be labeled as "fairtrade". However, this does not mean that farmers in Turkey are free from exploitation. In order to ensure the best quality cotton from farmers that are paid fairly, Egedeniz has partnered with its own cotton project.

Some people have already asked why PACT doesn't make underwear out of bamboo or soy. Don't we know that cotton, even organic cotton, uses a lot of water? One of the most important things that Jeff and Jason have learned in developing the PACT brand is that everything has a trade-off. If you want to change the products people buy, they still have to want to buy them. We know that organic cotton is not 100% environmentally friendly, but it is much better than conventional cotton grown with pesticides - and that is the cotton we want to replace. The overwhelming majority of underwear sold around the world is made with conventional cotton. We want our customers to stop buying conventionally grown cotton underwear and replace them with a beautiful pair of organic stretch cotton underwear from PACT. Our customers can take an easy step toward a more sustainable lifestyle without giving up what they feel comfortable wearing.

And this is one reason that change starts with your underwear.

Furthermore, while growing bamboo is generally quite environmentally friendly, the downside is that the fibers are quite tough. As a result, strong chemical solvents are required to process the material into soft fabric, raising both health and environmental concerns. And, while soy is a naturally soft material, the fabric is less durable, so your underwear would deteriorate more quickly and have to be replaced more often, which has its own negative environmental impact.

Materials are just one of the areas where we are constantly working to reduce our environmental footprint. Stay tuned. <<

There is no PVC or other harsh polymer used in any of our garments. The care and contents label on the inside of the garment and the PACT logo on the outside are printed with a water-based ink and a heat transfer process.

Inks and dyes are one area of environmental sustainability that PACT will be innovating as we move forward as a company. We are following this industry closely and are always keen to hear about innovations so please feel free to get in touch with us at change@wearPACT.com <<

After Egedeniz manufactures the finished underwear, they are shipped to PACT's fulfillment center in Illinois. While some shipments need to be shipped via air in order to make tight deadlines, the majority of PACT's shipments are sent by sea - the least carbon intensive form of shipping. We are always looking for innovative ways to reduce the environmental cost of shipping our goods.

Finally, after arriving at the fulfillment center in the US, PACT underwear are shipped around the country to our loyal customers. We designed the packaging bag for use in the United States Postal Service - not FedEx, UPS, or DHL, whose carbon footprints are much larger than USPS. The USPS represents the shipping network with the lowest carbon footprint, so we encourage our customers to use USPS shipping when ordering PACT. <<