Hello everyone! The end of my little sustainable home and laundry trilogy is upon us, and this final brand to talk about is specifically for clothes and shoes. Tangent Garment Care (Tangent GC for short) are an eco-friendly, clothing friendly company who want to do everything they can to make your clothes last longer. If you’re in the zero waste, ethical clothing game this is SO helpful; we want our clothes to ultimately never go to landfill, to last as long as they possibly can. So, alongside the obvious of buying good quality ethical fashion, we also can’t forget the importance of how we look after our clothes once we get them. It’s easy to feel great after you’ve purchased something only to mistreat it, not wash it properly, and then wonder why it starts to fall apart. Let’s have a look at what Tangent GC say on their website…

‘Somewhere along the way we stopped caring ­– presumably when mass produced, cheap, and oftentimes deficient, clothing was introduced. Due to wear and tear the mere idea of garment care seemed distant. And this came to pass over the course of just one generation or two.
Nowadays though, when quality of fabric and pattern making – the passion for craftsmanship –­ is of interest once more, so is the need for proper care. In the light of this we are set to provide a superior range of garment care products, not emanating from the chemical industry or flung off conveyor belts, but products that will naturally and effectively give your garments a long life.’

Yes please! If I buy an item of clothing I have to really love it to part with my money, if I love it that much I want it to last. So a company that wants to help me make that happen, that seems like a good fit.

Products

The list is a little smaller as they’re solely focused on laundry/garment care but when it comes to that sector they’re pretty comprehensive:

Clothing: the regular products are delicate detergent, fabric softener, stain remover, denim wash and sportswear detergent. Their specials around at the moment are a gin and tonic fine wash detergent developed with Another Shirt Please and petitgrain and spearmint fine washes and fabric softeners developed with Filippa K
Shoes: shoe grease, shoe polish (in neutral, black and brown), shoe brushes, full shoe care sets and an organic sneaker cleaner developed with scandinavian footwear brand Jim Rickey

It’s immediately obvious that Tangent are particularly useful when it comes to delicate fabrics or items that have specific needs. I think it’s also worth nothing that all of their products are developed in collaboration with clothing and shoe makers, so they’ve really put the effort in to find out exactly what is needed and discover ethical ways to meet those needs. I find it really exciting that they have a specific products for washing denim and sportswear, I own a load of secondhand denim and a solid collection of trainers (I have this magical power for finding Nikes in charity shops. I don’t know who’s been throwing them away, but I know I have over five pairs of Nikes and I have NEVER bought directly from them in my life) so denim and sneaker washes are already must haves, but also lets not forget those sportswear products. I trained as a dancer, I go to dance classes a lot and I don’t like smelling. As Tangent GC says themselves, when washed with regular detergents functional wear loses its capacity, and supermarket products won’t help with lingering odour either, bad smells really stick to synthetics because of their composition. Tangent’s sportswear detergent has a more delicate approach, neutralising bad smells by keeping the fabric free to breathe. Finally, something to clean those leotards properly.

Ingredients

It’s a little harder to get a hold of Tangent GC’s ingredient list as it’s not available online, however I did talk to BLANC (of course I did because I found all of these products whilst hanging out in their stores haha) who gave me a little more information. Tangent GC’s products are made of 100 % natural substances, with no synthetic chemicals in sight. Their ingredients are eco-friendly with no petroleum bases and no synthetic perfumes, only essential oils. Beyond this they’re also ECO-cert certified. This means that all of their production processes are environmentally controlled from initial harvest to biodegrading. Their packaging is also fully recyclable (I checked the bottom of the bottles myself!). Their packaging is plastic, not ideal but it is type 2 which is one of the three plastics considered to be safe and is widely accepted by curbside recycling programmes to be recycled into pens, recycling containers, picnic tables, lumber, benches and fencing among other items apparently. I think the only thing that could make these guys a little more sustainable is it they offered more glass packaging and zero waste refill options like Common Good but hey, hopefully these will come in time as the zero waste movement continues to grow. Also, because the products that you’re probably going to go for are for very specialist purposes I doubt anyone races through these in a week. If they last a long time and make your clothing last longer, there’s definite benefits to be found.

Where to buy

Tangent GC is stocked all over the world, and they have a list of stockists here. If you live in the UK you can order from BLANC and they’ll sort you right out, not difficult at all!

So that’s that really. I don’t know a whole load about shoe care so I’m really excited to see how their products will work with sustaining my second hand trainers, as well as my denim and dance gear. Any ways to make my wardrobe eco-friendly and give it more longevity is a win for me! I’ll report back with my findings in the future!

Until then, stay magic y’all.