For us at ByBarb, it is a matter of course to take responsibility for the environment and to work as sustainably as we can. Our ambition is to modernize the industry by making products that are gentle and caring for the hair, while at the same time being less harmful to the environment. Which often goes hand in hand. Today, many products in this category are made from materials containing fossil plastics, metals, and chemicals that are neither good for the hair nor for the environment, and many products break after just a few uses. The majority of our products are made from recycled or other sustainably sourced natural materials. Read more about our sustainability work below.

Production

We have an ongoing dialogue with our suppliers regarding the environmental impact of the production of our products. We are constantly working to improve our practices to ensure we do not harm the environment more than necessary and do our best to be as transparent as we can.

Currently, about 80% of our products are manufactured in China. When choosing factories, we consider a number of different factors such as working conditions for employees, materials and raw resources, the environmental impact of production, and of course, the price and quality of the products. The factories we work with in China meet our quality requirements, and we collaborate with a purchasing office in China for factory visits and quality controls. Our silk products naturally come from China. Since 7000 BC, silk has been produced there, and the knowledge has gradually spread to India and Japan, primarily through Chinese emigrants. The center for Chinese silk production is the area around Shanghai, Suzhou, and Wuxi, and we collaborate with a manufacturer in Suzhou, one of the country's foremost. Our hair clips come from a factory specializing in handmade hair accessories made from cellulose acetate, which makes the product quality superior and more durable. We are aware of the carbon footprint generated by transportation and are exploring moving parts of production to Europe for products where it is possible.

In Europe, we work with a manufacturer of hard products (headbands) in France, which also uses cellulose acetate in the production of its products. Our soft products (hair ties, headbands) are manufactured in Italy, in a factory that gets half of its energy from solar panels and sources all raw materials within a 10-kilometer radius.

On various occasions, we also work with our own production in Sweden, where we design and produce hair ties and headbands from dead-stock fabrics (leftover fabrics) from Swedish fashion department stores.

Material

The material plays a decisive role in a product's sustainability performance. Therefore, we always strive to find environmentally friendly materials and production methods. Organic cotton, plant-based sustainable materials such as eco-certified silk, recycled polyester, recycled polyamide, and deadstock fabrics are some of the materials we use in the manufacturing of our soft products. We use bio-based plastic (cellulose acetate) in the manufacturing of the majority of our hard products.

Circular collection

As part of our endeavor to offer products that are less harmful to the environment, we are constantly on the lookout for innovative and eco-smart materials. Together with SmartTextiles, a sustainable fashion initiative at the Fashion Center at the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås, we have developed elastic hair ties made from recycled polyamide from end-of-life tires.

The reason we chose polyamide from tires is that the recycling chain is not as well-developed as for PET, for example. Therefore, it has been particularly exciting to show that it is possible to create beautiful products and establish a circular economy around end-of-life tires. There are also large amounts of energy to save compared to using virgin polyamide. Recycled polyamide is processed from pellets into textile yarn. The yarn in our Circular Collection hair ties is called Blufibre® and the raw material originally comes from the chemical recycling of post-consumer tires. The yarn is OEKO-TEX® certified.

Innovation

We actively engage in product development and innovation with the aim of contributing to more sustainable production and consumption in our industry. As an example, ByBarb is part of the Smart Textiles innovation initiative. Since 2006, over 500 research and business projects have been developed within the framework of Smart Textiles, and in collaboration with their expertise, we work to develop environmentally sustainable hair ties.

Consumption

High product quality and a good price-quality relationship are our highest priority. Environmentally sustainable hair accessories still make up a very small portion of all products manufactured each year. They are bought, used only a few times, often lost or broken. Poorly made, cheap, and non-biodegradable hair accessories contribute to creating large waste mountains around the world. There is simply a lot of "use and throw away" when it comes to these products. It is primarily the short lifespan of the products that contributes to the industry's negative impact on the environment. Precisely for this reason, the quality of our products is crucial in our sustainability work, because the longer they last, the better it is for the environment. We do our best by letting our business be guided by the following principles:

Everyday essentials

"Everyday essentials" is our definition of products that are not fast-fashion, but rather timeless in their design, gentle enough for everyday use, and of such good quality that they last as long as possible. This is what characterizes ByBarb's products.

End-of-life

To close the consumption cycle, we encourage our customers to recycle products and thereby inspire slow and circular consumption. We are currently developing a recycling program for the portion of our products.

Extend the lifespan

The longer a product lasts, the better. Both for your wallet and the planet. We encourage and inform our customers on how best to care for their products to extend their lifespan and keep them fresh.

Address overproduction

We have a process for handling products that do not sell or have been phased out of the assortment. Here, we collaborate with companies that purchase surplus stock and also donate to Myrorna.

Your responsibility

We encourage you to take care of your products to extend their lifespan. A fabric bag is included with your purchase, which you can conveniently use to store your products.

When using your hair accessories, remember to avoid direct contact with hairspray, hair mousse, or chemicals, as they can damage any plating. Surface treatments such as gilding, rhodium plating, oxidation, and matting wear off over time. If you need to clean your hair accessories, use lukewarm water and mild dish soap. Our hair ties can be hand-washed or machine-washed on a delicate cycle. Our silk pillowcases should also be washed at 30 degrees on a delicate cycle.

Help us improve and develop smarter products by contacting us. By telling us what you are looking for, we get the opportunity to learn more about you and your wishes. Together, we can develop ByBarb into an inspiring, smart, and sustainable hair accessory company.