The last few weeks have served up another deeply unpleasant reminder about how much so many of us depend on oil. And whilst we’re buying electric cars and ground source heat pumps, or reducing and recycling plastic packaging, or trying to reduce food miles, and generally trying to get rid of the oil derived stuff from our lives in all sorts of different ways, over the past few years the amount of oil we use to make our clothing has actually gone up (a staggering 1.3 billion barrels in 2025). A lot of that oil that's currently not getting through the Strait of Hormuz is destined to end up in our wardrobes.
Over 70% of the material in our clothing is oil-based plastic; polyester, nylon, acrylic, polyurethane, elastane; and almost every garment on the planet is sewn with plastic thread even if it’s labelled ‘100%’ something natural. Synthetic clothes, especially knitted materials like jumpers and fleeces, shed microfibres when we wear them and when they’re washed. We now know that these micro plastic fibres travel through the water, air and soil, and pass into and through our food chain ending up in our bodies. Tuesday was World Health Day and the science around the harm to our health caused by ingesting crazy quantities of micro and nano plastic particles is getting harder to ignore.
A few years ago we developed our plastic free sports collection - pretty much all sportswear is 100% plastic so it felt like the best place to start – and because of the hugely positive reaction we got, we’ve extended the 100% plastic free philosophy to other products with our plastic free range now including all of our sweatshirts, t-shirts, vests, swimming trunks and our new pyjamas. Every fibre, every thread, every bit of elastic used to make these garments is 100% organic biomaterial that can be broken down naturally by the planet. It is possible to make good clothes without plastics (it's just more difficult and more expensive), and we’re proud to be leading this movement.
We’re working on a new version of our website where every product page will show clearly if the item you’re looking at is plastic free, just to make finding them a little easier and we hope to launch this very soon. And we’re continuing to work to remove plastic from other areas where it can be done without any major compromise to product longevity and wearability.
But until that launches you can find a plastic free edit on our website, and below you’ll find a little selection of some of our favourite pieces from the growing collection.
The last few weeks have served up another deeply unpleasant reminder about how much so many of us depend on oil. And whilst we’re buying electric cars and ground source heat pumps, or reducing and recycling plastic packaging, or trying to reduce food miles, and generally trying to get rid of the oil derived stuff from our lives in all sorts of different ways, over the past few years the amount of oil we use to make our clothing has actually gone up (a staggering 1.3 billion barrels in 2025). A lot of that oil that's currently not getting through the Strait of Hormuz is destined to end up in our wardrobes.
Over 70% of the material in our clothing is oil-based plastic; polyester, nylon, acrylic, polyurethane, elastane; and almost every garment on the planet is sewn with plastic thread even if it’s labelled ‘100%’ something natural. Synthetic clothes, especially knitted materials like jumpers and fleeces, shed microfibres when we wear them and when they’re washed. We now know that these micro plastic fibres travel through the water, air and soil, and pass into and through our food chain ending up in our bodies. Tuesday was World Health Day and the science around the harm to our health caused by ingesting crazy quantities of micro and nano plastic particles is getting harder to ignore.
A few years ago we developed our plastic free sports collection - pretty much all sportswear is 100% plastic so it felt like the best place to start – and because of the hugely positive reaction we got, we’ve extended the 100% plastic free philosophy to other products with our plastic free range now including all of our sweatshirts, t-shirts, vests, swimming trunks and our new pyjamas. Every fibre, every thread, every bit of elastic used to make these garments is 100% organic biomaterial that can be broken down naturally by the planet. It is possible to make good clothes without plastics (it's just more difficult and more expensive), and we’re proud to be leading this movement.
We’re working on a new version of our website where every product page will show clearly if the item you’re looking at is plastic free, just to make finding them a little easier and we hope to launch this very soon. And we’re continuing to work to remove plastic from other areas where it can be done without any major compromise to product longevity and wearability.
But until that launches you can find a plastic free edit on our website, and below you’ll find a little selection of some of our favourite pieces from the growing collection.
“If you’ve met me anywhere in the last year or two, you’ve probably seen me wearing these. It’s probably my favourite of all the trousers we make at Community Clothing.” Meet Patrick's favourite trousers. The Field Trouser.
One Track Club is a global, science-driven running community and coaching platform designed for "everyday athletes" seeking structured training who we've been chatting to recently about our nature positive running gear.They've very kindly offered CC customers a month's free trial (open to everyone), on top of which you have the chance to win a coaching package worth £450.
We asked award-winning photographer, writer and skater Stuart Clapp (whose photos now appear in the pages of skateboard magazines - something that would have blown the mind of his younger self), along with his pals in the South Essex skateboarding community, to field-test the Community Clothing trousers.
