We are excited to announce that our Essentials Collection is made from one of our favourite 100% natural fabrics - ZQ Merino Wool Jersey.
To celebrate our love of ZQ Merino Wool Jersey we decided to have some of our Simple Chic Team (Founder and Collaborators Dennis and Alice) showcase their favourite pieces. Left to Right: Dennis, Mira (Founder) & Alicia.
We are all wearing locally custom made clothing pieces made by Gloria Amparo in Sydney (the talented Gloria Amparo is part of our Simple Chic community of Artisan Makers).
Fabric is 100% ZQ Fine Merino Wool Jersey, weight 200 gsm, microns 18.9. Mira in the black, Alicia in marigold and Dennis in evergreen.
ZQ sheep graze on pastures in ‘free range’, extensive farming conditions in the high country hills of New Zealand, the outback of Australia, the green plains of South Africa or the mountainous terrain of South America.
By choosing ZQ products, you can be confident that the sheep producing the wool are humanely treated, well fed, live natural and healthy lives, and not subjected to mulesing and no live international transparent of sheep.
This means you’re also getting fibre of the very highest quality and performance.
The ZQ programme ensures healthy animals by adhering to five basic freedoms.
1. Free from Thirst
2. Free to Live Naturally
3. Free from Discomfort
4. Free from Distress
5. Free from Disease.
Growers supplying ZQ wool are required to provide and care for their livestock in accordance with these freedoms.
Healthy animals rely on a healthy environment, as do our future generations.
All ZQ growers create a Land Environmental Plan to manage the impacts relative to their individual property, as everyone’s farm is different.
Many growers have their own environmental projects and are passionate about the natural landscape that they call home.
For some that might mean planting native trees, protecting a native eel species or ensuring the lake and waterways are clean enough to drink from.
The ZQ Merino fabric is also OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified. The OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 is a worldwide consistent, independent testing and certification system for raw, semi-finished, and finished textile products.
OEKO-TEX tests for harmful substances from a consumer's point of view, based on the respective purpose of the material or textile.
OEKO-TEX testing ensures that these fabrics are free of harmful substances such as Azo colourants, formaldehyde, pentachlorophenol (to name a few), as well as a number of harmful chemicals that have not yet been legally regulated.