Our Impact

At Fermoie, we design and make unique and beautiful products, whose materials, production processes and innate longevity help ensure we tread lightly on the Earth and its resources.

Our sustainability manifesto

Sustainability is the thread that runs right through our business, embodied in our commitments to keep our House in Order, source Ever-Better Materials and work towards Net Zero Carbon emissions.

Read our first Impact Report (2024-2025)

“For us as artists, beauty and purpose should go naturally together. To design and create products that have enduring beauty, the irreplaceable human dimension of the hand-drawn line, and real artistic and material integrity, is therefore instinctive and non-negotiable. Environmental considerations is a natural consequence of that approach, and thus inherent to our business and everything we design and make.

It is easy, as many do, to take a purely utilitarian attitude to sustainability. As artists, we see the world differently. There is real creativity in exploring new materials and methods – and constantly refining existing ones. And there is joy, too, in creating things that are ‘right’ not only in how they’re designed and made, but also in their wider purpose and legacy.”

Tom Helme, Co-founder

“Sustainability is the thread that’s run through Fermoie since its foundation in 2010. We represent the opposite of, and antidote to ‘throwaway culture’, making products with lasting beauty that people will want to own and enjoy for many years, then pass on to the next generation. Our sustainability strategy comprises three pillars. The first two – getting our own House in Order and sourcing Ever-Better Materials – underpin the third, which is to become a Net Zero company. We’re pursuing this long-term ambition because we believe it’s the right thing to do for Fermoie and our commitment to social responsibility and ethical business. Our achievements to date validate our overall approach and confirm that, although the road is still long, we’re heading in the right direction.”

Martin Ephson, Co-founder

Weaving It All Together

Design is a big part of the story but much of the beauty in our fabrics is down to the materials from which they are made. Texture and depth bring a beautiful pattern to life so we continually experiment with natural fibres and blends to achieve textural perfection without losing sight of our sustainability goals.

We source and use only the finest linens and cottons and constantly work with our weavers to explore new possibilities – including innovative textiles like our Indoor-Outdoor fabric, woven from threads made with 100% recycled plastic bottles.

Texture and depth truly bring our patterns to life, so we continually experiment with fibres and blends to achieve the perfect visual and tactile effect, without compromising our foundational sustainability goals.

Linen

Linen is our single biggest raw material, and our linen weavers work with flax farmers located within a few hundred miles of our factory. Flax is one of the most sustainable natural fibres in the world. During growth the plant typically requires no additional irrigation, with rainwater alone sufficient. Compared with many other crops, far fewer pesticides and fertilisers are used. The fibres are separated from the stem through a natural process called dew retting. There is also very little waste, as every part of the flax plant can be used for products such as feed, soap, cosmetics, paper, paint and, of course, fabric.

Cotton

Cotton is our second most important raw material and is woven exclusively for Fermoie in the UK, using cotton grown in the USA. For our cotton base cloth we use a regenerated weft yarn, created by transforming waste fibres and post-consumer textile waste into new fibres. This process allows valuable materials to be reused while maintaining the quality and durability required for our fabrics.

Recycled Polyester

Our Indoor-Outdoor fabric is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles, skilfully woven to give the same soft handle and texture as our cotton twill base cloth. Designed for easy care and long life, it’s water-repellent, mould and mildew-resistant and UV-stable, and made without PFCs, PFAS or any other harmful ‘forever chemicals’ found coating many outdoor fabrics.

Our Printing Process

We print our fabrics with water-based pigments, free from solvents and other artificial substances. We’ve also perfected our own printing process that doesn’t require harmful chemicals. Last year we set ourselves the challenge to reduce the amount of water we use in the cleaning process after printing and now re-use wastewater wherever possible right up to the final rinses.

Our Packaging

While we make our products to last, we design our packaging with care, using materials chosen to reduce waste and support reuse and recycling wherever possible. We aim to minimise unnecessary packaging and continuously review our choices to improve their environmental impact.

We’re not a Net Zero Carbon company yet. But we’re on the path towards it, ensuring we source, produce, pack and distribute everything we make with care and sensitivity.