Colorful Standard:
Brand Guide

The Colorful Standard Story

The story behind this Danish brand begins with its founder, entrepreneur Tue Deleuran, who has had an interesting journey in the fashion industry. His first venture was in 2006, when the lifestyle brand Bjorkvin was launched. Experiencing great success, it went on to sell over 500,000 pieces in three years.

He then founded the RTG Group in Portugal in 2008, a textile brand specialising in the production of t-shirts, sweatshirts and a range of other pieces. The group produces its own clothing, but primarily makes items for other brands looking for a quality manufacturing partner who produces clothing in an ethical way. RTG Group collaborates with labels both small and large across the planet and offers items of clothing from simple basics to high-end pieces. It even offers advice and inspiration to help young brands get started in the industry.

With the manufacturing side of the RTG Group a success, Tue extended the impact of the company by creating a second branch known as Agency. It forms links between future brands and their customers, letting upcoming fashion brands benefit from the professional network and advice of the RTG group.

All of this experience resulted in the formation of Colorful Standard in 2017.The name Colorful Standard describes what the company is all about. The collection includes products in a wide range colours for all kinds of people, promoting an ethos of diversity and inclusion. Meanwhile, the brand is aiming to raise ethical and sustainability standards in the clothing industry, increasing transparency and genuinely working to protect the environment and treat people well.

Colorful Standard & Sustainability

Sustainability is one of the most important aspects of Colorful Standard’s manufacturing and production processes. The production of sustainable clothing is crucial for helping to combat the current issues regarding the environment, and specifically the impact of fast fashion. As more and more brands start to focus on producing sustainable and ethically made clothing, Colorful Standard is already a front-runner in the game. Here’s how they do it.

Sustainable Materials

A big part of being a sustainable clothing company is the materials used to manufacture garments. Colorful Standard garments are made from 100% organic cotton, which is grown without genetically modified seeds. Instead, it's fertilised with natural rainwater, which means it doesn’t use any harsh chemicals during the process, reducing the use of pesticides and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 94%. 

Organic cotton also uses 91% less water in production and emits 46% less CO2 compared to regular cotton, making this a much more environmentally-friendly way to produce garments. The brand’s organic cotton clothing is also PETA approved vegan.

Colorful Standard doesn’t stop there when it comes to the use of sustainable materials. They also use 100% recycled merino wool, which is certified by the Global Recycled Standard. The wool is created from the recycled fibres of wool sweaters, which reduces the spinning and dyeing process, saving water and energy, while also keeping more items out of landfills.

Responsible Dyes

Colorful Standard is known for its range of beautiful shades, and to achieve these, they use dyes that are OEKO- TEX certified. This means they have been rigorously tested against a list of up to 350 toxic chemicals.

This means that Colorful Standard dyes all of its clothing without using chemicals that could be harmful to either the wearer or to the environment. To achieve OEKO-TEX certification, every component of the garment including zips, buttons and elasticated parts is tested to ensure the absence of harmful chemicals.

Colorful Standard also garment dyes all of its products. This means that clothing is dyed once it has been sewn, rather than being made from fabric that has already been dyed. As well as offering quality benefits like reliable sizing and depth of colour, garment dying also reduces waste as the exact amount of dye and fabric needed can be used to make each piece.

Recycled Packaging

Colorful Standard is known for its range of beautiful shades, and to achieve these, they use dyes that are OEKO- TEX certified. This means they have been rigorously tested against a list of up to 350 toxic chemicals.

This means that Colorful Standard dyes all of its clothing without using chemicals that could be harmful to either the wearer or to the environment. To achieve OEKO-TEX certification, every component of the garment including zips, buttons and elasticated parts is tested to ensure the absence of harmful chemicals.

Colorful Standard also garment dyes all of its products. This means that clothing is dyed once it has been sewn, rather than being made from fabric that has already been dyed. As well as offering quality benefits like reliable sizing and depth of colour, garment dying also reduces waste as the exact amount of dye and fabric needed can be used to make each piece.

Avoidance Of Waste

One of the major failures of the fashion industry over the last few decades has been the increase in the amount of waste produced. To tackle this issues, one of the main goals of Colorful Standard is to keep their waste production to a minimum. This is done in numerous ways, including how they dye their garments.

With full ownership of its manufacturing, Colorful Standard is able to tightly control how each garment is made and keep wastage to an absolute minimum. The brand uses advanced, precise laser-cutting tools during production which keeps fabric waste to a bare minimum due to its impeccable accuracy. It also uses significantly less energy than traditional cutting techniques.

However, it’s virtually impossible to have zero waste fabric when making clothing and so some fabric is left over regardless. Instead of throwing these materials away and sending them to landfill, Colorful Standard uses them as couch fillings.

Colorful Standard also ships all of its products directly from its warehouse to retailers. This means there are no additional trips to warehouses along the way, and helps the brand to minimise the impact that transport and operating more storage and logistics facilities has on the environment.

Ethical Labour Practices

One of the main driving forces behind Colorful Standard is the practice of ethical labour.

Firstly, all of their products are produced and manufactured at their base in Portugal. This means that by keeping the manufacturing of their garments in Europe, they must adhere to the high standards set by the EU.

What's more, all of their suppliers are local to ensure the highest level of quality, allowing specialists to do what they do best. To get the best results, they also outsource certain processes like embroidery to skilled local subcontractors.

Another part of their ethical labour practices, and arguably the most important one, is their treatment of their workforce. From the start, it was Colorful Standard’s goal to assemble a group of talented employees, which they refer to as a family. This is why, even in their head offices, there are not a lot of employees – in fact, there's less than 30.

Having a smaller, more intimate group of people ensures a more personal approach and helps to maintain a close working environment. Colorful Standard operates under the European Labour Law, which ensures that all employees at their manufacturing centre work fair hours for fair wages, and are guaranteed things like paid time off, maternity leave and maximum working hours. Colorful Standard treats all of its workers like the valuable people they are, rather than as assets to be used.

Transparency

Transparency is a big part of the Colorful Standard ethos. The brand is honest about how, where and why its products are made, and shares this information freely.

It also extends an open invitation for customers to come by and visit its manufacturing facility in Portugal for themselves, to see the high standards that go into every Colorful Standard piece.

By remaining transparent at all times, Colorful Standard aims to raise the bar in the fashion industry. They hope other companies will follow suit, and are an industry leader in encouraging customers to make more informed choices when buying clothes.