‘Tis the season for sweatpants and hoodies! The first brand I thought of when I was thinking about getting some comfy sweat sets was Pangaia. I know them for their sustainability mission , their no-frills and minimalistic style and delectable colour palettes, so I decided to give them a go and try on their clothes. Here is my honest review of my Pangaia order!
A bit about Pangaia
PANGAIA is a self-described “materials science company on a mission to save our environment”. They are a global collective of scientists, technologists, designers — creating essential products from innovative tech and bio-engineered materials.
What that translates to at the moment are lots of comfortable garments such as sweatpants, sweat shirts, t-shirts made from recycled or environmentally-friendly materials, made using sustainable processes. From what I remembered, Pangaia started with t-shirts but what got them really popular are these sweatsets that I will review in this post. To see me try them on, check out my video review above!
One of the most impressive feats by Pangaia (to me) is their launch of a material called FLWRDWN™, which is dried flowers used as a biodegradable and cruelty-free alternative to feather down for puffer jackets. I am definitely saving up to get that jacket for cooler days!
I got…
- Cropped sweatshirt in S
- Sweat shorts in S
Material
Shorts:
71% organic cotton 29% recycled cotton
Sweater:
100% organic cotton
They both feel really great and so comfortable and the sweatshirt is softer than the shorts. The reason why using organic or recycled cotton is important is because although cotton is natural, it takes a lot of water resources to grow cotton. For reference, it takes 2700L of water to grow the cotton needed for one t-shirt. Also cotton accounts for 25% of global insecticide use.
Organic cotton means pesticides are not used to aid its growth, and recycled cotton means cotton that is recycled from post-consumer waste – which is much better for the environment. I think the materials are both so nice and soft. It’s a 5/5 for me.
Fit
I usually get S for tops and bottoms. I did get the S for both and they fit me well! They definitely have a more oversized fit, as expected for loungewear. I feel super comfortable in them.
One thing to note – Pangaia has a unisex sizing system, which means the garments are designed for both men and women. While gender-free clothes seems like a very revolutionary and progressive concept – it really only works for loose clothing, and only to a certain extent.
The sweatshirt fits absolutely great, but I have to mention something about the shorts.I could feel that the fit is a little different from shorts I have worn – and I realize, it is likely because of unisex sizing. Women usually have more of a booty than men at the back, while men have more bulk at the front. So with these shorts, I feel like I could do with just a little more fabric at the back and a little less fabric in the front. Coz I got booty and no junk!
But listen, I have seen a few other Pangaia reviews out there and no one has really mentioned this problem – so maybe I’m just being picky. Having been a designer and all.
Also, creating these clothes in a unisex way means less styles produced, hence less waste. So if that means I will have a little more room in my crotch area and a little less room for my butt, it’s fine, I’ll deal with it. I’ll take one for the planet.
Washing
The instructions of this garment is to wash at 30°C and no tumble dry. So I washed my two items at 30°C, air-dried them, and I can report that they are looking really well after their wash. No pilling. I heard from another reviewer that cotton bits were coming off their Pangaia hoodie after washing. This hasn’t happened to me!
Sustainability & Ethics at Pangaia
Sustainability is at the forefront of Pangaia clothing’s manufacturing – and that is mostly evident in its material choice. They use very innovative materials such as seaweed fibre for self-cleaning t-shirts, botanical and environmentally friendly dyes, recycled cotton and plastic, dried flowers as a cruelty-free alternative to goose down for puffer jackets, and more. If you’re interested, I highly recommend you checking out Pangaia’s website under “technologies”.
I also think the unisex sizing thing is good for the environment because that means less sizes produced per style and less chance of leftover inventory. This is especially good for the planet given fashion huge leftover inventory problem – in 2018 reports broke out about H&M’s $4.3b worth of unsold clothes, and about Burberry burning $37m worth of inventory. Personally having worked in fashion, I could attest to the fact that these reports reflect a common problem in the industry – almost every big fashion brand you can name has an inventory problem. So it is great that Pangaia runs on a model that is cautious about reducing the potential of leftover inventory.
As for the ethics of the company. It is stated on their website that most of their products are made in Europe – Italy and Portugal predominantly. They chose Portugal for the quality of their factories, labor law compliance, and range of factories with the latest eco certifications. I wish Pangaia could provide just a little more information as to whether their workers are being paid fair wages, as this is not super clearly on their website.
What I will be also be interested to know is whether Panagia shares their material technologies with other companies or allow other fashion companies to buy their materials for their use, because if they have invented a material such as flower down – which is super cool – it would be great to see companies such as Uniqlo or Canada Goose use them right? Canada Flower anyone? (Lame joke, sorry.)
Anyway this is my brief review of my cropped sweater and track shorts from Pangaia, and of pangaia as a company. If you’re looking for sustainable sweatpants and hoodie options, this is definitely a top pick. Go check them out and learn more about them.