Animal

Sheep's wool provides a healthy and comfortable choice for insulation. Wool is naturally flame resistant. Additionally, wool's unique structure (a hydrophobic exterior and hydrophilic interior) allows it to absorb up to 35% of its weight in moisture from a room. When used as insulation, this gives wool the unique capacity to manage both humidity and temperature. Batt insulation requires the material to hold its shape. Traditional batts are held together with chemical additives. Havelock Wool's uses needle punching to hold their product together, avoiding toxic chemicals.

Per Havelock's EPD, this product meets HML's criteria for low embodied carbon. Havelock's wool insulation are produced in Reno, NV, making its application most impactful on projects in western United States.

*Note: Havelock's Loose Fill Insulation has R values of 4.3 and also meets HML's criteria for low embodied carbon.

Cortadoria, a company based in Portugal, uses the surplus from the rabbit meat industry to source their super-soft rabbit fur. Their Rabbit Hatters Fur is Cradle to Cradle Gold Certified. The product is chemical-free, avoiding certain harmful additives that are traditionally used to wash and degrease fur. Because the material is diverted from landfills, and because of the minimal energy required to process rabbit skins, Cortadoria’s Rabbit Hatters Fur provides a sustainable alternative to traditional furs and hatting materials.

Note: The C2C certification has expired and will not be recertified.

The manufacturer confirms that, however, the Cradle to Cradle vision remains the inspiration and guidance of the company.

Propolis is a biodegradable resin that honey bees collect from different trees and use as a sealant for unwanted open spaces in the beehive. Its color depends of the forests and botanical sources used in the collection by the honey bees. The most common one is brown, but there are plenty of variations in colors and properties. This particular black propolis is from rubber trees.

*NOTE: This material is currently sourced from only 500 beehives, yielding only 30-50 kilograms per year. It is thus a very precious and unique material.

Bolt Threads' Engineered Silk is biofabricated by mimicking the DNA in Spider Silk. They develop proteins inspired by the DNA (no spiders are actually involved) and put them inside of yeast.

The yeast produce silk protein in a liquid form during fermentation—very much like the beer-making process. After some processing, the liquid silk protein can be turned into fiber through wet-spinning, which is the same way fibers like acrylic and rayon are made.

Black Mountain's sheep wool insulation provides an excellent alternative to manmade batt insulation products. The product is designed for use in loft, rafter, internal wall, and inter-floor applications. Because it is a natural material, this wool insulation is completely biodegradable and requires 85% less embodied energy to produce than manmade products. Additionally, wool actively improves indoor air quality by absorbing carbon dioxide and toxic gasses such as formaldehyde and is naturally flame retardant.

The R-value range is declared as 6.5-49.

Moore & Giles’ Olive Green Leathers are aniline and crafted with wet-green® organic tanning agents. The dye is made from pure olive leaf extract which is a byproduct from olive production where these leave would traditionally be burned. The product is LBC Red List Free.
The tanning agent is made of 100% Biobased Content and has been awarded the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label in the BioPreferred® Program. 

TOMTEX is a leather alternative made of chitosan, an abundant biopolymer, using mushrooms (Series M) and seafood waste (Series WS) as the feedstock. TOMTEX has 100% Biobased Content and has been awarded the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label in the BioPreferred® Program. 

Down is a byproduct of the poultry industry. It can be used for furniture cushioning in place of plastic-based down alternatives or other petroleum-based cushioning products that offgass harmful fumes. Allied Feather + Down works directly with poultry farmers to increase supply chain visibility and to ensure humane sourcing. The company is Responsible Down Standard certified, which entails audits from farming practices to manufacturing. Critically, it avoids farms that practice force feeding and live plucking.  

Traditional Tanners is working to re-popularize traditional, natural tanning methods that use plant tannins, woodsmoke, alum, and natural oils to help accelerate the tanning industry's transition away from chrome and other toxic chemicals. They are Native owned and their sheepskin tanning is certified organic by Oregon Tilth to US NOP organic standards. They are the only certified organic tannery in the US.