What do Rhino Poo, Passports and The Fableists Have in Common?

We might have to start at the beginning with this one…

The passports

Each item of clothing from The Fableists comes with its own ‘passport’. It’s not government issued, doesn’t scan at customs and doesn’t need to be renewed every few years but we think it’s still pretty important.

In the case of our t-shirts, the passport will be numbered as each print is only used on 500 t-shirts. So, like all great art, your tee from The Fableists will have it’s own print number out of 500. For all of our clothes, there is a space to record the names of its owners. So, as you pass the clothes on to family and friends, or sell them, this ‘passport’ will be a record of where the clothes have been – like stamps in a passport.

Stacks of rhino dung paper for printing

Our passports are being printed by Seacourt, the ‘first closed loop, Zero Waste printing company in the world’. They have won an absolute stack of awards over their years for their commitment to green printing and have been recognised as ‘one of the top three leading environmental printers in the world’ by a worldwide printing association. They also have won two Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development. Very impressive stuff and also what all businesses should now be striving towards, right?

A tub of ‘green’ ink

Seacourt can provide printing on recycled cards, bamboo, PVC-free banners for outdoor and materials are recyclable or even biodegradable. One of the paper options available to us was rhino poo and they pretty much had us at hello on that one. What child won’t treasure a clothing passport that contains poo of any sort? What adult for that matter? It was too good to pass up. The paper is made from post-consumer waste (i.e. the paper you put in your recycling bins) and mixed with rhino dung. We love it and will be bringing you more about the printing process (and where the poo comes in) in a future post.