Textile waste looks better upcycled than in a landfill; conscious lifestyle brand receives ISO-level recognition for its sustainable business practices
[Monday 13th February, 2023] House of Lonali, the pioneering upcycling brand from Sri Lanka specialising in transforming textile and paper waste into uniquely inventive items, has earned Sri Lanka’s first ISO 14065 Certification for their commitment to sustainability. The creative reuse efforts of the business were independently verified and certified by The Sustainable Future Group (SFG) – South Asia’s first Validation and Verification Body (VVB) to be accredited to award ISO 14065:2020 Certification by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).
House of Lonali retained the expert services of The Climate and Conservation Consortium (CCC) to estimate the amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions avoided over 31 years through upcycling pre-consumer fabric waste and recycled paper waste into products instead of using virgin raw material and circumventing standard disposal methods of landfilling and incineration. The emissions savings were calculated as per the requirements for Solid Waste Disposal and Incineration and Open Burning of Waste of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Following the assessment, the results were then verified in accordance with the ISO/IEC 17029:2019 and ISO 14065:2020 Standards by SFG – which was also South Asia’s first VVB to be accredited to award ISO 14064-1 & 2 for Organisational and Project-level GHG Reporting and ISO 14067 for Product Carbon Footprinting – through IAF Country Member, The Sri Lanka Accreditation Board.
Founded in 2012 by ecopreneur Lonali Rodrigo, winner of numerous awards including ‘Ethical Fashion Award’ at the Sri Lanka Design Festival and ‘Sustainable Designer Award’ at the Sri Lanka Apparel and Fashion Awards, House of Lonali designs and crafts creative pieces using mainly fabric waste recovered from apparel manufacturers. With a strong focus on ‘circular design’ at the core of its upcycling-based model, the business strives to generate as little waste as possible from its own production process by ensuring that every single resource is reused, repurposed, and/or remanufactured.
Commenting on their achievement, Founder/CEO of House of Lonali, Lonali Rodrigo stated, “House of Lonali is a conscious lifestyle brand with a big bold vision – “to design a better future”. We are passionate about creating uncompromising fashion and style keeping both people and the planet at heart. It became critical that we should measure our impact in the upcycling process, and by working with The Climate and Conservation Consortium and The Sustainable Future Group, we managed to obtain the ISO 14065 Certification, and this will help amplify our upcycling efforts as it provides proof of our impact. We believe there is unique beauty in every waste item and every flaw, and the little choices we make over time have the potential to change the future for the better.”
Managing Director of SFG, Faris Fausz, commended House of Lonali in reaching this milestone, “Due to the ever-increasing evidence of the impacts of climate change on the planet, we applaud House of Lonali for its leadership and accountability in driving sustainability in its sector and we are honoured to have been able to assist them towards achieving their goal.”
