Say you’ve ordered from TWOTHIRDS, waited patiently for your garments to be crafted with love, and then discovered that your beautiful sustainable jacket has an extra button sewn into the label. What’s that about?! Don’t worry, it’s not a mistake! Today we’re letting you into a sustainable secret, by telling you the reason our jackets have spare buttons.
The spare button in our jackets is a feature of the durability of our outerwear design, which is intended to break the cycle of fast fashion and have you wearing your TWOTHIRDS jackets for years to come. Though we anticipate that our buttons will stay secure over a long time, the laws of wear and tear dictate that one may eventually become loose. Enter: the spare button.
Replacing a lost button will help you retain your garment for longer.
As a touchstone, remember that items of fast fashion are designed to last just 10 wears. In-built obsoletion, combined with fast rates of production and non eco-friendly material choices, is what makes the fashion industry one of the most polluting industries in the world. Obviously TWOTHIRDS is categorically against everything the fast fashion industry stands for. Not only do we view the unsustainable fashion habits of the 21st century as disastrous for the environment, it would also pain us to know that our jackets have only been worn a handful of times before being thrown in the bin! One of the ways we ensure this doesn’t happen is by rigorously crafting our jackets to the highest possible standard so that they far outlive their fast fashion counterparts. This is an art we’ve perfected over the years, with our men and women jackets now standing out on our site for being both exceptionally sustainable and perennially popular.
However, there is no such thing as an invincible jacket (if there was, we’d be making it), and with time, the trimmings are likely to show some degree of wear and tear. Trimmings are the parts of a garment that are sewn on, like buttons and zippers. They complete the jacket, so they shouldn’t be it’s eventual undoing. That’s why we include spare buttons on the final product: encouraging you to replace and reuse rather than throw away your prized jacket.
What are our spare buttons made of?
We have four different button types at TWOTHIRDS. By far the most frequently used is corozo - an eco-friendly plant-based button that derives from the so-called “elephant tree”. Corozo is a smooth, hard-wearing nut that our designers enjoy using for its scratch resistance, smoothness and natural versatility. Corozo comes in a variety of colours too. Many of our spare buttons are crafted from corozo. This is much better for the environment than polyester (a commonly used material for spare buttons), which itself contributes to plastic waste, oil use, and landfill. By contrast, Corozo spare buttons are completely renewably-sourced and biodegradable. Pretty neat, huh?
We also use recycled horn buttons in some of our men’s styles, natural resin buttons and wooden toggles. You’ll find the latter in our parka styles like the ultra-stylish Vineyard for men, which comes with polished black wooden toggles. Wooden toggles beat their polyester rivals because they’re made from a naturally occurring raw material. However, we don’t tend to include spare toggles as they are much less prone to breakage.
How to sew on a spare button?
Sewing a spare button onto a jacket couldn’t be simpler! But not everyone knows how to, so we’ve included a quick guide here.
First you’ll need to thread your needle and tie a knot at the end of the thread. Take your spare button and line it up over the needle holes left by its predecessor. You’ll want to poke the needle through the back of the fabric, through one of the holes, and pull the thread all the way through so that the knot catches on the fabric and holds in place. Next, thread the needle through the hole on the opposite side of the button, pull all the way through and repeat several times - if your spare button has four holes you’ll be aiming to create an X shape with the thread. For extra durability, turn the fabric over once the spare button is fully threaded, poke the needle through without touching the button and wrap your remaining thread around the underside of the spare button, pulling it nice and tight. You’ll then want to poke the needle back through the fabric, create a small stitch and loop your needle through that stitch to create a knot. Cut the remaining thread and hey presto, you’re done!
You’ll probably find that sewing on a spare button is a rewarding, simple and satisfying task that helps you appreciate the sentimental value of your garment. It’s the little details that count. Spare buttons have been around for a long time - with this millennial writer claiming spare buttons hark back to a simpler era - and form a part of the tradition of taking good care of the clothing we own. We hope you’ll hold onto your spare button and use it on our clothing or on any garment that needs it!