Where does our dry waxed cotton canvas come from?

How is our waxed cotton canvas made?

We’re not just another British bag brand.

We want to do things differently. That means being authentic and transparent when it comes to how our products are made. It also means working with sustainable, long-lasting materials that are made by great people, as locally as possible, which is why we chose British Millerain’s dry-waxed cotton canvas for our backpacks, totes and crossbody bags.

Originating in Yorkshire in 1880, they were the first company in the UK to wax cotton. They’re specialists in this fabric and continue to improve and develop it over 140 years later. 

We visited British Millerain to see first–hand how our fabric is created. They have two facilities - their dyeing facility in Elland, near Leeds, and their proofing and finishing site in Rochdale.

The journey of our waxed cotton canvas

Our GOTS organic cotton fabric starts its life in India where it is grown, spun and woven into the base material that we use for our bags. This fabric is sent by ship to British Millerain for dying and proofing.

How is it dyed?

We started our visit in Elland, the home of British Millerain’s dye house. It’s located in a historic building that has been dying fabrics for over 100 years.

When we entered the building, the first thing we noticed was the hum of machines. There were stacks of un-dyed rolls on the left, and fabric moving over rollers and dipping into inky black dye on our right. Steam was coming off already-dyed material that was being washed, and four or five employees were continually inspecting the process. 

What really stood out to us was that, although a lot of it was automated, every part of the dyeing process was overseen by eye. There were multiple checks of the fabric by expert craftsmen who visually inspected every inch of the fabric, because, (they said), the machines ‘just don’t do it as well as the human eye’. 

It was explained to us that our fabric is visually checked pre- and post-dyeing to ensure the colour is even.

We were also curious about what happens to the waste water produced by the dyeing process.

It turns out our fabric is dyed using a Cold Pad Batch machine. It’s highly energy efficient as the fabric is dyed at room temperature, which uses a lot less water and energy than other dyeing methods. All the water waste from the dyeing and washing process is collected and taken away by the council. It goes through a filtering and cleaning process that removes the dye and the water comes back to the facility to be reused. 

It was mesmerising watching the fabric move through a system of rollers then entering either a dye bath or going into a sort of giant pizza oven to be dried. 

How is it waxed?

The dry-waxed canvas that we use for our bags lacks the oily feel of traditional waxed canvas yet retains its water-repellent properties. And unlike traditional waxed canvas, our fabric is machine washable. This is thanks to how it’s waxed.

First, the canvas is soaked in a heated wax bath. The fabric then enters a 140℃ oven which heat-fixes the wax. The temperature is key - at this heat, the wax completely binds to the fibre matrix of the fabric. This cannot be undone, so unlike other waxed products which rely on an outer coating of wax for water-repellency, our fabric has it enmeshed into the fibres themselves. 

The wax used is a proprietary, PFC free formula. They keep the exact recipe close to their chests, but they did mention that it includes beeswax farmed from natural hives (which means the bees make their own hive rather than being provided a wooden frame) in Africa. 

Is waxed canvas sustainable?

Our visit to British Millerain was great. We had a fantastic chat about the world of sustainable textiles, and about how there are a number of modern materials and methods out there that sound great but don't really have the longevity of more traditional methods and materials. 

This doesn’t mean British Millerain aren’t continually exploring better ways to do things. They have an onsite lab that is continually trialling and testing new methods of dyeing, proofing and finishing. Like us, they believe that making something that lasts a long time is the key to making a truly sustainable product.