Summer is here and we're enjoying warm weather even in the north! The bravest of us have already dipped in the lakes and tiny kiddie pools have appeared in the backyards. It means it's time to find the perfect swimsuit! 

When the sun is warming up the minds and the bodies and gives us energy to carry on with our days, you still have to keep sun safety in mind. Both children and adults need to be protected from the sun, even on the cloudy days or cooler: the UV rays are still doing their damage, not minding the temperature or the grayness of the day. The skin on kids' and adults is a bit different and keeping the kids' protected is essential. UV-damage tends to build up from year to year, so minimizing the exposure as a child has a positive effect for years to come. Children's skin is also less developed, so the protective mechanisms are not ready for full sun exposure.  

There are many ways to protect the skin from sun damage and there are some ways that work better than others. Considering the UV-levels are the highest around 11 am to 3 pm, it's best to ether stay indoors or in shaded areas - remember to protect the skin even in the shade! The easiest way to keep the kids' protected is clothing, of which some loose cotton or cotton blends tend to be the best options. Keeping the head and the face covered with a brimmed hat or a cap is also important. At the beach or the pool a UV protective swimming suit is the best choice! 

Wheter you are spending some family beach time or the kids are enjoying in a pool, the amount of sun exposure is vast and often swimwear tends to be the only clothing item. The skin should be properly protected with a suncream. For a baby a set of covering clothes and being in the shade is the best option, but for older kids there are a lot of great solutions. When choosing a suncream that will be used on kids', look for "made for children" tags that ensure safer formulas. The higher the SPF is the better, and you want to make sure that the cream has both UVA-and UVB protection. Remember to add the cream on the skin around 30 minutes before going outside and keep adding every few hours - suncreams are not protective for ever and often it gets ether diluted by swimming, we sweat it out or rub it on towels. A good amount of suncream on a child is 20-30 ml or 7-10 fluid ounces.  

To minimize the need for suncream, choose a UV protective swimsuit for the kids. Long sleeves and a lot of fabric is always the easiest option, covering as much as possible.

All of our Gugguu swimsuits have an SPF 50. The protection is based on the denseness of the fabric, not a chemical process. In the spring 2020 we brought out new designs of the swimsuits: UV Swimsuit and UV Swimsuitdress. Both of the designs come with the option to choose from fresh colors or fun prints. Both of the swimsuits cover a lot of ground: long sleeves cover the arms, the back and the tummy are protected and in the UV Swimsuit you can find pantlegs up to the kenees. 

Why choose a UV-protective swimsuit? Kids' don't often love suncream, so when you have a protective swimsuit that covers a lot of skin, you have to apply less cream.The suit already covers up the areas that burn the easiest, like the shoulders, so you can put your mind at rest!

Check out all of our swimsuits in here.

Within the Mini Me Collection we introduced a new material to our selection: a tracksuit material made out of 100% recycled raw materials. There are two types of tracksuit fabric in the collection - the printed version and the mono colored version. The fabrics are made of recycled polyester, recycled nylon and recycled elastane. In this blog post we will be going through the materials in more depth. We will also be sharing the different types of certificates the fabrics have and their requirements.

Materials

The printed track jackets- and pants are made of a mixture of polyester and elastane. The mono colored ones are made of a mixture of nylon and elastane. 

The finishing processes and the dying of the materials is also done in nature-friendly manners. The goal throughout the whole production is to keep the production process as neutral for the nature as possible and that the end products are truly safe to use.

Recycled elastane

Both the printed and the mono colored fabrics use recycled elastane. The elastane we use has been recycled in Germany and it’s GRS-certified. The thread is born by collecting the industrial surplus of elastane thread, separating them from the paper tubes and by spinning them again. This process helps to reduce the amount of industrial waste and gets the perfectly fine materials into active use. The process has also been optimized for a low need for water by creating a water flow system that uses the same water over and over again. 

Recycled polyester

The recycled polyester used in the printed track jackets- and pants is made of recycled PET-plastic that is gathered from used plastic bottles. The material is GRS-certified. For every kilo of PET, three kilos of CO2 is saved. Along with this, the production saves approximately half of the amount of energy compared to a non-recycled version. The coloring and finishing processes are done during the spinning process, which is a more nature friendly option compared to traditional processes. 

Creating thread from a plastic bottle is surprisingly simple. The bottles are collected and cut into pieces. After this the plastic is grinded and melted, and then cooled into regular shaped pieces. After this the material is melted again and made into polyester fibers that are then spinned into thread.

Recycled nylon

The recycled nylon used in the track jackets- and pants is SCS Global Standard- and GRS certified. 

The recycled nylon comes from Spain. It’s made out of industrial surplus by spinning the nylon polymers into thread. This lowers the CO2 impact by 53% and decreases the amount of industrial waste created. 1000 kilos of recycled nylon decreases the CO2 impact by 1424 kilos, which is roughly the amount of driving 8544 km.

Certificates

Global Recycled Standard - GRS

GRS-certificate is an international standard that requires certain things both in the production system, in the product itself and also in the company policies. The requirements are to do with recycling, the amount of recycled materials in products, chemical limitation and the ethics of the  production process. 

The certificate can be applied, if the product at hand contains at least 50% recycled materials. This is not the only requirement - the whole company is looked at through the working conditions, social responsibility and the environmental hazard minimizing acts of the company. The companies and products receiving the certificate are followed through out even after receiving the certificate and the certification are valid for one year at a time.

SCS Global Standard

SCS Global Standard is a party that follows environmental friendliness of many industries and product types. The nylon used in the track jackets- and pants is on SCS Global Standardin certified, so SCS Global Standard has gone through the whole production process and found the processes to meet its standards. The standards are high: the transparency of the production, the sourcing, the products age, the usability of the product, company recycling and waste management systems - and many more.

The Bluesign® system

The Bluesign® system is an environmental party that functions in the textile industry. The Bluesign® system certifies products and companies based on their efforts on creating textile products with the lowest possible environmental impact. The Bluesign® is an active environmental advocate, that supports textile companies on their way to more environmentally friendly production processes. The company manufacturing the fabrics used in our track jackets and track pants is a The Bluesign® system partner and they actively co-operate with the organization.

In this blog post we tell you a bit more of one of our staple materials: merino wool. The merino wool Gugguu uses comes from New Zealand and it is sheared in Germany and it’s completely mulesing-free.

In this article you will find information on merino wool, such as:

• What is merino wool?
• What makes merino wool special?
• How to take care of merino wool products?

What is merino wool?

Merino wool is a specific wool from Merino sheep, grown especially in Australia and New Zealand. Merino sheep are highly valued - the wool has been highly appreciated for centuries and for a good reason. 

What makes merino wool special?

Merino wool fibres are exceptionally fine and soft - the fibers are longer and thinner compared to traditional wool from sheep. The fibers are great for kids - merino wool is often more tolerated with people who find other types of wool, such as traditional wool and mohair, itchy. It feels more like cotton, but it contains the great features of wool.

Merino wool is a great material for the winter conditions: the little air pockets in the wool hold on to air and keep you warm. If you sweat, the heat is absorbed an let go by the merino wool, so the fabric breathes. This ensures that if you sweat or get wet in a cold environment, you still keep warm!

Merino wool also includes antimicrobial properties, thanks to the keratin and lanolin found in the wool. This combined with the breathability of the material makes sure that your clothes and accessories made of merino wool stay smelling fresh even if you sweat in them.

How to take care of merino wool products?

Merino wool should be conditioned with love - so no harsh chemicals and rough procedures are advised.

Taking care merino wool is easy, just keep in mind these few rules!

1. No washing machine. We advise to not use a washing machine when washing Gugguu merino wool products, but instead to wash them by hand. You should use lukewarm water because hot water might shrink wool products. Don’t soak for a long time.
2. Detergents. Do not use fabric softeners or products containing bleaching ingredients. These ingredients affect the fibers negatively and take away some of the great benefits of merino wool. Do use a mild detergent. 
3. Do not dumble dry. Prefer air drying, away from direct sunlight and heat.
4. Reshape products while damp.
5. Iron on low if needed.

With these simple rules you can have your merino wool products stay looking and feeling beautiful for years, enjoying all the great benefits of using merino wool!