Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Tilit Is Going Green with its First-Ever Renewable Collection

Matthew Denis
By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What’s better than the best chef’s apparel? Why, that the cook clothing is created from sustainable fabrics tinted with leftovers, of course. 

Cook wear brand Tilit’s founders have been working from behind the curtain to weave renewable elements into their entire process and products. Now the premium chef gear brand introduces its new fall line with sustainable components to complement a classic style. The fresh duds include a number of sustainability-forward components. Recycled and eco-friendly fabrics, such as bamboo and upcycled denim, are just two custom fabrics cobbled from upcycled materials. In a groundbreaking move, several garments are even colored using food waste.

Recommended Videos

Tilit’s “Natural Dyed Collection,” in collaboration with Audrey Louise Reynolds, “the fashion world’s artisanal dyer,” are hand-painted wearables using floral dyes for color and food waste to enhance the natural complexion. This includes a limited edition apron and work jacket.

Related

Tilit’s washed charcoal collection, for the darker folks behind the line, employs the same 100% cotton fabrics as featured in ALR’s hand-dyed collection, but without the floral flourish. Instead, materials are dyed in New Jersey before they’re constructed in Tilit’s New York City factory. This collection includes Sunday utility pants, the worker jacket, apron, and the Tilit pocket tee. 

Related Guides

For a more rugged product, the brand’s upcycled supply aprons are made from 100% upcycled denim. Made in a Guatemalan denim mill, aprons originate as denim scraps and denim by product. Tilit’s team took these Central American scraps to carve out entirely new aprons.

In addition to utilizing natural dyes and textile pieces that would otherwise be landfilled food, recycled aprons weaved together sourced organic cotton and a recycled hemp blend to introduce a fresh green and pink variation of its popular chef’s apron. And instead of reused resources, Tilit sustainable work shirts come in two colors and renewable manufacture: In a bamboo-Tencel blend navy and in organic-recycled cotton gray.

Tilit has even started to source some of this itself through a “Refurbished Program,” which incentivizes customers to save and return stained or lightly damaged goods. Once returned, Tilit promises to repair, dye, clean, and repack items to be sold again at a marketable price.

Worried about the impact about ordering these critical kitchen supplies online? Tilit’s new product packaging is now recyclable as the company has switched to glassine bags. Tilit’s got the whole thing covered, from source to service.

Read More: Tilit Workwear’s Chef Tom Colicchio-approved Aprons

Editors' Recommendations

Matthew Denis
Matthew Denis
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Matt Denis is an on-the-go remote multimedia reporter, exploring arts, culture, and the existential in the Pacific Northwest…
What is Matcha? A Guide to Green Tea and its Benefits
what is matcha woman s hands mixing green tea powder in a bowl overhead view

Ever wondered what’s in that gorgeous green drink you’ve seen all over the 'gram? That frothy, bright green latte, ice cream, and even doughnuts everyone is making much to do about is Matcha. This vibrant green tea has taken the main stage here in recent years, but it’s been a staple in East Asian culture for centuries, rooted in spirituality and highly regarded for its health benefits.

There are many ways to enjoy a cup of Matcha but its truest form is as simple as it is delicious. Here we’ll cover the brew's basics so you can whisk your way to a big green cup of morning bliss.

Read more
How to start your own home bar: the essential spirits
Home Bar

When you start getting into cocktails, drinking them is only half the fun -- making them is part of the appeal too. If you start making your own drinks at home, you'll soon find that you can often create better or more interesting drinks than what you're served in most bars. And even better, making drinks for other people is a great way to try out new combinations, learn about spirits, and make your friends and family happy too.

However, moving beyond the simple spirit plus mixer style of drinks which most people make at home and into the world of cocktails means that you'll need a wider array of spirits on hand than you might be used to. It can take some time and research to build up a well stocked bar, and choosing high quality spirits isn't a cheap endeavor. It's worth it, though, for the pleasure of being able to try out classic cocktail recipes and experiment with making up your own creations too.

Read more
You’re overlooking the most important ingredient in your cocktail
Steel Hibiscus cocktail.

When you list off the most important parts of making a good cocktail your mind likely goes immediately to good ingredients: quality spirits, freshly squeezed citrus juices, and well-matched mixers. You might also consider the importance of using the right tools, like getting a proper mixing glass so your stirred drinks can be properly incorporated, or a good strainer so that there aren't little shards of ice in your cocktails. And then there are the fun additions like elaborate garnishes, bitters, or home-made syrups which can add a personal touch to your drinks.
All of those things are important, absolutely. However I think there's one ingredient that can make or break a good cocktail, and it's something many drinkers don't ever stop to consider. It's the humble but vital ingredient of ice.

Why ice is so important
In mixed drinks like a gin and tonic or a screwdriver, ice is added to the drink primarily to chill it down to a pleasing temperature. That's a topic we'll come back to. But in cocktails which are shaken or stirred, ice is far more important than that. Cocktails are typically composed of between around 20 to 30 percent water, and this water comes from the ice used in the preparation process.
When you stir ingredients in a mixing glass or shake them in a shaker with ice, you are chipping away small pieces of the ice so that it dissolves and blends with your other ingredients. You might imagine that water doesn't make much of a difference to taste, being tasteless itself. But it's vital in opening up the flavors of other ingredients. That's why many whiskey drinkers like to add a dash of water to their whiskey when they drink it neat.
If you're ever in doubt of how important water is to cocktails, it's worth trying to make a drink with no ice. Even if you mix up the ideal ratios for a drink that you love and put it into the freezer so that it gets to the chilled temperature that you usually enjoy it at, if you sip it you'll find that your drink tastes harsh, unbalanced, and incomplete. Even for special room temperature cocktails like those designed to be drunk from a flask, you'll generally find water being added at a rate of around 30%.
When you make your cocktails you should be sure to stir for a long time – around 30 seconds is a good start – or to shake for a good while too – I typically do around 12 to 15 seconds – in order to melt enough ice to get plenty of water into your cocktail. Despite what you might imagine, this won't make the cocktail taste watery but will rather make the flavors stand out more as well as often improving the mouthfeel of the drink. A good rule of thumb is to mix or shake until the vessel is cold to the touch. That means your ingredients are sufficiently incorporated with the ice.

Read more