Why We Only Use Organic Cotton and Bamboo Viscose

Q: What materials we use?

We work with three fabrics. Three. Not thirty.Brushed Organic Cotton Jersey (220g, made in Portugal) soft, slightly thick, with a peach-skin touch. Our flagship. The Sohang, Yamala and Mahan are knitted from this.Mercerized Organic Cotton Jersey (180g, made in Portugal) lighter, smoother, with a subtle natural sheen. Our new Essence Collection uses this for models like Ankaa, Nashira, Maia.Bamboo Viscose blended with Organic Cotton (made in Turkey) cool, breathable, fluid. Used for the Lilii pants and the Mizar Kimono. Bamboo regrows in three to five years, without replanting and without irrigation.Most pieces include around 8% certified elastane, enough to hold shape over years of wear, without losing breath.We use every meter of yarn we knit. What we don't sew, we save for repairs and samples. Nothing goes to waste.

Q: Three generations of women to design

Three generations of women.My grandmother Johanna sewed evening dresses by hand. Long, careful, beautiful work, a kind of patience that has all but disappeared.My mother, Cornelia, learned from her. In 2009, she founded Breath of Fire. The very first piece she designed, the Sohang, was created on the floor of her living room in Switzerland, with a yoga teacher friend named Christina. It is still our flagship today, seventeen years later.Today, I ( Pernelle) run the brand. I do not redesign what works. I extend it. The Essence Collection, launched in 2025, sits beside the Evergreen line. New silhouettes, same intention.We do not design for trends. We design for the body in practice, for the moment when the breath deepens, when the posture lengthens, when you forget what you are wearing.That is the test of a piece. Forgetting it on. Returning to it.

The fiber that touches your skin during practice matters. We chose two — organic cotton and bamboo viscose — and we have stayed with them since 2009.

At Breath of Fire, every garment we make in our small Portuguese workshop is woven from one of two natural fibers. Not three. Not five. Two. Because when you wear yoga clothes that breathe with you for years, the fiber is not a detail. It is the choice.

Organic cotton — the root

Organic cotton is grown without synthetic pesticides, without chemical fertilizers, with attention to soil and water. The cotton plant returns to its full life cycle. The soil regenerates. The hands that harvest it are not exposed to toxic chemicals.

That is the agricultural reality. The wearable reality is different, and just as important:

Softness. Organic cotton fibers are longer and less damaged than conventional cotton. The fabric feels closer to skin, less abrasive, especially in seated and reclined postures.
Breathability. Pranayama, savasana, long meditations — the body needs to exchange air with what it wears. Synthetic fibers block this exchange. Cotton invites it.
Durability. Cared for gently, a piece of organic cotton jersey lasts years and softens over time, never the opposite. The piece you reach for first after five years is rarely the synthetic one.
Tradition. In every ancient yogic lineage, the practice happens in natural fibers — cotton, linen, wool. Not by accident. Because the body opens, and what touches it should be alive.

Bamboo viscose — the silk of the East

Bamboo viscose is made from the cellulose of bamboo plants, transformed into a soft, silky, breathable fiber. We use it for a few pieces in our collection — the Lilii pants, the Cosma shirts — where we want a different drape, a different weight, a different feel on the skin.

Cooling silkiness. Bamboo viscose stays cool to the touch even in summer heat. Ideal for warm-weather practice or hot yoga.
Moisture wicking. Bamboo fiber naturally pulls moisture away from the skin. Sweat evaporates faster.
Hypoallergenic. Naturally gentle on sensitive skin — no synthetic finishes, no irritation.
Fast renewable. Bamboo regrows in three to five years without replanting and without irrigation. Among the most renewable plant resources on earth.

What we do not use, and why

You will not find polyester, recycled plastic, or lycra-heavy synthetics in our collections. Not because they have no place in the world — but because they have no place against the skin during practice. The body opens during yoga. Microplastic does not belong in that opening.

The decision costs more. Raw natural materials have become rarer and more expensive. Many brands have pivoted to recycled plastic to keep margins. We have not. We pay more for the fibers, work in smaller batches, and trust that the people who wear our pieces feel the difference.

You do. We hear it every week, in the emails we read personally.

Wear what your body breathes through. That is the whole brief.

Shop Organic Cotton → | Shop Bamboo Viscose →

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What you wear matters. The texture against skin. The breath that moves freely. Pieces that soften with the years.

Our clothes are certified organic cotton, knitted and sewn in Portugal in small batches since 2009. Natural fibers. Slow craft. Clothing for those who pay attention to what touches the body.

Near Porto, in Portugal, two small family businesses work side by side for us. The first, in one village, knits our organic cotton from scratch and dyes it to our specifications. The second, in the next village, cuts and sews. We have been visiting both every year since 2009. We know the people by name. We share meals when we visit. They have watched our collections grow alongside their own children.

During the Covid years, when organic cotton and bamboo became briefly impossible to source in Portugal, we found a second family workshop in Turkey — also ethical, also certified, also personal. About 5% of what we make passes through their hands today. The Mizar Kimono and a few Lilac pieces from past collections come from there.

Most yoga brands buy fabric from a market — pre-made rolls, ready to cut. We don't. Every meter of jersey we use is knitted from scratch to our specifications. That is why the Sohang feels the way it does. That is why a five-year-old pair softens instead of wearing thin.

A slower way of making clothes. Sometimes inconvenient. Always worth it.

Sustainability for us is not a marketing department. It is a series of small, sometimes annoying choices we have made since 2009.

We chose certified organic cotton when it was 40% more expensive than conventional or plastic fabrics. We still pay that premium today. We grow without external capital which means we cannot afford to overstock, so we don't. We use every meter of yarn we order, even when it means smaller runs and longer waits. We are 100% self funded and all the money is placed in ethical funds in a local bank.

We focus on evergreen pieces, the Sohang, the Amrit, the Amba instead of seasonal collections. Some of these designs are over a decade old and still our bestsellers. A garment worn for ten years on a body is the most sustainable thing a fashion brand can make.

Our fabrics are dyed with processes gentle enough for a baby's skin. We package in either recycled or biodegradable bags. We ship from our small warehouse in Cully (Switzerland) or our partner in Germany, never overseas.

We don't tick every box. We are not perfect. But these are the choices we make, and we make them visible.

We work with three fabrics. Three. Not thirty.

Brushed Organic Cotton Jersey (220g, made in Portugal) soft, slightly thick, with a peach-skin touch. Our flagship. The Sohang, Yamala and Mahan are knitted from this.

Mercerized Organic Cotton Jersey (180g, made in Portugal) lighter, smoother, with a subtle natural sheen. Our new Essence Collection uses this for models like Ankaa, Nashira, Maia.

Bamboo Viscose blended with Organic Cotton (made in Turkey) cool, breathable, fluid. Used for the Lilii pants and the Mizar Kimono. Bamboo regrows in three to five years, without replanting and without irrigation.

Most pieces include around 8% certified elastane, enough to hold shape over years of wear, without losing breath.

We use every meter of yarn we knit. What we don't sew, we save for repairs and samples. Nothing goes to waste.

Three generations of women.

My grandmother Johanna sewed evening dresses by hand. Long, careful, beautiful work, a kind of patience that has all but disappeared.

My mother, Cornelia, learned from her. In 2009, she founded Breath of Fire. The very first piece she designed, the Sohang, was created on the floor of her living room in Switzerland, with a yoga teacher friend named Christina. It is still our flagship today, seventeen years later.

Today, I ( Pernelle) run the brand. I do not redesign what works. I extend it. The Essence Collection, launched in 2025, sits beside the Evergreen line. New silhouettes, same intention.

We do not design for trends. We design for the body in practice, for the moment when the breath deepens, when the posture lengthens, when you forget what you are wearing.

That is the test of a piece. Forgetting it on. Returning to it.

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Why We Only Use Organic Cotton and Bamboo Viscose

Organic cotton — the root

Bamboo viscose — the silk of the East

What we do not use, and why

Wear your frequency.

Two villages in Portugal makes your clothes

The slow choices we keep making for sustainability

What materials we use?

Three generations of women to design