We are in a climate crisis and the textile industry has a key role to play – it’s responsible for an estimated 10% of global carbon emissions, according to the European Parliament. Reducing this output is incredibly challenging, but we recognise our responsibility to decarbonise our operations and as much as possible while supporting a growing business.

Actions taken

We worked with Plan A – a platform for automated carbon accounting, , ESG management and reporting – to measure our for the first time, using the most established and credible methodology: the . This covered and .

Results

Measuring is challenging and resource-heavy. This is especially true for , which is less in a company’s control – many companies of our size often avoid measuring it altogether. However, this is where the vast majority of a company’s emissions come from, so this is a priority for us moving forward.    

View a breakdown of our emissions in our first company carbon footprint (CCF) report from Plan A here.

From the measurements we gathered we can see that, as expected, three out of five of our biggest impact areas come from our . These are: 83% from purchased goods and services, which is the production of our products; 13% from transportation, which is the transportation and distribution of our products from our warehouse to the customer; 3% from distribution, which is the transport and distribution of our products from our to our warehouse. 

As we don’t have direct control in these areas, they are the most challenging to change. We know that to achieve the greatest possible impact, we will need to engage our partners in this journey too. We have begun work on an action plan and are excited to work closely with our suppliers and other relevant stakeholders. 

In the area where we have the most control – 0.5% from employee business travel – we have already started to mitigate our footprint. We began working with Goodwings, a hotel booking platform that measures greenhouse gas emissions from business travel and accommodation then offsets them via a registered project. 

We hope this initiative will engage and educate our employees on the greenhouse gas emissions related to travel and drive more responsible decision-making, though the ultimate goal is to reduce and not offset. 

A note on how we collected data

The emissions data Plan A used to calculate our footprint comes primarily from the . We recognise this LCA data is secondary and not perfect, but at the time of measuring it was the best available to us. We used this data as a starting point in estimating our impact so we can start to take action in mitigating it. Moving forward, we believe more accurate data is crucial, so we will work to improve our methodology year on year.  

We’ve also taken data from our business activities and finance. This includes the weight and material composition of our products in 2021, employee business travel receipts and waste produced by our office. 

Goals

• – 45% reduction in emissions by 2025.

• – Create a plan that covers emissions, in line with our growth targets.

• – Annually calculate our company footprint and publish progress in reaching targets.