As part of the new SustainabilityX Report 2024 report, Alexis Cepeda Maule former MD of UK & Europe for Reformation, spoke to Emma Herrod about transparency and circularity.
Reformation is a climate neutral fashion brand with ambitions to be climate positive by 2025 and circular by 2030. The company is happy to share its roadmap with anyone who is interested to see how it plans to remove more carbon than it produces.
Regulation and voluntary disclosures are driving transparency in the fashion industry, but it is brand storytelling that is enabling them to communicate with consumers and investors about what their sustainability goals, initiatives and impacts are, believes Alexis Cepeda Maule, former MD of UK & Europe, Reformation. It’s more than simply saying ‘we recycle’ but sharing the volume of how much is recycled, the impact on CO2, the specific data points, current carbon footprint and how targets will be reached.
“I think there is much more demand and interest in knowing the hard facts,” says Cepeda Maule. “This has caused brands to really take a step forward and start measuring and putting in specific goals to achieve carbon neutrality, volume of recycled materials and to disclose those publicly. Once one brand does this, there is more pressure for competitors to do the same.”
The biggest share of Reformation’s emissions relate to the materials it uses in garments. Every type of fibre has been measured against requirements for land, water and energy, eco and human toxicity and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the traditional business measure of availability and price. The worst offender across the full lifecycle, according to Reformation’s internal measures, is conventional virgin cashmere. After this was identified, it was replaced with recycled cashmere.
Currently, more than 70% of the materials Reformation uses are recycled, regenerative or renewable, with the brand working to increase this even further and bringing more recycled material into its supply chain. Its ambition is to cut out all virgin material if possible but it accepts that some will still have to be used.
By 2030, solutions will be in place for recycling everything it makes as well as repair and resale services allowing the life of products to be extended. Its RefRecycling service enables customers to send back the products they no longer want for textile-to-textile recycling or to be upcycled. Because of this, and what it knows about its customer base, the brand believes that each of its customers send less to landfill than the average consumer does.
This is one of four interviews, conducted by Emma Herrod, in the new SustainabilityX 2024 report. Download it in full to hear more on:
Avon: Natalie Deacon, Director Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Avon International, explains the company’s focus on social and environment
Emma Bridgewater: Julia Cove-Smith, CEO, Emma Bridgewater, explains how B Corp certification provided a focus and framework for ESG endeavours
Reskinned: Francesca Lascelles, brand partnership manager for Reskinned, shares how it helps the fashion industry meet its responsibilities under EPR
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