Natural fibres account for approximately 70% of our collections, the majority being silk, linen, and cotton. We limit the use of synthetics to garments such as swimwear, slips and pleated items that require nylon, elastane or polyester for specific functional reasons.

We select our fabrics for quality, texture and wearability, and our 'Preferred Materials Toolkit' helps our designers prioritise third-party certified materials whose lifecycle shows social and environmental benefits. Our definition of 'Preferred Material' is data-driven, considering all known impacts associated with its lifecycle, and informed by scientific papers, life cycle assessments (LCA) or the Textile Exchange publications. 

Zimmermann is a proud member of Better Cotton to improve cotton farming globally. Better Cotton is sourced via a chain of custody model called mass balance. This means that Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products, however, Better Cotton Farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we ‘source’.

We are committed to sourcing 80% of cotton as ‘more sustainable cotton’ by 2025. 'More sustainable cotton' includes Better Cotton, Organic Cotton, Fairtrade, Regenerative and Recycled Cotton.

Here’s a breakdown of the materials we use across all product categories:

Preferred fibres uptake in FY 2023:

Yes. Our collections are fur-free. As part of the Fur Free Retailer program, the Fur Free Alliance defines fur as any animal skin or part thereof with hair or fur fibres attached, either in its raw or processed state or the pelt of any animal killed for the animal's fur. Materials derived from animals primarily raised for food (e.g., shearling) fall outside this definition.

We do not use Angora.

We do not use banned animal-derived materials, including vulnerable or endangered species included on either the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) or the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) lists. 

Yes, we use a small amount of leather, which accounts for approximately 3% of all materials we use. In line with our animal welfare policy, we only use hides from animals raised primarily for food production, where the skin is a by-product or co-product of the food industry. 

We only source from tanneries with a proven track record on traceability and standards that meet our criteria, and all our suppliers have signed our Supplier Code of Conduct, which includes provisions on good animal husbandry. However, there is still work to do. The Leather Working Group is an international, not-for-profit membership organisation responsible for the world’s largest leather sustainability program. We aim to source only from tanneries that are members of the Leather Working Group (LWG) and  continue to actively research new partners and opportunities to contribute to a more responsible leather supply chain from farm to tannery.

Although wool products form a small part of collections (approximately 2% currently), it is essential that we source wool from suppliers that meet our standards on animal welfare as outlined in our Supplier Code of Conduct.

We aim to work with non-mulesed sheep wool completely by 2025, and we are on track to achieve this target by sourcing Responsible Wool Standard-certified wool.

As mentioned, we do not use fur, angora or any materials derived from vulnerable or endangered species.

We are committed to sourcing materials that have been produced following industry best practices and standards, taking a stand against inhumane and unethical practices in animal husbandry.

We have rolled out an Animal Welfare Policy to guide the design team in sourcing animal-derived fibres that comply with the highest animal welfare standards ensuring, at a minimum, that the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare are upheld.

Providing that all animal welfare principles are upheld, we only accept animal-derived materials from living and domesticated animals (e.g., wool from sheep) or from animals raised primarily for food production (e.g., leather or shearling), and we do not use angora.

Our sourcing teams have been asked to prioritise certified materials, such as Responsible Wool Standard-certified wool. 

ZIMMERMANN is a proud member of Better Cotton to improve cotton farming globally. Better Cotton trains farmers to use water efficiently, care for soil health and natural habitats, reduce use of the most harmful chemicals and respect workers’ rights and wellbeing.

Better Cotton is sourced via a chain of custody model called mass balance. This means that Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products, however, Better Cotton Farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we 'source'.

We are committed to sourcing 80% of cotton as 'more sustainable cotton' by 2025. 'More sustainable cotton' includes Better Cotton, Organic Cotton, Fairtrade, Regenerative and Recycled Cotton.

In FY 2023 we sourced 60% of our cotton as 'more sustainable cotton'.

Denim has not traditionally been a large part of our collections, but it is growing, with a new and environmentally friendly design direction. In our Code of Conduct, we have banned sandblasting and washing techniques that impregnate either materials or stones with bleaching agents (including hypochlorite bleach and/or potassium permanganate).

In order to maximise recycling potential, in some collections, we have opted not to use blended materials (denim with elastane) and chosen 100% cotton instead. There are no metal trims on the back of garments to aid easier recycling post-consumer use.

Prints are key to our collections. All of our fabrics are digitally printed rather than screen printed. According to Texintel, typical water usage for screen printing is around 50-60 litres per metre, while digital printing can use less than two.

Of the 50-plus print and dye mills we worked with in FY2023, 78% had OKEO-TEX100 certification and 26% were ISO 14001:2015 certified. Constant improvement is an ongoing goal. Our sourcing team is working closely with the mills to improve these statistics.

To briefly explain these terms: OEKO-TEX100 is a worldwide consistent, independent testing and certification system for raw, semi-finished and finished textile products at all processing levels. To attain OKEO-TEX100 certification, the mill process has been tested and certified to be free from detrimental levels of more than 100 substances known to be harmful to human health.

ISO 14001:2015 is the international standard that specifies requirements for an effective environmental management system. It provides a framework that an organisation can follow and ensures the implementation of proactive initiatives to protect the environment from harm.

We use independent auditing services to verify these certifications.

We actively work to exclude harmful chemicals from our textile supply chains. This is managed by ensuring our printing and dyeing mills have OKEO-TEX100 certification and by testing all fabrics for restricted chemicals, such as AZO dyes, formaldehyde, and phthalates. We have also adopted the ZDHC Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL) as a standard to ensure the progressive elimination of hazardous chemicals from our manufacturing process. For this reason, in 2021, we joined the ZDHC Foundation’s Roadmap to Zero Programme as Friends of ZDHC to reduce the chemical footprint of our value chain. We aim to work with at least 90% (by spend) of wet processing sites that have reached the Supplier to Zero Progressive Level and have set tangible targets to improve their overall ZDHC MRSL conformance, with the goal of being fully conformant by 2025.

It starts with our fabrics. We buy the highest quality fabric and begin thinking about durability at the design stage, looking at every detail from linings to trims. We partner with highly skilled manufacturers, who build these garments to last.

Timeless design is one of our signatures, and we know that our clients collect our pieces and consider them precious. ZIMMERMANN garments have second, third, even fourth lives thanks to a high value on the resale market.

Because we do not focus on synthetics, most of our garments require dry-cleaning or handwashing. Some feature fine silks, delicate laces and trims. Where possible, we encourage our clients to choose a green/eco dry-cleaning service - these are becoming more popular and easier to access. For hand-washable garments, we recommend choosing a gentle soap, and line dry out of direct sunlight. We have also developed a Care Guide, available here, to advise on how to take care of ZIMMERMANN garments to ensure their longevity.

We are constantly reviewing ways to recycle and reduce textile waste. While some waste is inevitable, we do the following to minimise it across our production processes:

Upcycle & on-sell – we sell as much of our excess fabric as we can to resellers for use by other designers. Where possible, we also over-dye old-season colours to use in new-season collections.

Circular yarn initiatives – we have successfully conducted three textile-to-textile recycling programs where existing unused IP-sensitive fabric was re-constituted into yarn for new knitted or woven fabrics. Textile-to-textile recycling has helped us repurpose some excess materials and enabled their reuse in ZIMMERMANN packaging or product. More information is available at the following links:

Z X THE R COLLECTIVE

Z X CIRCULAR SOLUTIONS

Sustainable fabric -  Although synthetic fibres form a small part of our material mix and are used only in items that require synthetic fabrics for functional reasons (e.g., swimwear), we are committed to transitioning as many synthetic materials as possible to recycled fibres. In FY23, post-consumer recycled polyester accounted for 39% of all polyester used in our collections, and recycled polyamide (with both pre- and post-consumer content) accounted for 26% of all polyamide used.

Donate – we donate fabric and other materials to various fashion colleges, charities and NGOs.

We are aware that social and environmental risks go deeper in the supply chain and appreciate the need to gain better visibility of our upstream supply chain beyond tier 2 suppliers. We are exploring ways to better manage the impact that our business has on people and the environment well beyond our direct suppliers.  We are committed to achieving traceability from Tier 4 (at least country-level) through each processing stage for 100% of key natural fibres used in main materials by 2025. Key natural fibres are linen, cotton, silk, and wool when they account for 50% or more of the product composition.

To accelerate our traceability efforts, we have rolled out a Traceability Policy, which sets the traceability requirements and a process for our suppliers to report traceability information seasonally. 

% of key natural fibres' weight traceable at each stage:   

Only linen, cotton, silk, and wool with documented processing locations have been accounted for in the table.

In line with our Traceability Policy, our suppliers are required to provide appropriate documentation, including invoices and transport documents, to demonstrate chain of custody of materials.

We may use traceability technologies to confirm the claimed origin when necessary.