SUSTAINABILITY UPDATE

February 2021

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 We are always conscious of furthering our goal to create beautiful clothes in a sustainable and responsible way, and to keep our consumers constantly informed about our efforts and achievements in this area. All of our teams, including Design, Sourcing, Retail and Logistics, have been challenged to explore ways we can create more sustainable processes and innovations, and all are committed to the process. Following on from our previous updates on our Social and Environmental Sustainability Goals, we have made further progress, as listed below:

  • As part of our commitment to sourcing materials with a lower environmental impact we have integrated more organically grown and recycled fibers in our collections:
    • All linen t-shirts in Spring ‘21 and Spring/Summer ‘21 are made of organically grown linen.
    • All lining in our Spring ‘21/Summer ‘21 swimwear is made from 92% recycled nylon.
  • 33% of the cotton used in Spring ‘21 and Spring/Summer ‘21 was sourced in partnership with the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), furthering ZIMMERMANN's commitment to improving cotton farming practices globally. Although Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products, BCI Farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we source.
  • In our Business to Business packaging, the plastic bags that wrap some of the merchandise during its transport to our wholesale clients and our own retail stores are made of 100% recycled plastic (low density polyethylene).
  • We have reduced our unused fabric stock by 40% over 6 months through the implementation of the following initiatives:
    • Fabrics were reused in selected ZIMMERMANN products
    • Some fabrics were sold through the Fabric Stock Exchange
    • Donations to charities
    • Fabric-to-fabric recycling pilots that have mechanically recycled old printed fabrics into new fabrics. We are now looking to scale up this project in order to further reduce the amount of unused inventory.
  • We have donated 500 garments to Dress for Success USA (Dress for Success empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing the network and support they need to navigate the world of work). The merchandise will be sold online, on the RealReal’s Shop for Success to raise funds for the organization.

 

2021 - 2022 - Social and Environmental Sustainability Goals 

Emissions:

We have commenced collecting the necessary data to calculate our Greenhouse Gas emissions across scope 1, 2 and 3 based on the guidelines of the GHG protocol corporate and value chain standards. The calculation will be finalised by mid-2021. Upon determining our baseline emissions, we will set Science Based Targets and develop a carbon reduction strategy to honour our commitment to contributing towards climate change solutions.

Product:

We are committed to sourcing materials with a lower environmental impact. Our aim is to progressively increase the quantity of recycled, organic and other sustainable fibres in our products, season after season and across product categories.  As cotton is one of the key fibres in our collections, we aim to source 50% of cotton as Better Cotton, recycled, Fairtrade and organic cotton by the end of 2021.

We will roll out an Animal Welfare Policy which will guide the design team in sourcing animal-derived materials that comply with the highest animal welfare standards. ZIMMERMANN’s collections are fur-free, and we are committed to not using fur, angora or any materials derived from vulnerable or endangered species.

We will develop a Raw Material Sourcing Policy which will guide the design team in sourcing materials with a lower environmental impact compared to their conventional equivalent. This document will strengthen the ongoing effort and commitment of our designers to mitigate ZIMMERMANN’s environmental impact.

We will continue to reduce our stock of unused fabrics through fibre-to-fibre recycling initiatives: we are currently developing a recycling pilot project to recycle our IP silk fabrics into new silk yarn. This is the second part of a pilot that we launched in 2020 to recycle cotton and linen fabrics.

Packaging:

Our new consumer packaging has been designed with sustainability in mind. Boxes and shopping bags will be made of cardboard and non-laminated paper that are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified with at least 40% recycled content. The FSC is a global, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of responsible forest management worldwide.

Supply chain:

We will initiate a Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL) with our direct Tier 2 suppliers. The MRSL is a list of chemical substances banned from intentional use in facilities processing textile materials, leather, rubber, foam, adhesives and trim parts in textiles, apparel, and footwear. Through the adoption of the MRSL, our supply chain partners will be able to identify the restricted substances they use in their processes, identify suitable alternatives and work towards a restricted substances phase-out plan.

We will deliver training sessions to our Tier 1 and 2 suppliers to raise awareness of ZIMMERMANN’s priorities on social and environmental topics.

The social modules of the training will have a focus on supply chain transparency and our commitment to protect human rights in our supply chain, which includes taking steps to address any risks of modern slavery occurring in our global operation and supply chain. Following ZIMMERMANN’s submission of its first Modern Slavery Statement, this training is one of the steps that we are taking to raise awareness of this topic with our suppliers.  

The environmental module will be centred on chemical management and greenhouse gas emissions reductions, which will be a key focus for ZIMMERMANN in 2021 with the rollout of the MRSL and its first greenhouse gas emissions assessment.  

 

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