Where Are The Top Fashion Brands? | China Water Risk

 

Where Are The Top Fashion Brands?

Written by Dawn McGregor and Erin Wong 
August 13, 2015

CWR's McGregor & Wong reviews 10 top fashion brands' latest environmental disclosure

Highlights
-All brands have actions to reduce environmental footprint (water, energy etc...); but are targets set high enough?
-Limited actions on reporting with only Kering Group doing EP&L; actions towards going circular distinctly absent
-Given this, more action needed from leaders; worrisome to think about the rest of the industry - need to catch-up

Major apparel & fashion brands have been disclosing their sustainable practices and initiatives for years; some since 2000. Whilst this is a positive trend, the environmental cost of the industry is still vast as various papers, documentaries & industry groups show. So, what does their disclosure really tell us about them and the sustainability status of the industry?

To get the latest on this we analysed 10 brands. We selected these 10 brands because they nine of them are industry leaders when it comes to sustainability and one is a top brand in the industry and serves as a comparison – more below. Between them they include:

• The founding members of Zero Discharge of Harmful Chemicals (ZDHC);
• The Top 5 ranked brands in the Green Supply Chain Corporate Information Transparency Index (CITI) 2014 Report by China’s Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE); and
• Kering, the first fashion company to execute an Environmental Profit & Loss, as well as its main luxury competitor Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton (LVMH) – for comparative purposes.

All brands have actions to reduce their environmental footprint

But actions still lacking or absent in reporting and going circular

For each brand, we looked at their environmental footprint reduction actions, reporting and actions to go circular/close the loop. We did this through their latest annual & sustainability reports and websites. At no point in this review are we ranking the brands, including in the tables below (brands are arranged alphabetically, except for the two luxury brands – Kering & LVMH – which are at the bottom of the table).

Our review shows that all 10 brands are acting to reduce their environmental footprint. However, limited action towards reporting and pretty much distinctly absent action towards closing the loop on textiles, which raises some serious concerns. This is important because closing the loop will make fashion more sustainable. More on this and key findings from of our review below.

Well done for reducing your environmental footprints; but are the targets set high enough?

It’s clear from our review that all 10 brands are at least to some extent acting towards reducing their environmental footprint and this is across key resources (water, chemicals, pollution, energy & waste) – see all the ticks under the “Reduce” heading in the table below.

- See more at: http://chinawaterrisk.org/resources/analysis-reviews/where-are-the-top-fashion-brands/?utm_content=buffer0d37c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer