Green. Keen. And ready to change the fabric of Australia’s fashion industry.

The

PIONEERS PRESENTED BY

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G-10

These are the green ten, pioneering a more sustainable Australian fashion industry.

1 ALICE POLGLASE Cotton On Group – Sustainability GM

This year, Cotton On Group was in-ternationally recognised for its sustain-able cotton program in Kwale County, Kenya. What makes the initiative so unique? Since its inception, the pro-gram has been the catalyst for major economic activity in the region, with the Kenyan Government now announc-ing plans to replicate the model nation-

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The

ally. It launched with only 15 farmers in 2014 and today has more than 2,500 farmers engaged and 10,000 to be sup-ported by 2020. Kenyan farmers have produced more than 700 tonnes of lint to be converted into approximately two million t-shirts, with 25% to be sold through the Group. Beyond this ini-tiative, the Group has been recognised for its Ethical Sourcing program es-tablished in 2009, including 14 rules to trade which governs the sourcing, manufacturing and supply of prod-ucts across its global supply chain. The

Group is working towards the goal of 100% supply chain traceability. It is these factors which saw it take out Re-sponsible Retailer Initiative of the Year at the 13th World Retail Congress held in Amsterdam. Bernie Brooks, former Myer CEO and grand jury judge of the World Congress Awards, says Cot-ton On was a standout. “Dominated by companies such as Woolworths South Africa and Body Shop in the UK, it’s great to see an Australian company awarded for its significant success and impact overseas.”

2 LUCY KING Country Road Group – Sustainability manager

Country Road commenced its good business journey in 2015, identifying core materials and setting time-bound commitments to make them more sus-tainable. Cotton represents 40% to 60% of fibres across the Group, followed by cellulose, leather and wool. “We’ve got an over-arching commitment that both David Jones and Country Group are on a journey to meeting: that 100% of our products need to have one sustainabil-ity attribute by 2020,” King says. “That means some way or another, the prod-uct needs to be more sustainable and a huge part of that is fabric selection.” The retailer collaborates with a num-ber of organisations to meet its targets, including the Better Cotton Initiative and certification via the Leather Work-ing Group Standard. In an Australian first, Country Road verified every fibre of its recently launched Traceable Me-rino Knit range this year. Partnering with a technology firm, it scientifically verified the range was made from 100% Australian merino wool. “Each brand is building confidence in driving innova-tion within their unique collections,” King says pointing to the use of recycled cashmere by Trenery and recycled plas-tic bottle linings at accessories brand Mimco.

PIONEERS PRESENTED BY

G-10

ALICE POLGLASE

3 OLIVER MILLINER Kathmandu – Sustainability specialist

By using sustainable material Repreve, Kathmandu recycled 6.7 million plas-tic bottles back into its product range last year. Through the use of recycled cotton and solution-dyed polyesters, it also saved 11.5 million bottles of water in 2018. These are some of the statistics leading a sustain-ability revolution at the outdoor apparel retailer, which explores greener options from production floors to shop fitouts. “Each year as a business we keep reaching bigger milestones in implementing a more effective and comprehensive sustainabil-ity program,” Milliner says. “The outdoor and fashion industry has made huge im-provements over the last few years. There are many frameworks, programs and man-dates now for companies to start report-ing and implementing strategies to achieve sustainable solutions.” The business now has three buildings with a 5-star Green Star rating, an internationally recognised system that looks at innovation, water use, energy and emissions. The New Zealand support office, Australian distribution cen-tre and consumer-facing Melbourne CBD store all made the cut for their commit-ment to better environmental practices.

4 TRACIE WALKER Kmart and Target – GM of corporate affairs and sustainability

Discount department stores don’t imme-diately spring to mind when it comes to sustainable business practices. However, Wesfarmers-owned Kmart and Target are on a ‘Better Together’ initiative aimed at leveraging their scale to effect change. A core part of the program is better use of cotton, Walker explains. “Cotton is an important material for both Target and Kmart. Globally the cotton industry sup-ports over 250 million people. However, despite some progress in recent years, there are a number of social and environmental challenges in some of the countries it is

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produced, including high water and pes-ticide use.” As a significant user of cotton, she says the group has a responsibility to source the cotton for our products more sustainably. At Kmart, the businesses has set a target to source 100% of its cotton fabric more sustainably for clothing, towel and bedding ranges by July 2020. Wes-farmers has made a commitment to do the same at Target, which has more cloth-ing ranges, by 2021. Walker says work-ing with Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is integral to the time-bound targets. “BCI currently accounts for almost 20% of global cotton production and is sourced by over 90 brands and retailers around the world, giving it the scale to really make a difference.”

5 JAANA QUAINTANCE-JAMES The Iconic – head of sustainability and ethical sourcing at The Iconic

Last year, The Iconic held workshops with over 100 team members from vary-ing departments to collaboratively design its 2020 Sustainability & Ethical Sourc-ing strategy. The result was a four-pillar strategic business plan that included the launch of Considered, an online platform enabling customers to shop items via per-sonal values. “In the second quarter of last year, we implemented a functionality in our buying systems to enable the tagging of items with 30 sustainable, ethical and community based values,” Quaintance-James explains. “Then we spent the sec-ond half of last year going out to brands and collecting information, with the cus-tomer facing component built over the last quarter. It definitely takes a village.” Oth-er key developments include the launch of its first supplier conference in Shenzhen in November, as well as investigating more sustainable packaging alternatives. “While we’re proud of the impactful prog-ress we’ve made on our journey to date, we know that we still have a long road ahead and many more opportunities to create positive change.”

PIONEERS PRESENTED BY

JAANA QUAINTANCE-JAMES

It launched with only 15 farmers in 2014 and today has more than 2,500 farmers engaged and 10,000 to be supported by 2020.

6 ELIZABETH ABEGG Spell & The Gypsy Collective – co-founder

It has a sustainability strategy that’s far-reaching enough to make major retailers blush. For Spell & The Gypsy Collective, which draws 80% of its revenue via direct-to-consumer sales, higher margins have al-lowed it to invest in these greener strategies. The Byron Bay-based brand allocated its first ever sustainability budget this year and has a range of ethical and environmental targets leading up to 2025. “We don’t have share-holders or investors and it allows us to be ac-countable to ourselves,” Abegg says. “From our factories to our manufacturing methods to our everyday footprint here in Byron Bay, our vision is to continue to create beautiful garments that also inspire change towards truly sustainable fashion.” Spell & The Gypsy Collective has seven pillars in its 2025 sustainability strategy, ranging from sourc-ing to production to community values. Its latest impact report revealed 86% of Tier One factories have already been ethically ac-credited, with 36% achieving environmental certification. “Only 2% of the world’s facto-ries are accredited so things don’t always hap-pen as fast with new suppliers,” Abegg says. “We’re lucky in that we design a year out, so we design in June and it goes out the follow-ing June, so we can absorb the pace.”

7 KATE BIELENBERG Cue – retail brand manager

When it comes to reducing supply chain emissions and supporting local produc-ers, Australian womenswear retailer Cue is a frontrunner. The majority of Cue’s collections are made primarily by makers in Sydney – many third-generation fam-ily businesses. “We’ve been making here in Australia since the very beginning; we’ve always been conscious of ensuring that the people who are making our clothes have their rights respected,” Bielenberg says. Even its fabric partners in Europe have green cre-dentials to their name, with Manteco tak-ing out the ‘Radical Green Award’ at Italy’s Green Week festival. A variety of Cue coats are made using Manteco Global Recycle

Standard (RGS) certified recycled wool. Re-cycled wool is created from the reuse of old garments, supporting the circular economy through the reduction of water and energy usage and the reduction of CO2 emissions. The retailer also uses a leading yarn and fab-ric technology supplier, which completes ev-erything from weaving and dying to finish-ing under one roof.

8 CHRIS BUCHANAN Tigerlily – CEO

Tigerlily released its first sustainability report this year, revealing it has increased its use of natural fibres by 123%. CEO Chris Buchan-an says despite ongoing efforts to improve its environmental operations, the brand has made particularly significant in-roads over the past 12 months. “Taking sustainability

seriously is nothing new for us. We’ve been doing this work quietly for years. Now it’s time to talk more about it. Our customers care about how we make our collections, and how we are innovating.” Tigerlily was one of the first brands to introduce recycled fabrics to its swim range. It began working with Econyl regenerated polyamide fibre in 2014, and continues to use the Italian won-der yarn today. Over the past 12 months, by using Econyl, Tigerlily has been able to eliminate 18,000 kg of waste, save 106 bar-rels of oil, avoid 86 tonnes of Co2 emissions and upcycle 846 kg of abandoned fishing nets collected from the oceans. As of April 2019, 69% of Tigerily’s swim collections use Econyl. Tigerlily will launch its own recycled lining fabric as part of its evolving strategy. “We are the first to acknowledge we’re not perfect,” Buchanan says.“But at Tigerlily we are determined to keep raising the bar.”

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PIONEERS PRESENTED BY

CHRIS BUCHANAN

9 SHEREE MAGUIRE Hanesbrands Australasia – head of sustainability and risk

Bonds, Sheridan, Berlei, Champion, Jockey, Bras N Things - all of these la-bels fall under the Hanesbrands Aus-tralasia portfolio, meaning Maguire has no easy task in implementing its good business journey. Maguire is re-sponsible for rolling out the Group’s sustainability strategy – Hanes For Good – across all brands and busi-nesses. Locally, it collaborates with agencies such as Cotton Australia and certified sources of organic cotton to better understand where raw materials come from, and how they are farmed and produced. Globally, HanesBrands surpassed its initial five-year goals for significant reductions in energy use, carbon-dioxide emissions and water use in 2012, and has since set even more ambitious goals for environmen-tal performance by 2020. Compared to its 2007 baseline performance, Hanes is committed to achieve zero waste by diverting company-owned supply chain waste from landfills, reduce water use by 50% and reduce emissions by 40%.

10 KIT WILLOW Kit X – founder

Launched by designer Kit Willow in 2015, Kit X is a pioneer in the upmar-ket sustainable fashion space. The brand supports the ten principles as defined by the United Nations Global Compact, a non-binding United Na-tions pact to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible practices. Every-thing from the brand’s trimmings to fabrications is verified organic, renew-able or recycled with all fair trade sup-pliers adhering to globally recognised standards. Willow says she has en-countered major learning curves along the way. “Chemicals are used in the agricultural process and this is where the early process of a fabrics journey begins. Chromium 6 is used in tan-

ning leather – mainly in very poor communities, polluting water and the health of communities. Cotton, due to the sheer volume of consumption and the deadly insecticides and pesticides used to kill insects on cotton crop is one of the largest contributors to en-vironmental damage and human dis-eases.” Willow says she is committed to long-term change. ■

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KIT WILLOW

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