“At Superdry we have an obligation to make better choices. The urgency of the climate crisis has broadened how we think about ourselves and the way we approach business. As a business we want to effect positive change for present and future generations and build a positive environmental legacy. Our ambition is to be the most sustainable listed global fashion brand on the planet by 2030.”
- Julian Dunkerton, CEO
As a global fashion brand, we have a responsibility to make the right decisions. We should make a meaningful difference, and be a motor for change within the industry.
We are committed to engage, empower, and honour the communities we work and live in. And we will continue to decrease our environmental footprint, while producing garments we are proud of.
Our aim is to leave a positive environmental legacy.
“For high street giant Superdry, 2020 has been the year of sustainable reset, doubling down on existing and new environmental initiatives to ensure the business is contributing to a cleaner, greener future for the fashion industry.” - Drapers
Winner of the Drapers Positive Change Award 2021
This Earth Day for every sustainably sourced product we sell – organic cotton, recycled, low impact and vegan – we’re donating 5% of our profits to positive, environmental causes we’re passionate about – organic cotton farmers in India, the Neymar Jr Institute in Brazil, Mobolise – as well as a cause voted for by you.
What environmental initiatives are you passionate about?
On Earth Day, 22 April, nominate your favourite sustainable cause or initiative via our global Instagram @superdry. You shop, you vote, we donate.
#GrowFutureThinking: let’s join together to leave a positive legacy.
In order to achieve our sustainability goals – and to hold ourselves accountable to our customers – we’ve set robust targets to deliver meaningful impact at scale.
PRODUCT
ORGANIC, RECYCLED AND LOW-IMPACT MATERIALS
All our pure cotton items will be organic by 2025, with 20,000 farmers supported to convert to organic production. We plan to use recycled and low-impact fibres at scale, across our range, and convert all remaining cotton in our collections to organic by 2030.
PLANET
CARBON AND WASTE - MOVE TO ZERO
We’re striving towards carbon zero across our operations and logistics supply chain by 2030, and zero waste in our packaging by 2025 – this means we will only use packaging where necessary, and we always opt for the lowest impact when used, ensuring 100% is reusable, recyclable or compostable.
PEOPLE
FAIR AND SAFE SUPPLY CHAIN
We are committed to working with ethically compliant, sustainable factories. We partner with market leading suppliers to produce our garments and accessories in automated and sustainable workplaces, where people are treated with respect and dignity.
PLANET
Net Zero
We’ve already reduced our direct emissions by 97% since 2014, but we know we need to focus our attention on our indirect emissions.
product
Organic Cotton
22% of our cotton range was organic in 2020, a yearly increase of 17%. Since 2018, we have trained 2,798 farmers in organic farming, and we plan to continue to increase these numbers as we convert more of our range.
product
Recycled Material
We introduced recycled poly-fill into all our padded jackets and gilets in Autumn / Winter 2020 – diverting a total of 34 million plastic bottles from oceans and landfill.
product
Low-Impact Materials
We are using other lower impact alternatives including Tencel, hemp, yak and linen at scale across our range. All in all, almost one third of all our Autumn / Winter 2020 collection contains organic, recycled, or low-impact fibres.
PLANET
Net Zero
We’ve already reduced our direct emissions by 97% since 2014, but we know we need to focus our attention on our indirect emissions.
product
Organic Cotton
22% of our cotton range was organic in 2020, a yearly increase of 17%. Since 2018, we have trained 2,798 farmers in organic farming, and we plan to continue to increase these numbers as we convert more of our range.
By switching to 100% organic cotton today, Superdry alone would use approximately 10% of the global supply. We are therefore gradually increasing our organic commitment, while investing in the future of organic.
Organic cotton farming uses natural, local techniques to grow cotton, which in turn respects the local ecosystem.
Organic cotton also reduces water consumption at source by between 60 and 90% – depending on where the cotton is grown.
Demand for organic is growing quickly, and while supply is catching up, organic cotton accounts for less than 1% of global cotton production.
By switching to 100% organic cotton today, Superdry alone would use approximately 10% of the global supply. We are therefore gradually increasing our organic commitment, while investing in the future of organic.
Organic cotton farming uses natural, local techniques to grow cotton, which in turn respects the local ecosystem.
Since 2018 we have trained 2,798 farmers in organic farming techniques. Our aim is to support 20,000 farmers to adopt the latest sustainable organic cotton farming practices by 2025, enough to make what we need and five years ahead of the target we set in 2019. We’re also working with farmers to address challenges around access to credit through upfront seed purchasing and providing guaranteed uptake of cotton.
65% of all our garments that contain any amount of cotton will be made with organic cotton within the next four years, and we remain committed to making all our cotton 100% organic by 2030.
We’re collaborating with others across the sector to help bring our vision to life – as affiliate members of the Organic Cotton Accelerator we are connected with organic experts, trainers and people who monitor the impacts of our investment.
In January 2020, we trialled recycling our cut fabric waste and unusable second quality products from key factories in Turkey, recycling it into new yarn.
Our initial trial processed 373 tons of waste offcuts into 427 tons of new yarn, enough to produce 1.3 million Superdry sweatshirt-Shirts.
Recycled yarns produced from Superdry waste in 2020 used 90% less energy to produce and saved an estimated 6,000 tons of CO2e and 3 billion litres of water compared to conventional virgin cotton.
In January 2020, we trialled recycling our cut fabric waste and unusable second quality products from key factories in Turkey, recycling it into new yarn.
In January 2020, we trialled recycling our cut fabric waste and unusable second quality products from key factories in Turkey, recycling it into new yarn.
Our initial trial processed 373 tons of waste offcuts into 427 tons of new yarn, enough to produce 1.3 million Superdry sweatshirts.
Recycled yarns produced from Superdry waste in 2020 used 90% less energy to produce and saved an estimated 6,000 tons of CO2e and 3 billion litres of water compared to conventional virgin cotton.
Our creative team are looking to include these yarns in future collections. Tracing recycled materials to source has helped us to measure our impact more accurately and also scale their use quickly through our supply chain.
Our recycled fill padded jackets repurpose an average of 26 bottles. Last year 34 million bottles destined for landfill or the oceans kept us warm instead.
Beyond organic cotton and recycled fibres, we are also using TENCEL TM Modal fibres produced by an Eco Soft technology, which means they have a low environmental impact and are sourced from FSC or PEFC certified forests.
HEMP
One of the fastest growing plants, hemp does not need much water, energy, pesticides, or fertilisers to grow. It is very good for the soil and can be grown in the same place for several years – without exhausting the soil.
YAK
Sourced from the uplands of Himalaya, our yak wool is sustainably sourced through our partnership with Shokay, which donates a percentage of its profits to the local communities.
LINEN
Linen is a natural fibre made from the flax plant. Flax can grow in poor soil with few resources; in some cases, it can even rehabilitate polluted soil.
TENCEL™
TENCEL™ Modal fibres are produced by an Eco Soft technology, which means they have a low environmental impact and are sourced from FSC or PEFC certified forests.
In 2020 we converted all (4 million) e-commerce bags from plastic to FSC Certified recyclable paper, and all (8 million) retail carrier bags to a new lighter version manufactured in the UK – reducing their carbon footprint by around 60%.
We are also looking at closing the loop on our polybags – which we use to protect our products in shipping. To do this, we’ve added 30% recycled content. Before sending our products out to stores we collect the polybags at our distribution centre, delivering them to Mainetti which then processes them into new polybags.
We aim to increase the volume of recycled content in our polybags to 70% by 2025 as part of our New Plastics Commitment.