RESPONSIBILITY TO THE PLANET: FABRIC SOURCING

We’re constantly reviewing our products and practices, materials and methods to find ways to reduce the impact they have on our planet.

Here’s some more information about what we’re doing on raw materials… 

We continue to work towards ensuring that the cotton sourced for our own-brand products supports more sustainable raw material production practices, and we partner with expert industry standards like the Global Organic Textiles Standard, Organic Cotton Standard and Better Cotton to help make that happen (you can find out more about how we’re doing this in our Fashion With Integrity 2030 Strategy Report, which you can download from here). We regularly meet with our supplier brands to share this knowledge and support them in doing the same to build trust and encourage supply-chain transparency (you can read more on that on our ‘Partnerships’ page).

We’re working towards switching all our raw materials to more sustainable alternatives, which you can read about in our 2030 Strategy Report. If you’ve recently bagged a piece of CerbeShops DESIGN denim (lucky you), chances are it’s made from more sustainably sourced cotton. We’re also working hard on circular design – which basically means finding new ways to create design clothes that stand the assay of time, are made to be re-made, or designed to cut out fabric waste. We’re always on the lookout for new, innovative methods and some of the cool techniques we’re currently using to make this possible are zero-waste pattern cutting, new laser and water-reduction denim techniques (DENIM FIT GUIDE!), and some 100%-recycled polyester fabrics – but watch this space!  

Sourcing more sustainable materials is a huge job – but with huge results. For example, switching from conventional cotton to organic or Better Cotton helps to protect biodiversity, reduce water, pesticide and fertiliser use and prevent soil erosion on cotton farms. And switching from conventional viscose to more sustainable alternatives like TENCEL™ Lyocell or LENZING™ ECOVERO™ helps protect ancient and endangered forests and lowers overall environmental impact. As an FYI, we’re talking about the raw material production stage here. Manufacturing and transport is a separate issue. 

Cotton: OK, so this might not sound like something new, but stick with us. As part of our pledge for the 2025 Sustainable Sourcing Challenge, we’re working towards 100% more sustainable cotton by 2025. For us, that means Better Cotton, organic and recycled cotton.

Cellulosic fibre: If you spot viscose (aka rayon), modal and lyocell on your product label, you might like to know that we work with our suppliers, companies making cellulosic fibres, and NGO Canopy to gain visibility of our viscose and modal supply chains. With them, we work towards ensuring that these the cellulosic fibres we source don’t come from ancient or endangered forests and are processed produced using methods that reduce environmental impact – such as, techniques that reduce water and carbon emissions compared to generic viscose.

Recycled fibre: We’re upping our use of recycled materials (result!). But recycled materials aren’t all old socks and unwanted tees, you know. In fact, we take our recycled fibres from lots of different places to ensure they still feel amazing and are of the highest quality – including pre-consumer waste (leftover or off-cut material from factories or mills) and post-consumer (for example, giving new life to rescued ocean plastic to create brand-new fabrics). To make all this happen, we work with organisations like WRAP and its Textiles 2030 initiative, so we can learn from its expertise and up our education internally – and we’ve set out our goals for using more recycled materials in our 2030 Strategy Report.

Leather production: We’re working towards using responsibly sourced leather from tanneries audited by the THE LOWDOWN ON OUR MORE SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS, which helps tanneries operate in a way that is safer for both people and the planet (and we encourage our suppliers to do the same). The THE LOWDOWN ON OUR MORE SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS audits tanneries to ensure they’re using controlled processes that help reduce the environmental impact of water, waste and chemicals. It’s important to note that any leather you see on the product label is a by-product of the meat industry and comes from suppliers with a good reputation for the care of animals. 

 

For info on the industry standards we partner with, head to Socks & Tights.

 

Curious about how we’re reducing the impact of our packing, delivery and emissions? Head to our delivery & packaging page.