Circular 2030 of the Reformation, Net Positive Dress Plan – WWD

reformationThe latest Impact report highlights circularity goals, aiming to be a circular fashion brand by 2030.

The brand has planned its renewal sustainability Roadmap since the pandemic. in 2020, reformation It has set itself the goal of being “climate positive” by 2025 and is now just as ambitious hoping to be “circular” by 2030. Last month, Reformation brought handbags onto the market be recycled as proof of his commitment.

“Sustainability has been an integral part of our DNA from the start,” says Kathleen Talbot, CEO sustainability WWD said ahead of the report’s release.

As a certified carbon neutral company, Reformation measures its carbon emissions every year and offsets 100 percent of its footprint. The measurements include the “RefScale”, a methodology developed by the brand in 2015 and verified by Sustainable Business Consulting.

“We’re not trying to create our own benchmark,” Talbot affirmed, citing his verified, science-based goals and ongoing work with the Carbon Disclosure Project.

The brand is betting its future hopes on circular fashion by making its clothing circular, worn often, durable and made from better materials. It anchors this definition to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s broader definition of a circular economy as one that eliminates waste and pollution, circulates products and materials, and regenerates nature.

Talbot said circular design is an “undervalued” and “less well-defined goal” in the fashion industry that the company is banking on.

Brands like Reformation, Rent the Runway and Everlane are all part of the values-driven group of young sustainable companies clothing Companies that had entered the scene by 2010. Reformation claims to be profitable, with sales doubling to $300 million in four years, according to a recent Bloomberg report.

Its sustainability roadmap is broadly in line with growth. According to the figures, 0.5 percent of Reformation garments were overstock of directly donated products, 16 percent of stores are circular (resale, rental or vintage), 15 percent of materials are textile-to-textile recyclable, 68 percent of Materials were recycled, regenerative or renewable and 17 percent of materials were post-consumer recycled or next-generation fabrics.

Reformation primarily relies on organic cotton, viscose and lyocell as its main fibers, but said the company is deviating from using fresh fibers due to high water and emissions loads. Certified silk and Leather Working Group-certified leather account for a much smaller portion of sourcing at 7 percent of Reformation’s material footprint, but have a larger impact (according to Higg Index data cited in the report).

“One of the things that we’re hoping to come out of with our mix of materials is that we’re not just trying to look for pilot and capsule collections here. We’re talking about basically making some sourcing transitions,” Talbot said. “Most notable from a climate perspective is our 90 percent recycled cashmere quality, which eventually became the 2022 core sweater program.” Recycled silk, specifically Eastman’s Naia “Renew” acetate, was another reference in the report to material substitutes, among many others regenerative procurement programs such as C4.

“The dream of a sustainability program is that it can be a true win-win. It can help advance your mission and increase margin as well,” Talbot continued.

The Reformation was one of the first collaborate with ThredUp as part of its resale-as-a-service model in 2018. In 2021, Reformation has committed to recirculating 500,000 garments in five years – through its partnership with ThredUp, the brand has already reached 80 percent. (This is separate from the 0.05 percent figure in the report, which is from direct production.)

On-demand tailoring service Hemster launched a pilot last year with Reformation, which is now available free to e-commerce customers if the item costs $118 or more and in 14 stores across the US. “We can confirm that this is a value-added program, not just a sustainability initiative,” Talbot said.

Reformation and Everlane were among the few brands to endorse the Fabric Act, according to the 2022 Remake Transparency Report. Reformation also received praise in the Remake report for its progress on living wages and grants to decarbonize its suppliers as part of its Factory Forward initiative launched in 2022. The program is currently supporting five factory partners to measure, report and assess their impact. The significance is that the Factories are responsible for nearly half, or 47 percent, of Reformation’s premium production.

It’s not all easy, though the brand strives to make its climate impact data as understandable as possible for its Insta-worthy “refbabes” (a hashtag used by shoppers and influencers alike).

Reformation said it is on track with the 1.5 degrees Celsius path to decarbonizing its supply chain, in line with the Paris Agreement and as verified by the Science Based Targets Initiative. Reformation produced 36,822 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, an 8 percent increase from 34,028 million tonnes of CO2e in the previous year.

“There are two things to unpack,” said Talbot. “With the Science Based Targets we have intensity targets [Initiative] for our Scope 3 emissions. Since we are not a traditional and mature company, we know that we will grow. Our total emissions grew 8 percent from 2021 to 2022, but our business grew nearly fivefold. It is very important to us to reduce the CO2 intensity of our products. You can also decarbonize in line with these goals as the business grows and establishes itself.”

“We believe fundamentally that if you can achieve these things, you can and should also achieve a positive overall effect in the production of clothing,” she added.