When working on our No Frills collection, I tried to take a 360-degree approach to sustainability. For me, that came down to figuring out how to simplify the supply chain. I was asking questions like, if cotton is grown in this country, where are the scourers, the spinners, the weavers? Every time cotton moves from one place to the next, it’s packaged in plastic and racks up air miles. I decided we should try to shorten that process from the raw material to the final garment by keeping those steps within a drive-able distance – driving is better than flying, in terms of carbon emissions. There are production changes you can make that will improve the sustainability credentials of your business, for instance using shipping rather than airfreight, but condensing the supply chain will make an even bigger difference.
