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Our green actions for Earth Day and beyond
Posted by Claire Boote, on April 25, 2022.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s)
It was global Earth Day on 22 April, a huge annual day of environmental action that’s been going since 1970 – and it got us thinking. Sometimes a situation can feel so big and overwhelming that we feel powerless to do anything meaningful about it. Sometimes the climate crisis can feel like that. As individuals living in this world alongside huge corporations and powerful nations following differing interests, we can be forgiven for thinking that our good eco intentions will make little positive difference.
But sometimes events, like Earth Day, inspire us to act. Sometimes lots of little acts by lots of individuals can add up to one big action to affect change. Even though we’re a small family business at Royce Lingerie, we believe that taking lots of little actions to help the environment really can make a big difference. We have ambitions to be a leader in our industry and show everyone, including larger corporations, that you can run a profitable business with minimal impact on the environment.
But it’s not easy. We know we have more work to do, and we’re constantly on the look-out for eco-friendly solutions. But we’re proud of our progress so far and excited about what we can do in the future. Want to know how Royce is transforming itself into a sustainable business? Here are just some of the things we’re doing (you can read more about our Sustainability Pledge and targets for the coming years, here)
Sustainable packaging
All of our swing tags, bra boxes, postal boxes and bags are now made from either recycled materials or carbon-balanced paper.
We’ve change to recycled polyester for our care labels – they’re now made using recycled yarns from post-consumer plastic waste such as clear plastic water bottles and polybags.
We’re changing to 100% recycled plastic poly bags. They protect the bras when they are shipped from factory to warehouse, stored in our warehouse, and then shipped on to our customers. It’s important that the bras are protected as damaged bras simply create more waste.
Sustainable materials
We currently sell two bras predominantly made with GOTS-approved organic cotton (Eden and Fearne) and plan to expand use of this fabric (it’s also used in the lining of our new Comfi-Bra Blush). GOTS (the Global Organic Textile Standard) is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibres, including ecological and social criteria, backed up by independent certification of the entire textile supply chain.
Other bras in our range (Comfi-bra & Grace) are made with certified Pima cotton, a superior type of cotton grown in the USA that represents less than 1% of cotton grown in the world. Its extra-long staple fibres give the cotton softness, strength and good colour retention properties. Supima, the brand of Pima cotton we use, is able to authenticate its cotton across the entire supply chain, from the fibre and yarn to the fabric and finished product. This complete transparency enables an open dialogue about all relevant facts, including point of origin, sustainability, and social and economic responsibility aspects.
All of our bra components (such as zips and elastic) are Oeko-Tex approved which means they produce a non-hazardous end-product.
Sustainable manufacture and design
All our bras are designed by our gifted team here in the UK, who work hard to produce innovative solutions to life’s lingerie challenges using high-quality fabrics and expert craftsmanship. Sample garments are made and quality tested in-house, with any fabric off-cuts donated to a local nursery for craft projects.
We’re always keeping an eye on production opportunities closer to home in order to reduce our carbon footprint. However, our bras are currently manufactured in China, Indonesia and Bangladesh. We have good, long-standing relationships with our factories that are accredited with a combination of SMETA and Better Work certifications. Our design team schedule visits to each factory on a yearly basis (except when the Covid pandemic didn’t allow) in order to build relationships and spend time on the factory floor.
Sustainable office and workforce
The lights in our Banbury office and warehouse are being upgraded to LED throughout, and we will be insulating our ceiling to make the building more energy efficient.
We’re going ahead with solar panels to be installed on the office and warehouse roofs later this year (very exciting!).
We’ve got plans to give our employees time out of the working day to volunteer with local wildlife projects in the Banbury area. Not only does this mean extra hands on deck to help improve the local environment for both wildlife and people, but our employees benefit with a boost to their own wellbeing from close contact with the natural world.
That’s just a handful of highlights – read more about our sustainability progress here.
