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Royce Lingerie’s sustainability journey: Your questions answered
Posted by Claire Boote, on July 3, 2020.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s)
We’re very excited about the launch of ‘Eden’, our brand new organic cotton bra. This is the debut style in our forthcoming sustainable range, and another milestone in our sustainability journey.
Eden Front Fastening Organic Cotton Bra
Original price was: £34.00.£23.80Current price is: £23.80. inc VAT
Eden Grey Marl – Organic cotton with front fastening zip.
But want to know more about our progress since launching our Sustainability Pledge in 2019? We’ve been working hard to reduce our carbon footprint and improve our systems. Here are your questions, answered.
‘Eden’ is made from 85% organic cotton. Regular cotton is grown using surprisingly vast amounts of water, fertiliser and pesticides. Organic cotton is produced without the use of toxic chemicals, and with lower fuel and energy consumption. This chemical-free production process also prevents water contamination and creates safer working conditions for cotton farmers.
If you suffer from any skin allergies or sensitivities, you may find swapping to organic cotton to be particularly beneficial. Many people believe organic cotton feels better on their skin.
Yes, we aim to have at least 20% of our full range made from organic or recycled fabrics by 2025. Using recycled materials helps to transition into a more circular fashion economy, creating a business that is restorative and regenerative by design.
We have now switched from plastic postal bags to recycled cardboard boxes and paper bags, when sending orders. You may also have noticed that our new swing tags are made from an eco-friendly material using organic cotton.
Unfortunately, we are yet to find a solution for the plastic poly bags our bras are supplied in.
Poly bags protect the bras when they are shipped from the factory to our 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.
We have looked into alternatives for the plastic poly bags but the ones we have tested so far are not durable enough. We are not alone in the poly bag issue: many brands use poly bags for the same reason as we do and the majority are looking into alternatives. We hope we can all find a solution soon – be assured that we will make that change as soon as we can!
“I haven’t got time to handwash!” we hear you say. Don’t panic. Every Royce bra can be safely machine-washed on a 30-degree, delicate cycle. Not only is a 30-degree wash gentle on the fabric, but it’s more sustainable, too. According to Ariel, washing your laundry at 30 degrees or lower uses up to 57% less energy per cycle. It’s win-win!
We are always keeping an eye on production opportunities closer to home in order to reduce our carbon footprint. However, currently our bras are manufactured in China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. We have good, long-standing relationships with our factories. With the exception of this year (for obvious reasons), our design team schedules visits to each factory on a yearly basis in order to build and maintain relationships and spend time on the factory floor. The factories that we work with currently are accredited with a combination of SMETA and Better Work certifications.
In 2017 we completely overhauled our warehouse process, moving to a fully digitised paperless warehouse system which, ultimately, reduces the carbon footprint of each bra. We switched energy providers to Green Energy (gas) and Ecotricity (electric) in 2017. Paper recycling is already widespread in the Royce office, and food caddies are being introduced in the kitchens to encourage food waste recycling. Fabric offcuts (from the design process) are donated for reuse in a local nursery for arts and crafts projects.
This year, we’re continuing to encourage sustainable choices within every aspect of office life – from the choice of toilet roll, to the use of menstrual cups for our workforce (90% of whom are women).
Watch this space…
We are aware that so much more can be done in order to reduce our carbon footprint and to make Royce Lingerie, and the fashion industry at large, more sustainable.
As part of this industry-wide conversation, we are delighted to be shortlisted for the Drapers Sustainable Fashion Awards 2020 in the ‘Brand of the Year – up to £30m’ category. This award recognises the wholesale fashion brand that has made the most progress towards its sustainability goals in the last 12 months. The award winners will be announced next week, so fingers crossed and watch this space…!
For more information on our Sustainability Pledge click here.
