Reducing our environmental impact
Responsible sourcing and packaging
We take climate change extremely seriously and are constantly taking steps to reduce our environmental impact. We’re looking at everything we do to see if we can be using more sustainable materials, reducing waste and working more efficiently. This might mean anything from sending our tea bags to the compost heap and banning the use of disposable cutlery and coffee cups in our café to using regenerated fibres in our swimwear and sustainably sourced paper for our catalogues.
Targets
As far as fabrics go, these are our key goals:
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Viscose
100% sustainable viscose by 2025, using raw wood harvested from sustainably managed forests.
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Cotton
100% of our cotton from mostly sustainable sources by 2023 (a combination of cotton sourced through BCI, organic, recycled and Fairtrade).
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Swimwear
100% regenerated or recycled by 2025. Our swimwear will only use regenerated yarn from waste, keeping the same purity and characteristics of nylon from virgin raw material.
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Modal
100% Lenzing verified Tencel™ Modal by 2025, harvested from sustainably managed beech tree plantations. (Used in our supersoft jersey styles.)
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Denim
100% more sustainable material by mid 2020 (a combination of BCI cotton and recycled content).
The Better Cotton Initiative
More than 80% of our collection is made from cotton. It’s our most important raw material, and we’re aware that our greatest eco impact is felt through our consumption of it.
Much of our Newborn Baby Boden range uses organic cotton, which is extra soft on delicate skin as well as being kind to the planet. We’re also signed up to the Better Cotton Initiative (or BCI) – a non-profit organisation that helps cotton growers employ more socially and economically sustainable farming methods. It’s the largest cotton sustainability programme in the world, encouraging better farming practices in 23 countries and helping over 2.3 million farmers adopt a more planet-friendly business strategy.
Better Cotton is sourced via a system of Mass Balance. Find out more here.
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The Responsible Sourcing Network Cotton Pledges
In 2018 we made the decision to sign the RSN Cotton Pledges, which means we commit to not knowingly sourcing cotton from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
Regenerated swimwear
There are few things more satisfying than turning a negative into a positive – in this case, an ecological problem into a clothing solution. Our swimwear range, which launched in October 2019, is a capsule of four styles made from ECONYL® regenerated fabric. ECONYL® scoops up nylon from oceans (retrieving materials like discarded fishing nets) and processes it back to perfection. It’s swimwear alchemy – luxurious nylon generated from waste material. We’re so proud of it that we’ll be extending it across our swimwear line over the next few seasons.
Our catalogues and packaging
Rest assured, sustainable packaging is a huge priority for us, and we have a dedicated team looking at ways to improve the materials we use to make them more sustainable. Those handsome boxes that contain your Boden deliveries are made entirely from recycled materials, and they’re recyclable too (so please do). Our shipping bags are already made from 80% recycled material, and we’re working to replace them with an even more sustainable alternative – watch this space. For more than a decade, the pages of our catalogues have been made exclusively of 100% PEFC certified paper, which means it comes from sustainably managed forests, controlled and recycled sources. If you want to receive fewer catalogues, no problem – you can handle your preferences here.
Our offices
At our Leicester warehouse, where most of our orders start their journey, we have a zero-to-landfill policy, and recycle more than 500 tonnes of card and paper and nearly 100 tonnes of plastic in an average year. The lighting’s LED – indoors and out – and the loos are flushed with rainwater (we can rely on the British weather for that). In the US, our Pittston warehouse has a similar set-up, recycling more than 95 tonnes of cardboard and six tonnes of plastic in 2018.
Animal Welfare Statement
Boden believes that any animal derived product used in our clothing should be sourced from animals accorded high standards of animal welfare and that all animals should be treated humanely. Where animals are involved in the supply chain of products, our suppliers must ensure that industry recognised best practice standards are in place in their supply chain to ensure animal welfare is safeguarded at all times. Read our full animal welfare statement below.
Restricted Substances List
Boden recognise that clothing, footwear and accessories cannot be made without the use of chemicals. We do however expect that chemicals should be selected carefully and handled responsibly to ensure that due care is taken to ensure the safety of workers, customers and the environment. The Boden RSL standards are broadly aligned with major international brands and they are based on legal requirements and sound scientific evidence. Compliance with the standards permits Boden to trade globally whilst minimising the risk of harm arising from the manufacture of our products.
Read the full statement here.
