SUSTAINABILITY PLEDGE
True to our long-established house codes, at JOSEPH we strive to create beautiful and thoughtful pieces with purpose, luxury essentials designed to last season after season. But the fashion industry at large has one of the largest environment footprints – and we understand that we need to take responsibility and be accountable for the impact we as a brand have on our planet and on the people. Only by coming together will we be able to reverse the environmental crisis we are seeing unfold, and lead in creating change within our industry. Only by coming together will we be able to ensure safe, trustworthy and caring work conditions in all our value chain.
To do so effectively requires time, and we acknowledge that we are unable to transform our business overnight. But consistent actionable changes and a desire to do better by the world around us will help us achieve social and environmental change within our business, advancing to a more sustainable future.
“For many years we lived in harmony with the planet and I believe we all have a crucial role to play in bringing back this balance. Today we take action and embark on our own journey to create a more sustainable business and join forces with others to create the necessary changes within our industry. We look forward to sharing our progress with you.”
Barbara Campos CEO JOSEPH
OUR SUSTAINABILITY PLEDGE CONSISTS OF THREE CLEAR COMMITMENTS TO ACTION
1. 100% RESPONSIBLE PRODUCT BY 2030
At JOSEPH we believe that a responsible product is a combination of three key principles:
- Product using sustainable certified materials
- Products that are eco-design
- Products that are processed under safe, trustworthy and caring working conditions
1.1 Certified Sustainable Materials
The materials we use matter. By choosing social and environmental certified we are able to offer material traceability and lessen the environmental impact of our products.
The certified materials we have introduced into our collections so far include;
COTTON
GOTS – GLOBAL ORGANIC TEXTILE STANDARD
Certified by Ecocert Greenlife
Certification N° 272512
JOSEPH LIMITED
The GOTS certification ensures that the cotton used is organic, cultivated without GMO, pesticides, insecticides and hazardous chemicals. Practices are socially environmentally responsible all along the production chain.
POLYESTER
JOSEPH LIMITED is certified to the GRS, which certifies and tracks recycled polyester from the source to final product. Certified by ECOCERT GREENLIFE 272512
Products certified to the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) contain recycled polyester that has been (independently) verified at each stage of the supply chain, from the source to the final product. In addition, social, environmental, and chemical criteria related to processing are required.
WOOL
RWS – RESPONSIBLE WOOL STANDARD
Certified by Ecocert Greenlife
Certification N° 272512
JOSEPH LIMITED
The Responsible Wool Standard is guaranteeing animal welfare, land management and social requirements on the entire supply chain, from wool farmer to JOSEPH. This standard is backed up by independent certification.
1.2 ECO DESIGN
Eco-design considers environmental aspects at all stages of the product development process, striving for products which make the lowest possible environmental impact throughout the product life cycle. The JOSEPH team is committed to calculate the environmental impact of all its products and continue to minimise this each season.
1.3 SAFE, RELIABLE, AND CARING WORKING CONDITIONS
We are committed to responsible practice across all areas of our business. Ethical and sustainable sourcing and production is a vital part of this commitment. JOSEPHs Ethical Charter sets out the minimum standards that we require our suppliers and their affiliates to uphold, in order to trade with JOSEPH.
Each year, the JOSEPH team is committed to audits and review its supplier base, put corrective measures in place if necessary but also guide them to do more than the required minimum.
2. REDUCE JOSEPHS ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT
It is important for us to fully understand our entire environmental footprint and work systematically to reduce it. In 2024 we will begin to review all aspects of our business, from our products, warehouses, and suppliers right through to our head offices, stores and IT systems. The process of reviewing, measuring and analysing our footprint will be undertaken over a 12 month period. We commit to publishing our findings on our website, along with our goals and actions to reduce, so you can follow our progress.
3. ACCELERATE CIRCULAR FASHION
Our design philosophy at JOSEPH is to create contemporary product but always with timelessness and longevity at the core. We want to go further than this by offering solutions to our customers so they can join our commitment toward circular fashion.
We are currently working on two solutions:
- Extending life though care and repair and resale
- Diverting waste from landfill or incineration through recycling
3.1 EXTENDING LIFE THOUGH CARE AND REPAIR AND RESALE
Extending the life of our clothes offers the greatest reduction overall in terms of impact to the environment (WRAP 2017) therefore we are building two solutions by 2024:
- Offer care and repair advice and services to our customers
- Offer a take back and resale service for unwanted JOSEPH clothes
3.2 DIVERTING WASTE FROM LANDFILL OR INCINERATION THROUGH RECYCLING
Recycling garments is the best way to avoid worn out pieces to be incinerated or even worse going to landfill. By 2024 we are creating a recycling program of our customers product that are worn out or unrepairable.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SHARING OUR PROGRESS WITH YOU.