Our Summer Sustainability Update with Sourcing & Sustainability Consultant Julia Redman

It’s summer! And we’re back with another quarterly update on our sustainability journey. Our specialist Sourcing & Sustainability Consultant, Julia Redman is here with the latest news and improvements we’ve made since our last update.

Since our last update, we’ve been working on making improvements and hitting our short-term sustainability goals, as well as making steps towards bigger milestones on our journey to become a more sustainable brand.

Our Sourcing & Sustainability Consultant, Julia Redman is back to share the latest from Joanie HQ.

Joanie Clothing & Sustainability in Fabric Use

Julia here! As part of our commitment to reducing the fashion industry’s impact on the environment, we have significantly increased the amount of responsibly sourced and recycled content in our product ranges. In fact, we can share with you, our Joanie Gals, the wonderful news that over 50% of our products are now made using sustainable alternatives to regular fashion fabrics.

When we started the journey to incorporate these alternatives, we set ourselves a target of over 50% by the end of this year (with the intention of raising this to 70% in 2022), and we are thrilled to say that we have hit that target already! We couldn’t do it without you, our loyal customers, who have embraced our sustainable products and given us some great feedback with which to improve our product still further.

Barbara Dinosaur Print Button-Through Shirt Dress, Jeffrey Glitter Dinosaur Sweatshirt

This figure is way ahead of the industry average and is a statistic that we are very proud of, but we don’t intend to stop there! Having already removed 100% of animal products and fibres from our ranges, our intention is that eventually, all our fabrics will be sustainable and we are working extremely closely with our manufacturing partners to achieve this as soon as possible.

Incidentally, only 1% of the clothing sold in the UK is considered to be actively ethical or sustainable*, and we at Joanie believe that needs to change if we are to make our mark in limiting damage to the planet (*source: Common Objective).

What is a ‘Sustainable’ Fabric?

Sustainability, in fabric terms, means the use of responsibly sourced or recycled fibres to create fabrics which will have less impact on the environment. There are several different ways to achieve this:

• Organic Cotton: cotton accounts for approximately 21% of global fibre usage, so it makes sense that if we can ensure that our cotton is organically produced (reduced fresh water consumption and pesticide usage) we can lessen its impact. Reportedly, growing cotton organically can lessen its global warming potential by up to 50%.

• Responsibly produced cotton, grown to Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) standards, which focuses on the improvement of social, environmental and economic outcomes with farmers, making up the greatest proportion of cotton produced sustainably. Joanie uses both organic and BCI cotton in our product ranges.

Dewey Read More Books Slogan Tee, Pepper Book Print Shirt Dress

• Cellulosic fabrics, which are manufactured from wood pulp, derived from responsibly managed forests, are very important in our product ranges. We use EcoVero™, a branded and responsibly sourced viscose, produced without the use of the harmful chemicals used in regular viscose production (for more info please see our Sustainability page).

• Recycled synthetics, such as polyester, are less damaging to the planet than virgin polyester. Why? Polyester is derived from oil, a fossil fuel which is a limited natural resource, yet it is the most commonly used fibre in the world, making up roughly 65% of all fibre usage. This is because it is strong, lightweight, durable, dyes easily and is relatively cheap. However, its durability is what also makes it unsustainable, as it will take approximately 200 years to start to biodegrade. Joanie is using recycled polyester, which is mostly derived from recycled plastic, therefore keeping that converted plastic in circulation for longer, and reducing the amount of virgin polyester required by the clothing industry.

Why is this Important? People, Planet, Profit – the Triple Bottom Line

By increasing our knowledge of fibre sourcing, and developing continuous improvements in the sustainable credentials of our fabrics, we can contribute to the overall reduction of our environmental impact. There will always be more we can do to improve in these areas so our work here will be forever ongoing in the interests of protecting the future of both our people and the planet, in line with Unicef’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Purdita Atomic Space Print Shirt Dress, Chamomile Atomic Space Print Blouse

Our objective is to create quality clothing with unique character which speaks to your personality and interests (not trends), which you will want to wear season after season. If you never want to throw these items away, we will have helped a little towards limiting the amount of landfill the fashion industry produces. Our intention is to develop a business that has a positive impact on the environment, and that contributes to the worldwide drive towards a more circular economy, by limiting the amount of clothing we produce, and making sure that what we do produce is sourced responsibly.

We don’t claim to have all the answers, or to be fully sustainable, but we are taking significant action as a business to be as environmentally positive as possible.