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Not so Fast, Fashion.
At Brown Thomas we are on a mission to Reinvent Retail. But we can’t do this alone.
Our ambition is not just to provide more sustainable products to our customers; it is to inspire a wide adoption of sustainable lifestyles while blazing a trail of circularity and sustainability in a luxury context.
This involves changing more than our own supply chains; it’s about changing behaviours and challenging the way things have always been done. Responsible business is proven through ethics and fair play. It’s creating consciousness around our collective ability to do better.
In short, this is big. Huge. And we don’t have all the answers yet. We will continue to engage, collaborate and align to best practice to realise our vision and purpose; to reinvent retail whilst creating a sustainable future for our people, customers and our communities.
How will we do this?
Two inspiring and hopeful words.
Positive Change.
100,000 Trees
We are proud to announce a new partnership with Crann – Trees for Ireland, aimed at planting 100,000
trees in Ireland over the next ten years. This initiative reinforces our commitment to environmental
sustainability and the importance of afforestation in Ireland.
Recognising the vital role trees play in achieving a net-zero future, we have been inspired by
customer and team feedback to support Crann's essential work in conservation, education, and tree
planting across Ireland. As part of this afforestation initiative, we are introducing a nominal
charge of €0.60 for our branded paper carrier bags, with profits from this initiative being invested
in planting trees in Ireland.
We invite you to join on our mission to reduce paper usage and drive positive change for all. Learn
more here.
Two words need three big drivers to inspire action.
Our sustainability programme has three pillars designed to revolutionise.
The Sustainable Edit
The Sustainable Edit is a curated collection of sustainable fashion, beauty, home, food and Irish products that meet strict sustainability criteria. Extraordinary style with a lighter footprint, our conscious customer can have it all.
Tip: Look out for our Sustainable Edit Globe, which denotes products meeting our Sustainable Edit criteria. The product description will state why a product is a more sustainable choice.
CIRCULAR INITIATIVES
The integration of circularity in our business is at the very core of our plan to
reinvent retail. What does this mean?
Circular business models aim to reduce our reliance on precious natural resources; by keeping materials and products in use for longer and reducing waste. Our customers now have the opportunity to resell, to shop preloved and to shop for refillable
beauty products with us at Brown Thomas.
Responsible Sourcing
We train our buyers and work with our brands, concessions, restaurants, logistics and other suppliers to continuously improve environmental, labour and animal welfare practices and transparency across the supply chain. We work to ensure we are aligned and up to date with best practice initiatives including the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.
Materials Targets
To truly transform our business to protect our precious land and oceans, we are working with our brands and suppliers to transform our supply chains by addressing the environmental and human impacts of the products that we buy and sell.
In 2020, we started a process of identifying and tracking materials in our business which can be at risk of poor ethical trade and/or environmental practices, such as cotton, man made cellulosic fibres and leather. Having identified these ‘priority’ materials, we are working to increase the percentage of these materials that come from recycled and/or certified sustainable sources year on year. This will enable further traceability in our supply chain and will directly address multiple social and environmental issues in lower tiers, such as raw material sourcing and production.
To read more on each of our commitments in detail, click here.
Carbon Commitments
In 2020, we became the first retailer in Ireland to have our carbon reduction targets verified by the Science Based Targets initiative. From 2020-2030 we will reduce our carbon emissions across our estate (scope 1 & 2) by 50.4% and in our supply chain (scope 3) by 15%, from a baseline of 2018.
Additionally we committed to significantly accelerating our target to achieve net-zero carbon across our business to 2040 by signing the Climate Pledge. The Climate Pledge is a cross-sector collaboration co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism to act on the climate emergency 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
Packaging
Our iconic Brown Thomas carrier bags are made from sustainable paper certified to Forest Stewardship Council and can be reused and fully recycled. We have worked hard to eliminate unnecessary plastics from our packaging and now offer a full paper offering across our e-commerce packaging; replacing plastic bubble wrap with paper filler and using paper-based tape in place of plastic tape. Our teams are trained to reduce waste where possible; aiming to pack your products in the right size box each time.
All paper and cardboard used in our packaging is certified to Forest Stewardship Council, ensuring it is sourced from sustainably managed forests. It is also fully reusable and recyclable.
Did you know? We have removed plastic gift cards from our business, removing up to 2,500kg’s of plastic from circulation annually. Customers can now get their gift cards material free via e-gift card or lower impact FSC certified cardboard in-store.
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
We are committed to a workplace where equal opportunity and unbiased treatment forms the foundation of our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy. The impact of what we do will answer to our customers, our own people and the communities around us. You can read more on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at Brown Thomas here.
Charity & Volunteering
We support the local communities our business operates in through charity fundraising and volunteering. We support a variety of charity partners relevant to both our brands and team members’ interests. Our team members participate in charity initiatives throughout the year raising much-needed funds for our charity partners. Additionally, every team member that we employ is entitled to one paid volunteering day per year.
