This month, Casper is diving deep into all things sustainability, and with Superdry being a powerhouse that champions eco-friendly practices, it was a no brainer to grab the opportunity to speak with Josh Chait, Superdry’s buyer, all about Superdry’s sustainability goals and beyond.
Superdry’s mission is to inspire and engage style-obsessed consumers, while leaving a positive environmental legacy.
Q: What makes a fashion brand genuinely sustainable?
At Superdry, the principles of being a sustainable brand have been incorporated into every business decision at the highest level. We’ve made it our mission to be the most sustainable listed fashion global fashion brand on the planet by 2030. To achieve this, we’ve been looking inwards for a long time at our material sourcing, processes, logistics, and supplier partners to see what tangible changes we can make immediately and what long term changes we can make in the future.
Q: What are some of the Superdry sustainability practices consumers can benefit from?
In order to try meet our sustainability goals, we’ve been looking hard at our product lines and customer value offerings. This benefits our customers because our core offering gets refreshed and optimised and we can make innovations. Take our Classic Fuji Puffer Jackets for example: Now that our padding is 100% Recycled Polyester, we’re able to achieve better looking and feeling baffles (space between the layers). Because we made this sustainability innovation, we decided to include a removeable hood feature to the jacket instead of a permanent hood, giving the customer increased versatility.
Q: What do you and the team want to achieve as a brand in terms of sustainability?
Ultimately, we want to reduce our impact as much as possible on the planet. We want to use greener fabrics and more recycled waste products, like our plastic bottle initiative (where plastic bottles get turned into jacket filling). We also want to keep building up our great Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by partnering with our suppliers and championing equality and fair wages in their manufacturing teams. We strongly believe this will further our goals and make sustainability an inherent part of our culture.
Q: Can you tell us about the eco-friendly fabrics you look for?
So, as I mentioned, we’re looking to fully convert to organic cotton by 2030. We also use EcoVero instead of viscose to manufacture some of our products. EcoVero is incredibly green and uses 50% less water and produces 50% less carbon emissions then viscose, which is incredible! On top of that, all the water used in the process is scrubbed clean and repurposed, which solves a lot of environmental waste problems that many fabrics have.
Q: What should consumers look out for when shopping sustainably?
Consumers should lookout for recycled jacket fill, organic cottons, and other materials free from pesticides. They should look out for messaging from the company: sustainability isn’t a trend and shouldn’t be capitalised on as such. I firmly believe that companies should have firm goals in places that customers can view at any time.
Q: What do you think is the biggest misconception about sustainable shopping?
The biggest misconception I think people face is the thought that shopping sustainable products is expensive. With all the technological advancements being made as well as economies of scale, sustainable products should be readily available to any shopper searching for it at an affordable price.
Q: What do you think are the keys to offering a sustainable range appealing to the consumer?
For one, it’s got to sit within the framework of your product offering. For example, we didn’t re-invent the wheel; we reengineered our products that our customers know and love to be more sustainable. For our “Jackets Made Better” campaign, there’s not one daggy jacket in sight – it’s all Superdry products that our customers know and want, but with sustainable twists to them! From our Men’s and Women’s Fuji Jackets with recycled fill to our Women’s Studios Alpine Down Jacket with responsibly sourced down, I truly believe there’s something for everyone.
If you liked this article, you might like our feature about Superdry’s sustainability commitments.
.png)
