NEW YORK — No excuses.
That’s the tag line for Eileen Fisher’s Vision2020 campaign this spring, which details steps to reach a goal of 100 percent sustainability over the next five years. The brand has launched a $1.7 million national ad campaign, supported by social media, public relations, online and its retail stores.
The 30-year-old company has outlined eight key categories: materials, chemistry, water, carbon, conscious business practices, fair wages and benefits, worker voice, and worker and community happiness.
“To create a truly responsible supply chain, we need to scrutinize everything we do, from the field to the factory to the landfill,” said Candice Reffe, cocreative officer. “We need to take a hard look at what’s often swept under the rug — toxins, carbon emissions and low worker pay, to name a few. It won’t be easy. We’ll need the help of our customers, our manufacturing partners, and like-minded brands. And we’ll do it with two simple words: no excuses.”
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Fisher will continue on its path toward fiber sustainability by using only organic cotton and linen in its clothing by 2020. For its spring 2015 collection, 87 percent of its cottons are organic, up from 70 percent a year ago. Sixty-eight percent of the linens are organic this spring, up from 59 percent a year ago, according to Amy Hall, director of social consciousness.
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In addition, the brand intends to use only wool from sheep that are humanely raised on sustainable farms and will substitute Tencel for rayon. To improve its use of color, Fisher will continue its partnership with Bluesign technologies working toward responsible chemical, water and energy usage. By 2020, about 30 percent of all Fisher items will be bluesign certified, signifying that the China-imported silks and linens are dyed and finished with fewer chemicals, less water and less energy. In addition, Fisher intends to reach out to other fashion labels to create demand for responsible dyes in an effort to establish a new industry norm.
To reverse the global resource consumption trend, Fisher pledges to use less water, emitting less carbon and producing less fabric waste, as well as investing in alternative energy. By 2020, Fisher pledges that its U.S. operations won’t just be carbon neutral, but will be carbon positive.
Another aspect of the campaign is investing in alternative supply chains that pay fair wages and creating investment programs like The Handloom Project, a six-year effort designed to empower weavers in rural communities. The brand will also continue its work to reuse clothing and reduce waste with its clothing recycling program. By 2020, the program is on target to hit 1 million recycled items, which the brand will resell. Those items that can’t be resold will be turned into raw material for new textiles or made into new clothes.
“We’ve been on a path for a while and our commitment has deepened and broadened across the company,” said Eileen Fisher, the company’s founder, Thursday. “We’d like to transform the fashion industry around sustainability, and we hope to be a part of modeling that. We’ve come to realize with our 2020 vision we can’t do it alone.”
She noted only 1 percent of all cotton is organic so “that’s a lot of pesticide.” She also pointed out that the fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, second only to the oil industry “which is scary.”
Twenty percent of Fisher’s clothing is made in the U.S., up from 13 to 15 percent five years ago, she said. Hall added that less than 3 percent of all clothes actually purchased in America are made here. “Our hope is to continue to inch it upwards,” Hall said.
Fisher’s clothing is sold at more than 60 Eileen Fisher retail stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., as well as at major department stores and eileenfisher.com. Last year, the company generated $429 million in volume, up 5 percent from a year ago, Fisher said. The company’s on track to generate $450 million in sales this year, she said.
In other news, the White House said Thursday that President Obama will issue an executive order that will cut the federal government’s greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent over the next decade from 2008 levels, saving taxpayers up to $18 billion in avoided energy costs, and increase the share of electricity the government consumes from renewable sources to 30 percent. Complementing this effort, several major federal suppliers are announcing commitments to cut their GHG emissions.
Together, the combined results of the federal actions and new supplier commitments will reduce GHG emissions by 26 million metric tons by 2025 from 2008 levels, the equivalent of taking nearly 5.5 million cars off the road for a year. The new commitments support the U.S.’ international commitment to cut net GHG emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, which Obama announced in November 2014 as part of an historic agreement with China.