Durable Elegance for the planet

During the last two decades, global clothing sales have doubled. This unprecedented acceleration in consumption has brought with it ecological repercussions that have become incompatible with the fragile balance of our planet. Today, the fashion industry alone is responsible for 8% to 10% of the world’s carbon emissions

1. The use of chemicals, particularly for textile dyeing, is estimated to be responsible for up to 20% of the industrial pollution in watercourses

2. Furthermore, about a third of the microplastics released into the oceans would come from washing synthetic textiles

3. Responsibility for this comes from an economic model based on intensive production and encouraging over-consumption. This model has a negative effect on the environment and quality. It also leads to a significant increase in the extraction and harvesting of raw materials, accelerated production of clothing at the lowest cost possible, an ever-decreasing number of times the clothing is worn, and finally, disposal of the clothing as soon as it is considered outdated. It is estimated that 75% of the clothes we wear end up in landfill sites or incinerators, even though the large majority could have been reused or recycled giving them a second life

For Lacoste, this linear model – extract, produce, consume, throw away – is simply not sustainable. Our company has always believed in another way of designing and consuming fashion. We pride ourselves on offering our customers timeless products with a long lifespan.

We have never compromised our quality requirements which ensure that our garments retain their original characteristics wash after wash. We have always used natural materials which represent more than 90% of the textile materials used in our collections.

The urgent environmental situation facing our industry drives us to go even further; this is the purpose of our Durable Elegance approach. The aim is to show that there is another way to combine the enjoyment of dressing well while still respecting the environment. This approach must encourage our industry to reinvent itself and create a future compatible with the main priorities of our time. This is why Lacoste is committed to developing fashion that embraces the principles of the circular economy. In 2020, we became one of the partners of the “Make Fashion Circular” initiative promoted by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Our commitment to this vision is embodied in an ambitious roadmap consisting of three commitments for 2025.

Life Cycle Analysis studies, like the one we conducted, provide a snapshot of the impact our activities have at any given moment.

However, in order to continuously monitor our actions, we wanted to equip ourselves with an innovative tool capable of providing real time environmental performance. At the end of 2021, data from our various information systems will start to be consolidated into a single software solution, called DECK.

Eco-design is not a new idea for Lacoste. As part of our commitment to the Global Fashion Agenda, we have developed training modules for all our Design and Product teams. In 2020, these training courses were not only available to all of our product and design teams, representing 120 employees worldwide. The aim was to develop a strong environmental culture in our creative teams, allowing them to ask the right questions very early on in the development of new products and to direct them towards the most environmentally responsible choices.

To integrate circular economy principles right from the creation phase, our teams have developed three eco-design indexes.

• Raw Material index allows us to evaluate a future product by giving it a grade from A to E according to the nature and origin of the fibers that will be used. Based on the state of the existing classification and publications, we have ranked all textile materials and accessories that we would be able to use at Lacoste. For example, a product made from recycled polyester or GOTS certified organic cotton will receive a higher grading than one made from virgin polyester or conventional cotton.
• Durability index also looks at the materials selected, but in relation to their physical properties. Additionally, the robustness of the yarn used, coloring choices and techniques, tailoring methods and care instructions also contribute to the overall assessment of the product’s durability, which is graded from A to E.
• Recyclability index aims to quantify how easily a product can be recycled at the end of its life, and is graded from A to E. The index considers the number of elements in a product and their inherent recyclability. Therefore, the more a product contains differing and poorly recyclable elements, the more its grade will lean towards E. Conversely, our iconic 100% cotton polo shirt will have an A grade.

The implementation of the Lacoste environmental information and management system described above now allows us to project ourselves forwards. We aim to elevate our products towards environmental excellence by embracing the principles of the circular economy. In line with the vision set out by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular initiative, we are now making three commitments for 2025, linked to each major phase of our product life cycle.

Among the sixteen types of impacts in the PEF methodology, we consider four to be particularly relevant to our activities:

• Non-renewable energy consumption ;
• Greenhouse gas emissions ;
• Water consumption ;
• Eutrophication of water resources.

The production phase extends from the fields where our textile fibers are produced, to the shelves on which our products are displayed (Tier 5 to Tier 0). In the entire life cycle of our products, it is between these two stages that most environmental impacts occur. For example, 70% of our carbon emissions and 92% of our water consumption occur before a product even arrives in the store. However, the four impacts monitored by Lacoste are distributed in different ways across the various product development stages.

We have learned several key lessons from this overview that should allow us to effectively reduce our environmental footprint over the next five years.

• The first lesson is the supply of textile fibers, how they are grown and manufactured (Tier 5). Cotton represents more than 85% of the fibers used by Lacoste. The methods and locations of our cotton cultivation are therefore a fundamental element for reducing our impact, primarily water consumption.
• The second lesson is the impact of finishing processes during fabric manufacturing (Tiers 3 & 2). Specifically, the dyeing or printing techniques used, the application of chemical products to give the textiles the required physical properties, account for a large part of the energy consumption, CO2 emissions and impacts on water resources of the production phase.

These are our two main priorities. However, they are not the only ways to optimize the environmental performance of our supply chain. At every level we are looking at ways to potentially minimize our impact: transport and logistics, packaging, and our stores are other areas that must contribute towards achieving our objective of reducing environmental impact.

Finally, we wanted to single out production waste and losses in our environmental footprint analysis. This includes offcuts from the clothing production stage, which amount to 15% of the textiles produced. Considering this amount, minimizing losses and especially recovering the waste is another key aspect of our environmental strategy.

The third and final area of commitment in our environmental policy is the end of life of our products. In the world today, three quarters of the clothes we wear end up in landfills or are incinerated. Even worse, much of this “waste” could have continued to be worn and most of these clothes that are no longer wanted could have had a new life. This is clearly a tremendous waste, both from an economic and ecological perspective.

Changing this is at the heart of the vision Lacoste shares with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation: bringing the principles of the circular economy to life in the fashion industry.

This paradigm shift is a formidable challenge. We are aware that alone, Lacoste will not be able to achieve the necessary systemic changes to create this new reality for our industry. However, we want to show that even at our level, a new path is not only possible, but is above all a prerequisite for the long-term economic success of our industry. This is what we at Lacoste call the “Global Recycling” strategy.