Reformation Making Goals to Becoming 100% Sustainable

The company, Reformation has a fantastic outlook on sustainability, “We put sustainability at the core of everything we do. We invest in green building infrastructure to minimize our waste, water, and energy footprints. By providing on-the-job training and opportunities for growth, we also invest in the people who make this revolution possible.” Personally, I have never shopped the brand before. However, I am very well known of the company. What shocked me the most was the fact that Reformation is sustainable. Not that they are 100% sustainable, but no brand is. It’s simply not achievable in the industry yet, however they are making many moves and goals to become more sustainable. In the fashion forum, the VP Kathleen Talbot, and the director of sustainability Carrie Freiman had a lot to say on the company’s current and future sustainable goals and practices. To start off the talk they said Reformation hopes to “lead and inspire” the fashion industry to sustainable cycles. They used this term “Tool Box” a lot, referring to the ways they are sustainable; the practices/ methods, the materials used, and the programs started. Using the “Tool Box” as the hub for all the sustainability action within the company. Ironically, they used the idea of  “Sustainable Fast Fashion.” This is comical to think due to fast fashion single-handily destroying our plant one $10 t-shirt at a time. However, with what they said, maybe the idea of a sustainable fast fashion company isn't so hard to grasp.

Not only was I shocked that Reformation was a sustainable brand, but also by the practices and materials used. As the talk went on, I couldn't help but think of sustainable thinkers. This company and the women were sustainable thinkers, they thought of all the effects; socially, economically, and physically, they made the company’s lifestyle into a sustainable one. The most sustainable they remained was through the company’s supply chain. Focusing on minimizing the environmental impact and achieving fair and safe working conditions. Using vertical integration they have the power for complete control with their own factory in Los Angeles operated by 250 employees daily. They believe that sustainability should start at the beginning with the planning, buying, and producing. The production houses utilize all waste, basically zero ends of good waste through fabric-recycling programs. They create zero end waste by being responsive, using data on how products are performing. Unlike most retailers, they limit releases on a weekly basis. By producing less and analyzing data they found a way to still be profitable and sustainable.  Going more into the pre-consumer stage, this is the most polluting and where most of the changes need to be made. Supporting this idea, “up to ⅔ of sustainability impact happens at the raw materials stage.” In the production phase, Reformation uses sustainable and dead stock resources to the best of their ability. Following a company-wide fiber standard created with references to industry tools, they focus on the social and environmental impact. Utilizing an updated fiber standard to guide and empower the designers and product development team in choosing more sustainable sourcing. They also follow fiber-processing standards, because there's more to the fiber than just the natural contents. Especially relating to the line, they explained that using sustainable materials could be difficult. To the point, tops, bottoms, and jumpsuits are washed often, so finding a durable sustainable material is challenging. But they don’t just give up there, they teach and inform their customers to wash less, line dry, and wash in cold water because, in the end, the customer decides the life cycle of the garment. Trying their best to use natural or recycled, plant-based fibers. They categorize their fibers by better than most (renewable and sustainable fibers), could be better (somewhat renewable), don’t use without certification (wool, silk, leather), and don’t use (synthetic fibers). Although they do use synthetic fibers they will only use 10% or less to achieve fabric durability. By end of Summer 2019, they are looking to move away from all synthetic garments. And in the future, they are trying to make 75% of all the garments machine or hand washable.

Reformation wants to be part of the solution they thrive to be the best in terms of giving back to the environment and being sustainable thinkers. By utilizing their workers, they offer incentives for them if they give back to the community. In the photo below, it shows the Reformation workers planting trees for their local community. By thinking of water input, energy input, land use, greenhouse gas emissions, availability of fiber, human impact, consumer care, and so many other factors when producing a product. The use the practice called, “Flip model,” where the designer's design with what is on hand for specific styles instead of using new materials and new resources. With more sustainable practices, they operate their facilities, stores, and offices with 100% renewable energy credits, wind energy. They have many other programs just adding more elements to their sustainable brand, setting the tone for all other fashion brands.

https://www.thereformation.com/pages/sustainable-practices

Images are taken from Reformation Site (www.thereformation.com)