ARMEDANGELS: Why climate action in the fashion industry starts with raw materials

Circular economy and climate action go hand in hand

When the fashion designers of ARMEDANGELS talk about climate action, they go back to the very beginning of a production process: to the raw materials. So when it comes to assessing the ecological and social impact of materials, they focus on the production of natural fibres and sustainably produced recycled and circular materials.

Yet, the handling of carbon emissions also plays an important role. It was therefore a no questions at all to make business operations climate-neutral with the support of ClimatePartner. The CO₂ emissions were calculated, reduction measures were implemented and unavoidable emissions were offset by certified carbon offset projects. Currently, there are also considerations to introduce electric cars to the company fleet as well as to address the area of goods logistics between suppliers and distribution centre and the offsetting of these emissions. In addition, many suppliers have recently started offering climate-neutral fibres - these alternatives are currently being examined.

With this approach, the company has been quite successful this year - despite the generally difficult times in the middle of the year: "Our revenue figures exceed the current target figures, we are very positively surprised and see this as an incentive to further strengthen our sustainable business model", explains Lavinia Muth, responsible for Corporate Responsibility at ARMEDANGELS. "Our credibility lies in knowing our raw material sources, realistically assessing the local hotspots and knowing what needs to be improved in terms of environmental and social performance".

For this reason, the company does not rest on its laurels. The company sees sustainability issues to  increasingly setting trends in the fashion industry. This includes transparent communication on climate-relevant aspects of the products as well as general climate action. ARMEDANGELS also sees the circular economy as a sustainability trend in the industry, the relatedness of "Circularity" and "Climate Action" is too clear. If these two major topics could be combined, new individual products with a climatic reference could be created.

ARMEDANGELS has positive expectations for the holiday season around Christmas, planning to have  new product groups by then. And in the spirit of a sustainable, climate-protecting cycle, the hope is that as many people as possible will buy, resell or rent sustainable fashion.

More informationen on ARMEDANGELS´ climate action engagement can be found here.