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Our Mission:
Our mission is to act responsibly, be transparent, and operate in a way that improves the lives of people and protects the planet.
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We have achieved this by bringing an innovative approach to everything that we do, and creating a culture with sustainability at its core.
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However, we know that there is always more that can be done, so we are continually looking for ways to improve on our sustainability efforts.
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Our Targets
We have set ourselves a series of sustainability targets to be achieved over the next three years. These targets are split across 3 elements: People, The Planet & Product, so we can have an equal focus on the things that matter the most to us.
People
End of 2019
Sustainability will form a part of the everyday decision making process for all employees across all sites (offices, warehouse, and stores). We want to challenge every employee to make a difference and consider sustainability as part of their remit.
We will provide full transparency of what we are doing with a clear and detailed sustainability page on our website. This information will also be made available to all our business partners.
End of 2021
Lyle & Scott will be affiliated with a minimum of 3 charitable organisations that enhance the lives of people throughout our business; from direct employees, to employees in our supply chain, to customers.
In addition to a social and ethical audit, we will introduce ways to improve visibility of the treatment of workers within our supply chain (i.e. a worker’s hotline where grievances can be reported directly to us, allowing us to put brand pressure on suppliers and improve situations).
Charity Affiliation
We have recently started supporting CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a charity leading a movement against male suicide, the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK. We have some exciting new initiatives coming up over the next 12 months which we hope will positively support CALM and the great work they do.
Donations
We have a policy to never destroy old stock, and any product deemed unsellable we donate to charity. We have been working with a UK-based humanitarian aid charity which is 100% volunteer led and sends convoys of aid trucks into areas in need, to ensure that product deemed unsellable can be put to good use. Additionally, this ensures we avoid unnecessary landfill.
PEOPLE IN OUR SUPPLY CHAIN
Our focus on people goes beyond our direct employees and extends throughout our supply chain. We have a code of conduct that covers areas such as labour law, health and safety, and working hours and pay, that all our suppliers work to.
Every factory that produces Lyle & Scott product must have a social and ethical audit in place, carried out by either SEDEX or BSCI. We then monitor the progress of any corrective action plans (CAPs) to ensure our suppliers continue to achieve our standards. Also, a representative from Lyle & Scott visits each of our factories at least once a year, to ensure that what we see reflects what was reported in the audit.
In 2018 we carried out worker interviews with a third party auditing company in order to hear directly from our factory employees on all social and ethical areas. A Lyle & Scott representative also attended part of the interviews, allowing workers to put a face to the brand.
SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY
We currently have all tier 1 (primary) and tier 2 (sub-contractors) suppliers mapping out. However, we are now starting to extend this by mapping out all our raw materials, dyeing and processing plants. This will ensure we have full transparency of our supply chain and that our code of conduct is followed throughout.
Planet
End of 2019
100% of our disposable product packaging (any packaging used on our product for delivery from the factory to a store/customer which is then discarded before use) will be fully recyclable, and a minimum of 50% of this packaging will be made from sustainable materials.
We will monitor and analyse our company annual carbon output, and set out plans to reduce it in 2020 & 2021.
End of 2021
We will offer a Repair/Recycle service to consumers for pre-loved Lyle & Scott products, or a similar project that will reduce the amount of landfill created by pre-loved garments.
A minimum 10% reduction in carbon output produced by Lyle & Scott (in line with sales growth).
CARBON TRACKING
We are currently working on a project to monitor how much carbon Lyle & Scott directly produced between April 2018 & March 2019. We are doing this in partnership with the Planet Mark, a certification program that recognises our commitment to continuous improvement in sustainability. As part of Planet Marks commitment to sustainability, 5% of our certification fee will be donated to the Eden Project and 1 acre of endangered rainforest will be protected through the award-winning charity Cool Earth.
OFFICE INCENTIVES
We have made some small yet effective changes in our London office, such as replacing plastic milk cartons with milk in glass bottles (which are collected daily and reused), replacing paper towels with cotton tea towels, and using eco-friendly cleaning products.
We introduced an internal ban on single use plastic bags, water bottles, and disposable coffee cups, and gifted all employees with a reusable cotton tote bag, water bottle, and coffee cup to use instead.
We increased the number of recycling bins around the office and introduced easy to follow signage to indicate what can be recycled. All waste paper bins were removed from underneath desks to encourage employees to use the recycling bins and be more mindful of waste & recycling.
FREIGHT
We have made the decision to change our default method of transport for Turkish inbound deliveries from truck to sea. Additionally, we are now working with our nominated logistics providers to understand the CO2 output of out and inbound freight, so we can make decisions on how we move our product with the knowledge of what effect this will have on the environment.
OFFICE TRAVEL INCENTIVES
To reduce the level of CO2 emissions created by our employees travelling to the office, we offer both the cycle to work scheme, as well as a season ticket loan (with zero interest) to encourage the use of public transport.
FIXTURES AND FITTINGS
As a brand with showrooms and stores, we often find ourselves with fixtures and fittings that are surplus to requirements. Rather than sending to landfill, we always aim to donate internally or to charity where we can.
PAPER AND PACKAGING
We are always looking at ways we can reduce paper usage internally, whether this is through simple changes like double sided printing or systemic changes to limit how much can be printed. We have also committed to using printing paper made from 100% recycled materials and are in the process of phasing out old stocks replenishing with the 100% recycled quality. We have also changed over to bubble wrap & express shipping packaging made from recycled materials.
Product
End of 2019
A minimum of 10% of our products (garments, accessories, footwear) to be manufactured in 2020 will be made from sustainable fabrics.
A minimum of 5 of our product styles to be manufactured in 2020 will have sustainable accreditation.
End of 2021
A minimum of 50% of our products (garments, accessories, footwear) to be manufactured in 2021 will be made from sustainable fabrics.
The introduction of a sustainable grading system of the entire supply chain, for improved traceability and full visibility of sustainability within our supply chain, giving us the opportunity to make improvements if necessary.
PRODUCT MADE TO LAST
We design & develop product with the intention of have a longer than average life span, and to achieve this we used quality fabrics & finishes, the best manufacturing techniques, and we rigorously test our garments to ensure minimal changes occur wash after wash.
REACH COMPLIANCE
All our products are REACH compliant, and as well as outlining this in our supplier contracts & manual, we also ensure that we discuss this with suppliers as new product is introduced each season.
Fabrics
As outlined in our targets, we are in the process of introducing product made in sustainable fabric, either BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) or organic cotton or recycled fabrics. As part of our long-term sourcing strategy we are also introducing factories that are GOTs (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified meaning every step of the supply chain is checked, from the organic cotton to the product, where cultivation has less impact on our planet and the people who grow the cotton.
We are also keen to work with suppliers are that part of the Higg Index, which accurately measures and scores suppliers on their sustainability performance. We have also introduced some blue sign accredited garments into our sportswear, meaning our customers can feel confident that they are buying an environmentally friendly, socially conscious product.
Animal Welfare
We have created a separate animal welfare policy which outlines our approach to sourcing materials that derive from animals. We strongly believe it is unacceptable for animals to suffer, and will only use materials derived from animals that we believe to have been treated ethically.
We have been committed to only using non-mulesed merino wool in our knitwear for several years due to the inhumane treatment of the sheep from the mulesing process.
We also consider the geographical journey a garment goes through during the manufacturing process. In 2017, we produced what we consider to be our most sustainable garment yet. This was a 100% British made cashmere jumper, using fibre from UK cashmere goats, spun & knitted in the UK with no dye process.
PRODUCT PACKAGING
All of our product packaging can be recycled. Additionally, our shoe boxes are currently made from 100% recycled materials and we are in the process of also introducing polybags and hang tags made from 100% recycled materials. We are trialling a compostable polybag to see if we can remove single use plastic from our product packaging in the long term.