General sustainability Data

• Fashion companies are focused on sustainability issues more than ever before and are producing more socially responsible clothing brands, from performance athletic wear to sneaker companies to accessories makers.
•  Sustainability is defined as focusing on organic materials, eco-friendly production cycles, and ethical working conditions. In other words, "the concept of sustainability is composed of three pillars: economic, environmental, and social—also known informally as profits, planet, and people."
• Almost one-third of businesses plan to choose suppliers and partners that are more sustainable within three years, according to an HSBC Navigator survey. The reasons aren’t simply based on ethics, as more than eight out of 10 buyer firms that were pushing their suppliers and partners to improve sustainability were doing so because sustainability would help the buyers “achieve cost efficiencies, improve revenues and boost profitability."

Adidas

•  Adidas has set forth an initiative to keep itself on track when it comes to sustainability. It’s a member of the Better Cotton Initiative, as well as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which helps maintain standards when it comes to both environmental and labor-law standards. The brand has also vowed to be using only recycled plastic in all its products by 2024.
•  Adidas has teamed up with Parley for the Oceans, a global network of creators, thinkers, and leaders from a variety of industries who have pulled together to raise awareness for the beauty and fragility of the ocean and collaborate on projects to end their destruction.

Outdoor Voices

•  Outdoor Voices has brought sustainable fashion to activewear in a way that hasn’t at all sacrificed performance or style. Started out of Austin, Texas just a few years ago, its performance fabrics are made from recycled polyester and produced in factories that adhere to strict safety and social responsibility standards. They minimize water usage in their manufacturing process and offset air emissions, too. This brand is doing many things to reduce the environmental impact of their activewear.

Nike

• As the official sponsor of the United States Olympic Committee, Nike has developed new sustainable athleticwear, from low-impact sneakers to recycled-polyester jackets, designed specifically with the Olympian in mind. On the podium, Team USA athletes will wear the Nike Air Vapormax 2020. Comprised of 75 percent recycled manufacturing waste, the multi-colored knit portion of the sneaker is engineered to create minimal waste in the production process. Even the minor features of these tracksuits such as the Team USA logos, drawcord tips, zipper pulls, and Swoosh branding are all made with recycled rubber.
• The outfits are part of Nike’s new Move to Zero collection, which is just one part of the brand’s larger journey toward a zero-carbon, zero-waste future. These pieces, including Sportswear full-zip hoodies, crews, tees, joggers, and shorts, use almost entirely recycled materials and meet a 90 percent or better mark of efficiency. Along with recycled plastics and rubbers, some pieces contain organic cotton, which uses less water and energy to produce than conventionally grown cotton.

Patigonia

• Outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia explains how products listed in its catalogs are made so that consumers know that their clothes won’t linger in landfills for years. The company produces new clothes in a smart, sustainable way.
• Patagonia uses eco-conscious materials such as organic cotton, Tencell lyocell, and hemp for many of their products and follows responsible construction practices, such as improving existing buildings instead of building new ones whenever possible for their retail stores and using solar panels at their headquarters.
• The brand engages in many activities to ensure ethical production too, including following a strict code of conduct to all suppliers, auditing 100% of finished-goods factories and employ audit and remediation processes for their raw material suppliers. Patagonia is also increasingly sourcing from Fair Trade Certified factories.

Athleta

•  Athleta is a large athletic wear company taking big steps towards more sustainable practices. The brand has become a B-Corp, has committed to offsetting the energy used by their headquarters by 2020.

Puma

•  Puma is collaborating with First Mile to produce a sportswear collection made from recycled plastic. The First Mile is an initiative which spans Taiwan, Honduras and Haiti and collects bottles for reuse in hopes of reducing pollution and creating sustainable jobs.
• "Even though one of the key benefits of this partnership is social impact, the Puma and First Mile program has diverted over 40 tonnes of plastic waste from landfills and oceans, just for the products made for 2020. This roughly translates into 1,980,286 plastic bottles being reused,” said Stefan Seidel, Head of Corporate Sustainability for the company. “The pieces from this co-branded training collection range from shoes, tees, shorts, pants and jackets—all the apparel is made of at least 83 per cent to even 100 per cent from the more sustainable yarn sourced from First Mile.”

Summary Of Our Early Findings Relevant To The Goals

• Our initial hour of research provided six performance wear brands and some sustainability initiatives. We did not have time in the first hour to do a deep dive into each one, which will be reflected in our scoping below.
• We also provided some overall general information and statistics.
• Please select one or more of the options provided in the proposed scoping section below.