About You, Yoox Net-a-porter and Zalando Have One Shared Sustainability Goal
LONDON — When fashion meets science.
About You, Yoox Net-a-porter and Zalando are coming together for a better fashion future by collaborating on a bespoke learning platform that teaches their brand partners how to be more sustainably aligned with science.
More from WWD
It’s a unique partnership between the three retailers to tackle reducing carbon emission within their value chains and across their respective businesses.
Each retailer has set a reductions target inhouse with support from the Science Based Targets initiative.
The special program will be accessible to all About You, Yoox Net-a-porter and Zalando brand partners at no additional cost to educate them on setting climate targets with an emphasis on the journey of measuring emissions, setting goals that align with climate science to submit them for approval from the SBTi.
A sustainability networking space will be open for fashion brands to engage and exchange with one another with sustainability experts on hand.
Between 70 and 90 percent of the fashion footprint comes from upstream supply chain activities that the retailers are optimistically tackling.
“We see an industry-changing momentum in aligning greenhouse gas emission reduction pathways with science. More than 1,500 companies had their targets approved by the SBTi as of July 2022. We have set science-based targets approved by the SBTi and are benefitting from our efforts now,” said Hannes Wiese, cofounder and co-chief executive officer of About You.
Of their partners, 46.6 percent had their greenhouse gas emissions targets approved by February 2020.
Sustainability is an ongoing task at Yoox Net-a-porter. In November 2020, the e-tailer launched Infinity, a strategy that captures the group’s 10-year green vision.
In 2021, YNAP launched its first resale services; six special brand partner collaborations focused on upcycling, and Mr Porter and The Outnet launched two new edits dedicated to responsible products.
German e-commerce giant Zalando is expanding rapidly, with revenues in the final quarter of last year growing 20 percent to hit 3.1 billion euros. It also bought a majority stake in the media brand Highsnobiety earlier this year.
“Decarbonizing supply chains in partnership with suppliers, brands, logistics, packaging partners and now also our competitors is a powerful lever for driving meaningful change in the fashion industry,” said David Schneider, co-CEO at Zalando, explaining that the aim is for 90 percent of its partners to set science-based targets by 2025.
The program is run in collaboration with leading environmental sustainability consultancy Quantis with a pilot launching in fall 2022 to selected brand partners. The initiative will become available to all eligible partners in 2023.
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
