UK activewear clothing brand BAM has pledged to become impact positive across all areas of its operations, including its supply chain, by 2030.
Outlined in its 2020 Annual Impact Positive Report, the bamboo clothing firm has set goals for zero carbon, zero waste to landfill, zero pollution and zero wasted water across its business and supply chain over the next ten years, and says it is the first British clothing brand to so.
“Every person in the entire supply chain will be paid fairly and treated with dignity. Deforestation will be avoided and biodiversity supported,” BAM says.
“This kind of fundamental change is uncharted territory so we’re taking advice from the best,” says BAM founder David Gordon. “We’re working collaboratively – with our suppliers and our customers – until no aspect of making BAM clothes negatively impacts our environment.”
According to BAM, every clothing business has six key spheres of impact: carbon, water, chemical, waste, land use and people. The first stage for the company has been to establish the impact the business is having in each of these areas. As such, BAM says it has traced its “suppliers’ suppliers’ suppliers’ suppliers’ supplier” to systematically identify all the growers, factories, plants, and manufacturers.
“Many clothing companies are taking steps to address the garment manufacturing stage, but for BAM this isn’t enough: it has measured every aspect of its entire supply chain, starting from the raw material where the bamboo is grown continuing through to the moment the clothes are recycled by customers,” the firm explains.
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By GlobalDataMerryn Chilcott, BAM’s sustainability expert, adds: “Where there is negative impact, goals are being put in place to reduce them. We are starting straight away by offsetting our carbon and water footprints, so we’ll have compensated for our negative impact in these two areas by 2021.”
According to BAM’s report, last year, 70% of its fibres were from bamboo. The plant absorbs five times more carbon than hardwood trees. And in 2019, using organic cotton over conventional cotton saved the company over 30 tonnes of carbon. In 2020, BAM says it is switching to renewable energy in all UK operations.
“The environment is our highest priority,” says Gordon. “If ‘going green’ is hiking to the top of a hill, Impact Positive is scaling Everest. But it’s where every business needs to be headed.”
