On World Environment Day, today June 5, Outland Denim founding CEO James Bartle discusses how the environmental discussion means more than just water, textile and CO2 reduction.
What does World Environment Day mean to Outland Denim?
Today is a day we might usually associate with discussing things like conservation of water, reducing CO2 emissions, or circularity.
But with the other injustices calling for our global attention right now, we ask, 'How can you possibly pursue environmental sustainability and care for our planet without caring for its people, too?'
In our view, human rights and environmental sustainability are two sides of the same coin.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there are links between the exploitation of people, and 'ecocide' (i.e. the "destruction of the natural environment, especially when deliberate").
Climate change acts to exacerbate inequalities, insofar as vulnerabilities to climate change coupled with global economic forces are more likely to send people into poverty.
In this way, sustainability is more than just environmental.
Sustainability is social, environmental, and economic.
Sustainability is living on this earth as if we planned to stay.
Sustainability is a better future for our children.
And until we care for each other, we cannot truly care for our earth.
Are there any new environmental initiatives Outland Denim has in the works?
We have a number of projects in the pipeline at the moment.
We are examining the smaller details of our garments and how we can make these elements more environmentally sustainable, and we are also planning to transition our whole range to be leather-free.
We are working with denim mills deeply invested in the development of fabrics that can replace the plastic content in denim with bio-available solutions.
Currently, these eco-friendly fabrics are at a development stage that still requires significant improvement in order to prove high performance and a long life-cycle.
We are also collaborating with research partners and industry leaders to further minimise our water, chemical and power usage at the mill level.
This includes the dying and processing of denim.
While we currently use denim that uses vegetable dyes, organic dyes, or dyes tested for harmful chemicals, as well as water-reducing methods, our desire is to see further reduced impact that is scalable, technology driven and available to other brands.
Further, we have been able to find a sustainable way to create vintage-wash jeans, which led to the release of our Amy former jean earlier this year, the most sustainable vintage-wash denim on the market today.
Using this formula, we can apply similar techniques to new product offerings.
Outland Denim recently opened its manufacturing facilities to other brands to use: how is this tracking along now?
We are currently in the product development phase with Karen Walker, the first label to produce with our facilities.
We are working through the initial steps with other brands at the moment also, although we can't disclose who yet.
You’ve also recently completed an equity crowd funding campaign – how has this impacted the business so far?
Our new investor community have already had a huge impact in helping us lay the foundation of Outland Denim's next chapter, and their impact will only grow as we move forward.
We welcomed 2012 new investors to the team. The majority of investors are 40 or younger.
Approximately 63% of investors are female, and 42% of investors reside in Queensland. 80% of investors invested $1000 or less.
With their help, we have been able to pursue our goal of expanding our manufacturing arm to product garments for other brands, we have been able to invest in sales and marketing and create a new Head of Digital position here in Australia, and we have also been able to welcome a new Human Resources Manager in Cambodia.
Final thoughts?
It is really important that we are transparent with our sustainability initiatives and our impact.
And so we are looking forward to sharing more on our current impact and our goals for the future in our first annual sustainability report due to be released late winter this year.