Kathmandu

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Kathmandu Sustainability Actions

Sustainable cotton

We use 100% sustainable cotton in our products. Your support of these products helps to revolutionise our industry.

Our use of recycled cotton

'Recycolor' cotton is now part of our range. To make Recycolor cotton, scraps are gathered up from factory cutting tables, sorted by colour, and then fed into huge stripping machines that break the fabric back down. These broken down fibres are usually too short to spin, so they are mixed with virgin cotton to create a stronger finished yarn. The resulting fabric has a distinctive marle-look that needs no dyeing while the recycled cotton portion of Recycolor fabric uses about 70% less water. Water use is cotton’s biggest environmental impact, so water savings is the biggest win for recycled cotton. Less waste, less water use, less pollution, and a lower carbon footprint – Recycolor cotton is a new string to our sustainable cotton bow.

WE GET DOWN (RESPONSIBLY)

Down is an incredible natural material, but if the cost of using it is the mistreatment of animals, we're not interested. 100% of the down in Kathmandu products is certified under the Responsible Down Standard. The gold standard for sourcing our warm fluffy filling. Down and feather products come from nature, so the manufacturing process leaves a lower carbon footprint than synthetic materials derived from our finite crude oil resources.

Recycled polyester

Choosing recycled materials where we can is part of our DNA at Kathmandu. In 2020 alone, we recycled 8 million plastic bottles into our gear.Polyester is our number one fibre in terms of use. Shifting from virgin to recycled polyester is an important part of our pursuit of sustainable materials. REPREVE® is a recycled polyester that not only meets demand, it also works towards a solution. Polyethylene terephthalate plastic (PET) is the same material as polyester. Unifi, the makers of Repreve, use a process which turn plastic bottle flakes into workable fibres: We know there’s more to do when it comes to recycled polyester. But it’s another step in the right direction to make our products as sustainable as possible.

Reducing our carbon emissions

We’ve upped our efforts to reverse climate change, by offsetting our emissions to claim carbon neutrality. We’re doing this, because it’s the right thing to do. As part of our Best for the World 2025 strategy we’re commited to furthering reducing our emissions and moving toward a more sustainable way of doing business.

Solar Powered Stores

We opened our first 100% solar-powered store in Blackburn, Victoria. This follows a solar panel installation in our Melbourne distribution centre in 2016. Kathmandu Project Manager Dean Smith says the Blackburn store was a good solar project because it is a stand-alone store. “Because many stores are located in large shopping centres, it won’t be possible for solar power to be rolled out across the entire store network, but we intend to assess which of our stores can be adapted for solar power in the future to help reach our netzero carbon target by 2025.” The system has a solar battery generator that’s able to deliver 100% of the store’s annual energy or up to 92,000 kilowatt-hours. The system will eliminate up to 124 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions overall. The array will use the battery on overcast days and for backup power. A live feed of the store’s solar activities will be displayed on a monitor within the store, allowing customers to view power generation versus usage.

Action through awareness

In our stores, offices, and distribution centres, heating and air-conditioning use the most energy. We educate our staff to effectively manage these systems. The same goes for lighting — regular reminders to switch off lights helps to minimise costs and the impact of our operational footprint. New and refurbished stores are transitioned to LED lighting and motion detectors are installed to reduce energy consumption across our store network.

Independent Assessment

We work with Toitu Envirocare, a carbon certification company, who verify our carbon measurements to achieve 'Toitu carbonzero certification' and help us identify ways to reduce emissions.

Solution-dyed technologies

Innovation underpins water-saving solutions, on top of increased transparency and working with partners rather than demanding them to change their practices. Solution-dyeing (or dope dyeing) is one such innovation in which colour is added at the beginning of the fabric's production, saving water in the process. The pigment is added to the polymers before the yarn is spun as opposed to traditional dyeing where colour is applied to a fibre’s surface after it is produced, which is water-intensive. Not only is water saved, but energy use and CO2 emissions are reduced and the fabric retains its colour better as it runs through the fabric, not just on the surface.

Bio-based synthetics

Our first steps in using biosynthetics as part of our water-savings goals resulted in our Earthcolours Range, which uses traceable dyes sourced from agricultural waste. (Learn more about our journey with Earthcolours). Today’s commercial bio-based synthetics come from renewable sugars, starches and lipids – think corn, beets, sugar cane and plant oils. In the future, we may be able to extend this to an even broader range of renewables, including algae, fungi and bacteria, which don’t compete with the food industry for land. Bio-based materials will move up our preferred fibre and material portfolio. The use of natural dyes that don’t contain harmful petrochemicals means less chemical waste in the production of our clothes and less chemicals entering our waterways. Your support for these products helps to grow this industry as not only a water-saving solution in textiles but one that is traceable, transparent and carbon neutral.

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