Canada Goose announces new sustainability goals

Luxury outerwear brand Canada Goose is adapting to a sustainable future, as it commits to using recycled and organic materials and sustainable packaging, alongside naming world-renowned science educator Bill Nye aka ‘The Science Guy’ as its sustainability advisor.

The announcement was revealed alongside the company’s second annual sustainability report, outlining Canada Goose’s progress towards its 2025 sustainability goals, as well as setting itself what it calls new “ambitious commitments”.

There are two new commitments, explained Canada Goose, which it says it has identified as areas in which its business can “make a more tangible impact”. The first is transitioning 90 percent of its materials to preferred fibres and materials (PFMs), such as recycled and organic fibres, defined as sustainable alternatives to conventional materials, as specified by the Textile Exchange by 2025.

This goal it adds will “aggressively incorporate more environmentally responsible materials in its outerwear, apparel and accessories”.

The second new commitment is to ensure that 100 percent of its packaging is sustainable by 2025, including making sure that recycled content and recyclability in packaging is used across its manufacturing, direct-to-consumer and marketing operations.

Goals it adds will build upon Canada Goose‘s purpose platform, ‘Humanature’, which unites its sustainability and values-based initiatives.

Canada Goose also announced that since releasing its inaugural sustainability report in April 2020, it has accomplished several initial goals outlined in its sustainable impact strategy including achieving carbon neutrality for company operations (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) by investing in projects that reduce, avoid, or sequester the equivalent of 200 percent of each year’s greenhouse gas emissions until achieving net zero emissions by 2025.

Canada Goose commits to using 90 percent recycled and organic materials by 2025

The outerwear brand has also joined the Bluesign raw materials standard as an official system partner, created the Reclaimed Fur Standard as part of its goal to end the purchasing of new fur by 2022 and added that it “remains on track” to becoming Responsible Down Standard certified by the end of 2021.

During a virtual sustainability roundtable, to launch the report, Gavin Thompson, vice president of corporate citizenship at Canada Goose, said: “This year’s sustainability report builds upon the hard work we started in 2019 and takes it even further. We’ve really upped our commitments and we stayed true to meeting our objectives.

“In 2020, not only did we add new layers of accountability and focus into our structure, we also move the needle on our commitments during what was a very challenging year. We’re excited to announce that we’ve made new commitments over and beyond the ones we made in 2019, and those are both around our packaging, and our products.”

The roundtable saw Thompson, joined by Niamh McManus, design director at Canada Goose and Bill Nye last week, discussing the report and Canada Goose’s new environmental goals and how they plan to achieve them. Canada Goose also offset the average annual carbon footprint of each guest who virtually attended - apparently the equivalent to 750 tonnes of CO2, 15 tonnes per person.

In terms of actionable progress, Canada Goose’s report reveals that while its goal is to ensure that 90 percent of its fabrics are Bluesign-certified by 2025 it is already halfway there, as currently, 45 percent of its products Bluesign approved. The company also added that 20 percent of its products meet the global Responsible Down Standard.

Luxury outerwear brand Canada Goose packaging to be 100 percent sustainable by 2025

McManus, said during the press event: “Canada Goose has kept sustainability at the forefront throughout the past six decades of our brand. We build products that stand the test of time, with our lifetime warranty. We’re dedicated to manufacturing best-in-class products and our approach to design has always been focused on quality, durability functionality, while never sacrificing on performance.

“We design for generations, not seasons, and our new product-focused sustainable commitments further reinforce that approach. We are not driven by trends, rather we innovate for the betterment of our consumers and our planet, we design with the expectation that people will have our products for lifetime.”

A product of success is the brand’s Standard Expedition Parka, which debut in January as Canada Goose’s most sustainable parka to date, which it adds will help set the standard for the future of outerwear.

The Standard’s design generates 30 percent less carbon and requires 65 percent less water during production compared to the in-line Expedition Parka, as it is made from 100 percent recycled nylon, alongside a blend of recycled polyester and organic cotton, utilises limited chemical use due to the greige colourway and is 100 percent responsibly sourced down. It is also the first-ever Canada Goose parka with reclaimed fur.

McManus explained that Canada Goose is currently conducting an audit of a number of its core products, through what it calls a “life cycle assessment” looking at the carbon and water footprints of the material ingredients that make up the product in order to switch out for more sustainable options.

The luxury brand added that it is committed to making products using lower impact materials and will be converting its foundational styles to more sustainable materials.

McManus added: “This is a phased approach so we’re going to be starting in 2022 towards our goal that we’ve set for 2025, and it’s going to be a journey as we work towards that goal. We’re also excited to be leading into new categories and product groupings with sustainability as a key consideration.”

Canada Goose names Bill Nye as sustainability advisor

With regards to making its packaging 100 percent sustainable, Thompson explained that the company wouldn’t just be focusing on consumer-facing packaging, but also how it can make an impact on its warehouses, production facilities, offices and retail space.

Thompson, added: “Sustainable solutions for our packaging will include recycled content and recyclability in packaging used across our manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, and our marketing operations. We are also going plastic free and we’ve challenged our organisation to work towards the elimination of single use plastic in all of our facilities that we own or control around the world.”

Nye addressed the roundtable on the urgency for global change, saying the world needs to “act now,” while also praising Canada Goose for addressing environmental and social concerns with what he called “forward-thinking” targets to be achieved by 2025.

“The hardest thing for people to understand or really embrace or accept is that everything each and every one of us does affects everyone else on earth,” said Nye. “It’s a surprising thing but the reason is we all share the air. There’s nobody that’s alive that isn’t breathing. So, along this line everything we do in the manufacturing of anything, especially in the garment industry, affects everybody in the world. If I understand it, what we’re doing at Canada Goose is providing products that are sustainably produced and they’re something that people want to buy.”

In the report, Canada Goose president and chief executive, Dani Reiss, added: “As a brand born in the Arctic, sustainability is part of our DNA. We’ve learned from the people who have lived there for thousands of years what it means to use resources responsibly, what it means to support our communities and how we should support each other.

“Our world is at a critical crossroads. We knew it was time to step up our commitment, so in 2019, we set ambitious goals to reduce our negative impact on the environment while increasing our positive impact in human communities. During the dramatic changes of 2020, we forged boldly ahead toward those goals. Our innate sense of integrity, plus our newly developed Sustainable Impact Strategy, serve as our compass.”