As if being incorporated for over 170 years weren’t remarkable enough, the company’s origins in textiles run much deeper – its relationship with clothing dates back as far as the 1600s. And not only has it lived through the prosperous and turbulent times of the centuries in between, C&A has also helped to define the way people choose and buy their clothes. Still family owned after six generations, C&A continues to adapt and innovate, just as it did

when brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer (the C and A behind the company’s name) set out in 1841 to make their names.Today C&A is still managed as a family company that is just as committed to its customers as it was in 1841. The pioneering spirit that drove the company´s founders in the 19th century is still helping reinvent the fashion industry – by putting people and planet first.

For generations, C&A has successfully led the way in offering more affordable clothes in the latest styles and fashion.

In particular this is done by discovering and meeting the true needs of every customer and by developing more sustainable business practices. Tradition is best when constantly renewed, and today C&A devotes its passion for knowledge and results to carefully and creatively planting the seeds of tomorrow. By putting people and planet first, we are leading the fashion industry forward into the future.

Sustainability in the apparel industry is a complex challenge that calls for global solutions. Higher demand for clothing creates intensive pressures on people and the planet. Fashion With a Positive Impact means fashion made with more sustainable materials, fewer natural resources and with respect for animal welfare. It’s fashion made by empowered women and men who are paid a fair wage, in environments that are safe. And it means providing a new purpose for clothing at the end of its useful life.

Our global sustainable strategy — addresses the key issues facing the global apparel industry today: resource scarcity, environmental impacts, and fair labour conditions.

The three pillars of our strategy—Sustainable Products, Sustainable Supply, and Sustainable Lives—are supported by 2020 sustainability goals to drive progress forward.

Sustainable Products is about making products in a way that respects the environment and conserves natural resources by sourcing more sustainable raw materials, altering the design of products, and increasing our focus on transforming used clothing into valuable materials for new products.

Watch a 5 minutes summary of the by C&A supported National Geographic documentary “For the love of Fashion” on issues and challenges of more sustainable cotton.

In 2016 Textile Exchange named us for the fourth time the biggest user of organic cotton. In 2015 we joined the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and helped to found the Organic Cotton Accelerator to help create a prosperous, stable market for organic cotton that benefits everyone. In 2020 we aim for 100% of our cotton to be more sustainable and 67% of all of our raw materials to be sourced from more sustainable sources.

Our long-term ambition is to help move the industry from a linear approach—sometimes characterised as ‘take, make, waste’—to a circular mode where materials become part of a closed loop and are recycled into new products.

The apparel supply chain faces complex challenges. Through our Sustainable Supply pillar we work to raise environmental and social standards in the factories that make our products, as well as improving our own operations.

In 2015 we played a leading role in establishing Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT), a global initiative to improve wages through collective bargaining in key production countries. We also developed and rolled out training on a new Supplier Code of Conduct that raises standards on topics from environmental impacts to working conditions.

We’re making progress towards our 2020 goals of reducing our environmental impacts through our own operations as well as in our supply chain. In 2016, we completed our first-ever carbon footprint of the C&A value chain—from cradle to grave. This will help us to focus on the key hot-spot areas and tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

We are working towards our ambition of a sustainable supply chain from farmer to customer. As well as improving conditions and impacts, this also means raising standards and building capacity throughout our supply chain.

Women make up about 80% of workers in the apparel supply chain and more than 70% of our 60,000+ employees. They’re also our target customers so naturally our sustainability efforts have a special focus on women. Sustainable Lives is about empowering our employees to be ambassadors for our brand and enabling our customers to make more sustainable choices.

To do this, we conducted a consumer insights study to better understand customer motivations, perceptions, and preferences about sustainability. We also launched campaigns on our products made from more sustainable materials such as ‘Saving Water’ jeans and more sustainable cotton.

We held our first global employee engagement campaign Inspiring Women. During the two-week initiative, 23,000 employees took part and raised more than €1 million for 53 charities.

In order to truly shape the future of the fashion sector, we need to promote sustainable behaviours amongst our employees and our customers. That’s why going forward we’ll involve employees across our regions to support our global sustainability strategy. Ultimately, we want our customers to see us as the most sustainable retail fashion brand.

Headquarters in Brussels and Düsseldorf

We have two head offices – one in cosmopolitan Brussels and the other in Düsseldorf, a fast-paced hub for international business and finance.