Weird Fish teams up with Green Story to enhance eco transparency

Clothing brand Weird Fish is introducing environmental impact metrics to its website in partnership with sustainability platform Green Story to enhance transparency with its customers on the positive environmental impact of its products.

The initiative will allow customers to see Weird Fish’s positive impact on the environment, such as how much has been saved in car emissions, drinking water, lightbulb energy and land pesticide usage as a result of a product being switched from regular to organic cotton.

The positive impact metrics can be viewed on the brand’s website across its organic cotton range, with Weird Fish adding that it plans to roll out the iniaitive across its bamboo, linen and recycled polyester ranges in the future.

John Stockton, managing director at Weird Fish, said in a statement: “Customer transparency is key in every sustainability journey, particularly as greenwashing continues to be an ongoing issue. We’ve always been honest with customers about not being a 100 percent sustainable brand – instead, we highlight our initiatives to help us reach realistic targets each year.

“For instance, we’re working towards making 55 percent of our ranges more sustainable by the end of 2021 and by 2026, our target is to increase that figure to 90 percent. Our metrics are in place to help inspire greener shopping habits and get more people on board with our more sustainable ranges.”

Weird Fish launch positive environmental impact metrics on organic cotton products

Green Story has calculated the metrics following a detailed life cycle assessment on 1 kilogram of finished Weird Fish organic cotton products and how it compared to conventional fibres.

The company analysed the impact of Weird Fish products from the moment the cotton is harvested to arriving at the brand’s warehouse - calculating the volume of greenhouse gas emissions, primary energy demand and blue water consumption being saved through the clothing brand’s production chain.

For example, Weird Fish’s Starshine organic cotton printed jersey dress states that the positive impact of the product is 13.4 kilometres of driving emissions avoided, 507.7 days of drinking water saved, 1,221.8 hours of bulb energy saved, and 2.8 square metres of land saved from harmful pesticides by choosing organic and recycled fibres.

Stockton, added: “Relatable metrics are key to helping customers clearly see the impact we’ve had from switching our products from regular to organic cotton. They not only focus on carbon dioxide savings but also equate those figures to car journeys and drinking water to give a clearer sense of scale.

“The Green Story platform will also help us identify how we can make more positive changes within our supply chain, so will form a key part of our sustainability journey.”

Over the past two years, Weird Fish has swapped out standard cotton with organic cotton yarns whenever possible, in line with its ‘The Only Way Is Ethics’ sustainability policy launched in 2019. Organic cotton production, on average, avoids the use of toxic chemicals and uses 88 percent less water and 62 percent less energy than conventional cotton.

According to Green Story, when compared to the global conventional cotton supply chain, Weird Fish has achieved a 51 percent reduction in blue water consumption on average across all its supply chains.

Weird Fish is a multi-channel retailer offering clothing and accessories for men and women, with 15 branded stores, 300 stockists and an online channel.