Environmental sustainability is a central challenge worldwide and we have our part to play in addressing this challenge.

The Caprice sustainability strategy aims to reduce Caprice’s environmental impacts, both in our operations and the products supplied to the market, while harnessing the new opportunities in sustainable products and sustainable product design. 

We have identified five environmental focus areas: 

• Sustainable design and materials 

• Sustainable production and factories 

• Sustainable packaging

• Minimising waste

• Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions  

Sustainable design and materials

Material selection accounts for around 80% of a textile product’s environmental impact.  New third party processes and fabrics are emerging that allow us to significantly reduce a product’s environmental footprint.

Caprice has committed to bold targets for sustainable materials in recognition of their importance in improving the environmental impact of our business and industry at large:

We are committed to sourcing all of our cotton for our owned brand apparel and bedding ranges* as ‘more sustainable cotton’ by 2026 year end. ‘More sustainable cotton’ includes organic cotton, recycled cotton, Better Cotton, Australian cotton, and those defined by The Textile Exchange’s Sustainable Cotton Challenge.

By 2025 year end we will have phased out virgin nylon and polyester for our owned brand apparel and bedding ranges* in favour of recycled fibres.

By 2023 year end we will source all wood and timber based products (wood, paper, pulp and cellulosic fibres) from certified responsible sources or recycled feed stock ; cellulosic fibres must be sourced from approved Canopy Hot Button Report ‘Green Shirt’.

*(excluding footwear, accessories and all functional trims, e.g. zips, and decorative details, e.g. lace or ribbons.)

To help us reach these targets, and to improve the sustainability attributes across our entire product range, we launched our sustainable design guidelines in early 2020. These provide a set of guiding principles focused on circularity (defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as the “principle of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use and regenerating natural systems”) and fabric recommendations for our designers in the creation of new product. By using these guidelines, we embed sustainability into our products from the beginning.

While the sustainable design guidelines imbed sustainability within our products, our standard operating procedures for sustainable materials ensure that our claims are traceable and verifiable, giving our customers confidence that the products they are purchasing from us, truly deliver on their sustainable properties. 

Progress

COTTON

Organic Cotton

In 2020, Caprice became certified to two globally recognised best practice chain of custody certifications for organic content. We are audited on an annual basis to ensure we comply.

Caprice is certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard. The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibres, including ecological and social criteria, backed up by independent certification of the entire textile supply chain.

Caprice is certified to the Organic Content Standard. Products certified to the Organic Content Standard contain organically grown content that. has been independently verified at each stage of the supply chain, from farm to finished product.

We partner with our certified suppliers to source certified organic products across, fabrics, apparel, denim, sleep, underwear, babies, home textiles, footwear, worn and carried accessories. Since becoming certified, we have delivered beautiful organically grown ranges across our own brand and licensed apparel products.

AUSTRALIAN COTTON

We have worked with our suppliers and Cotton Australia, Australia’s peak body for the cotton growing industry, to develop and supply apparel, sleep and home textile products using Australian Cotton. Australia is known worldwide as being one of the most water efficient cotton producers and produces high quality long staple cotton. 90% of the cotton farms in Australia are family owned and as a family run business ourselves, we are proud to support their work.

We are working with our retail partners to expand our Australian Cotton offer in the coming years.

RECYCLED POLYESTER AND OTHER RECYCLED MATERIALS

We have successfully transitioned 100% of the polyester* in our Mambo branded swimwear ranges to REPREVE® post consumer recycled polyester. We are now investigating opportunities to move our blended content styles into recycled yarns.

We also offer a range of swim and apparel products in our licensed brands using REPREVE® post consumer recycled polyester and have produced home textiles using REPREVE® recycled polyester fill. 

*(excluding lining, accessories and all functional trims, e.g. zips, and decorative details, e.g. lace or ribbons.)

REPREVE® is a trademark of Unifi,Inc.

Caprice work with certified suppliers to develop and supply apparel, footwear and bags with recycled content. The materials we are currently sourcing include post and pre consumer recycled polyester and pre-consumer recycled ethylene vinyl acetate and polyvinylchloride. These have been used in a variety of apparel, footwear and bag styles. By using recycled materials, we are reducing the need for virgin materials in our supply chain, and supporting a transition to a circular economy.

WOOD, PAPER, PULP AND CELLULOSI FIBRES 

All of our wood, paper and pulp products are currently sourced through certified responsible sources, low risk or recycled sources. We use the Caprice Illegal Logging policy to ensure that we are doing our bit to reduce the risk of illegally logged wood, paper and pulp ending up in our products.

Cellulosic fibres are used in a small number of Caprice products, and we continue to work toward our end 2023 target of using only green shirt ranked suppliers. 

Mambo is the largest user of cellulosic fibres at Caprice and for all 100% viscose products going into store in 2023 we have successfully transitioned to LENZING™ ECOVERO™ - the eco-responsible viscose fibre, which is derived from certified and controlled wood sources and produced with significantly lower fossil fuel energy use and water than generic viscose.

VEGAN

Caprice is licensed to use the PeTA Approved Vegan Logo. Since gaining the approval to use the logo, we have supplied PeTA Approved vegan footwear to our retail partners.

*(not all products supplied by Caprice are Vegan. Only products showing the PeTA logo fall under this license.)

ANIMAL WELFARE

In 2020 we released our Animal Welfare Policy formalising our commitment to the humane treatment of animals within our supply chain.

Sustainable production and factories

We choose to work with partners who share our vision to create great products for our customers, without costing the earth, including many who belong to reputable 3rd party programs, like Oeko-tex 100.

We are reducing the use of chemicals within our value chain, for the benefit of our end use customers and the communities and environments where our products are made. We have introduced an updated chemicals policy which sets out our requirements regarding the use of restricted and prohibited substances. Please see our policy here.

Progress

In 2021 we updated our Chemicals Policy in line with our retailers and international best practice.

The Caprice Transparency Policy was also launched in 2021 paving the way for better information sharing between Caprice and our suppliers as we move through the process of developing and implementing a sustainable factories program.

Sustainable Packaging

We recognise that our product packaging at the store level and throughout our value chain has an environmental impact. We have developed sustainable packaging guidelines and strategies to reduce our environmental impact along the way to delivering our high-quality products to customers.

Caprice are a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant (APCO). As signatories, we have committed that all our packaging will be 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Please click here to access our 2023 Annual Report and Action Plan.

With these commitments, we are ensuring less waste to landfill, sustainable timber sourcing practices and more sustainable packaging on all our product lines.

Progress

Our internal teams and our suppliers continue to work towards meeting our 2025 Packaging Targets 

We have trained our internal teams and supplier partners on how to use the APCO Sustainable Design Guidelines (SPG’s), Caprice Quick Tips and Packaging Materials Matrix and Caprice Sustainable Packaging: tips to remove problematic materials guide. We run regular packaging workshops and information sessions to ensure the teams are informed and inspired to keep working towards our goals.

We run a yearly survey of our supplier partners to gauge our progress and get a better understanding of our packaging footprint. We can happily report that many of our manchester products have moved out of their PVC bags and into self-fabric bags and our suppliers are working with packaging suppliers that are certified to leading responsible forestry standards. We have also increased our use of cardboard hangers, especially in the footwear department, reducing our reliance on plastics.

We continue to work with our retail partners on pilot projects for packaging data collection, with the view to add the Australasian Recycling Label to more of our products moving forward, to support better consumer information and cleaner recycling streams.

Minimising waste

While supply chain materials and manufacturing operations account for the most significant share of our environmental impact, Caprice does not discount the effect that our internal operations can have. We continue to track and monitor our direct waste output and implement new strategies to reduce it.

Progress

In 2021 we conducted a waste audit at our Melbourne head office and warehouse and our Wuxi, China office. We found that in total across all three sights, 67% of our waste was sent for recycling with 33% sent to landfill. In 2022, we have reduced waste to landfill to 20%, with 80% of waste diverted from landfill into recycling streams.

In 2021, we introduced battery, printer cartridge and soft plastics recycling to our Melbourne head office. With our soft plastics alone, in 2022, we diverted 513kgs of waste from landfill. Our soft plastics were recycled and made into building film, keeping the materials in use, and supporting the circular economy. 

We will continue to assess and monitor our direct waste and work on new initiatives to help divert more of our waste from landfill.

In 2022, we implemented permanent textile recycling bins in the office, for fabric scraps, cut samples, single shoes and strike offs. This allowed us to divert another 250kgs of material away from landfill. We ensure that only products that are no longer useable in their intended form are sent to Upparel to recycle, keeping useful products in use as long as possible.

Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions  

We continue to work on a strategy to formalise our commitment to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. 

Progress

We choose to power our Australian offices with Momentum Energy, which is Australian owned and operated. Their parent company, Hydro Tasmania, is the largest and oldest renewable energy generator in Australia and we are proud to do business with them.