Presenting our Annual Impact Report

 

Hi everyone,

How are you keeping?

A warm welcome to our new subscribers: Helene, C., Olivia, Katy, Judith, Ishnee, Carlos, Martin, Ethan and Roberto. I hope you will enjoy these Sunday musings on sustainability-related topics. There is also a newsletter archive containing all the back issues.

Today I am diving into Luxtra's 2021-22 Impact Report - a requirement of our B Corp status.

Our 2021-22 Impact Report is now live.

Certifying as a B Corp is not a one-time achievement. Rather, B Corps are required to re-certify every 3 years, and in the interim they must complete annual Impact Reports.

I've just completed LUXTRA's 2021-22 annual Impact Report and I'm excited to share the results and our future goals. The full report is available here, and on our website.

To avoid this newsletter being too, toooo lengthy [sorry in advance], I'm just going to report the headline findings. So let's get started.

Goal 1: Choosing women- & minority-owned suppliers

Working to rectify the gender imbalance in business is a big passion project of mine (it's no secret that I'm a card carrying feminist). That's why, with LUXTRA, I seek female- or minority-owned businesses whenever I can (how I wish there were a female-founded version of Meta!). Here are the stats:

April 1 2020 - March 31 2021
Female- and minority-owned businesses accounted for 14.4% of LUXTRA's spending amongst our top 20 suppliers.

April 1 2021 - March 31 2022
Female- and minority-owned businesses accounted for 30.4% of LUXTRA's spending amongst our top 20 suppliers. Yay!

OUR NEXT GOAL: By March 31, 2023, 35% of LUXTRA’s top 20 suppliers will be female- or minority-owned.

Goal 2: Reducing plastic packaging

Our goal was to reduce (and aim to eliminate) plastic packaging in our supply chain. We have achieved this to a large extent in Tier 0 and Tier 1 (see image below), however there are still times when our manufacturers (especially the new ones we are trying out) forget... 😞

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, obtaining information further up the supply chain is difficult, but it's on our to-do list.

OUR NEXT GOAL: By March 31, 2023, eliminate plastic in Tier 2 suppliers and achieve 30% increase in uptake of RePack.

Side note: obviously just eliminating plastic packaging within Luxtra's supply chain isn't going to change the world. So we will of course ask our suppliers what they can / are doing to reduce (or eliminate!) plastic with regard to all the brands with which they work.

A reminder of Luxtra's supply chain Tiers.

Goal 3: Product "End Of Life" programme

By "End of Life" I mean an eco-friendly plan for what happens with our products when they are worn out. End of Life does include processes such as repair and resale, to prolong the product's lifespan.

Unfortunately we (I) was less successful in achieving Luxtra's End Of Life goals over the past 12 months: I fell short of developing and implementing an end of life programme, that I had promised to this time a year ago.

OUR NEXT GOAL: By March 31, 2023, we will have a coherent and professional End Of Life programme implemented. Promise.

A recurring image in these newsletters: the Value Hill model.

Goal 4: Solidifying & measuring impact re: donations
We believe in giving back, and aim to donate at least 2% of our gross annual revenue (not merely profits!) to good causes.

2020-2021: We donated 2.9% of gross sales to Color of Change, the WHO Covid-19 solidarity response fund, The Orangutan Project and Ripple Africa.

2021-2022: We donated 2.4% of gross sales to The Orangutan Project, The Circle and Ripple Africa.

OUR NEXT GOAL: By March 31, 2023 to put in place 3 impact measurement metrics and continue to donate a minimum of 2% gross revenue to charity.

L-R: Images from The Circle, The Orangutan Project, and Ripple Africa.

Goal 5: Research upper tiers of supply chain

As I alluded to above, our aim was learn more about the upper tiers of our supply chain. This proved difficult, as I found some of our suppliers' suppliers frankly to be fairly aggressive. Yikes.

OUR NEXT GOAL: By March 31, 2023, to identify Tier 3 suppliers for metal hardware, threads and outer material and interview them about material origin and codes of conduct.

Where does the metal in our chains and other metal hardware come from? Where is it physically mined? That's what we want to find out by 2023

Goal 6: Further shift to eco-friendly materials

I've written before about using more circular materials at Luxtra, and moving away from "vegan leathers" that still contain polyurethane (I've also written an article about why that is). Again, I've not made as much progress as I would have wished on this front... 😑

OUR NEXT GOAL: By March 31, 2023, I am aiming for Luxtra's collection to be made with the below 4 materials: Mirum, PETT (recycled) PET from Bigagli, Bananatex and Bye Plastic from Flavia Amadeu.