German clothing brand Armedangels has published its “Action Report” for 2023, which serves as a tool for transparency and accountability. It presents projects and partners as well as the label’s commitment to sustainability and corporate responsibility.
The report provides an insight into the company’s sustainability and materials strategy as well as its efforts towards a circular economy. Transparency and traceability along the supply chain were also important focal points last year, with various milestones being achieved.
CO2 footprint
For the first time, Armedangels is able to communicate the carbon footprint not only at company level, but also at product level, along the supply chain and retrospectively up to the last three years. The average CO2 product footprint was reduced to 9.08 kg CO2e.
“Understanding our carbon footprint is crucial as it allows us to identify the most effective drivers for change. In an industry with such a significant footprint as fashion, it is essential for everyone – politicians, society, individuals, and companies like ours – to take responsibility,” commented Julia Aruni Kirschner, Armedangel’s impact and innovation director, in a press release.
Materials stratego
Other milestones include doubling the use of recycled materials – from 6 percent in 2022 to 12 percent in 2023. These are materials that are reclaimed during the producton process – like cotton, wool, polymers and cellulose. The company wants to increase this percentage further.
It currently uses 84 percent natural fibres such as recycled and organic cotton, linen and recycled linen as well as hemp; and wool, recycled wool and alpaca for animal fibres. A further 13 percent is made up by man-made cellulose fibres from Austrian fibre producer Lenzing, including Ecovero, Tencel, Lyocell, Modal, Tencel Luxe and Lyocell x Refibra. Polymers account for the remaining 3 percent.
“Polymers make up the smallest part of our material mix: 2.9 percent are recycled and only 0.1 percent are virgin polymers. Nevertheless, we aim to replace these with innovative materials like cellulose fibres but replacing the remaining 0.1 percent of new polymers with recycled ones is currently economically infeasible due to high costs and minimal CO2 reduction. Thus, we focus on areas where we can have a greater impact,” states Armedangels in the Action Report 2023.
From April 2018 to July 2023, the company supported 500 Indian farmers over five harvest seasons in converting from conventional to organic cotton. This covered a cultivation area of 992 hectares, on which 61 drip irrigation devices were installed.
Fair wages
Armedangels is one of the few clothing companies that also makes fair wages for garment workers an issue and actively contributes to better pay and to revealing the true cost of a garment.
“We have introduced our True Costing Methodology and the Fair Price App to transparently include all costs, including labor, in our prices, promoting fairness and transparency. From December 2020 to the end of 2023, Armedangels contributed approximately 182,290 euros to the Living Wage Bonus at Mergü, benefiting around 120 workers in addition to their regular wages. This collaboration highlights the power of collective action in driving meaningful industry change,” explains the label in its Action Report.
It is also noteworthy that the report provides details of all 21 supplier companies in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Tunisia and Turkey, including the number of employees, the percentage of women, average overtime and the percentage of wages paid above the minimum wage (between 6 and 150 percent).
Overproduction
In 2023, Armedangels entered into a partnership with AI specialist Paretos, whose AI-driven demand forecasts help the label “create highly customised demand plans aligned with our customers’ preferences, reducing overproduction and optimising supply chain efficiency,” according to Armedangels in the Action Report.
Artificial intelligence can even predict details such as size and colour, enabling the company to make precise sales forecasts and identify products with low demand at an early stage.
“Paretos’ current clients have improved their sales forecasting accuracy by up to 80 percent, so we are excited to incorporate this tech into our production methodology, potentially reducing overproduction by 40,000 pieces annually and saving 363,200 kilograms CO2e,” states Armedangels in the report.
Plans for 2024
In the current year, Armedangels wants to further intensify its social and environmental efforts along the supply chains and, together with stakeholders, “drive change both inside and outside the fashion world”. “Fashion’s unique ability to shape global trends and culture will be utilised to make more sustainable lifestyle choices beyond clothing easier and more accessible,” says the company in the press release.
“Although we have a substantial amount of data, there is always room for improvement. Gathering accurate details is challenging due to the numerous data points, IT systems, and stakeholders involved, but it is vital for making informed decisions. By measuring our emissions, we ensure our sustainability strategy remains data- driven, helping us verify the effectiveness of our efforts. Our goal is to decouple growth from climate footprint and social harm, a significant challenge that we are committed to tackling. CO2e data is one key element that guides us in determining the necessary actions to achieve this goal, making our progress measurable and communicable,” concludes Aruni Kirschner.
