Big dreams start with small steps and we’re working towards making only a positive impact on the world. We can use textiles to bring health, comfort, beauty, and practicality to homes everywhere, but how they reach their destination and where they go afterwards are of equal importance to us.

Operations

We strive to lessen our impact on the environment by improving our day-to-day operations. Towards achieving this, our Melbourne warehouse has been equipped with solar panels to offset our power usage and we have recently finished the solar panel install at our Auckland Warehouse, we are looking forward to providing passive, environmentally friendly power to the site.

Throughout our supply chain we are constantly optimising our processes to reduce the amount of packaging materials used. We are working towards the removal of single use plastic for all inbound and out-bound packaging and where possible we are reusing unavoidable single-use plastics. We endeavour to reuse all the fabric cores from incoming goods for our outgoing goods, and we collect cores from our customers to reuse.

Logistics
 

In recent years we have reduced the carbon footprint of our products by embarking on a major operational shift away from air freight, in favour of utilising sea freight wherever possible. To accommodate the longer lead times via sea we have changed our ordering structure and constructed purpose-built facilities to house additional stock holdings, minimising our reliance on emergency shipping options. 

In the year 2020 to 2021 we increased our stock holdings by 50%, whilst reducing the amount of product moved via air freight by a further 10% to have a total of 87% of all products shipped via sea freight. 

We have a commitment to being a socially responsible global citizen and carefully select our mills, production facilities, and fabrics to ensure we are developing textiles people want, with the least effect on the environment possible.

Eco & Recycled Products

Along our journey to creating a more sustainable future, our studios are working to incorporate innovative textiles into our product offering. The technical advancement of recycled yarn production has led to textiles which are not only more environmentally friendly, but emulate the soft handle of virgin fibres.

Additionally, several of the international brands we distribute offer fabrics constructed from recycled or organic fibres, these filters can be easily applied when searching via our product page. 

Eco Standards

There are a number of key certifications that are intrinsic to our Eco label. The following lists these certifications and how they incorporate and assess environmental considerations.

Products certified to the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) contain recycled polyester that has been independently verified at each stage of the supply chain, from the source/recycler to the final product. In addition, certified organizations have met social, environmental, and chemical requirements (at each stage of the supply chain). 

ISO 14001 defines the criteria for an environmental management system. Designed for any type of organisation, regardless of its activity or sector, it provides assurance that the environmental impact of operations is being measured and improved.

Oeko-Tex Standard 100® is a third-party independent certification that enables manufacturer’s to transparently document product safety and uphold a consistent standard of excellence. If a product is awarded this certification, it means it is completely free from harmful chemicals and safe for human use.

To find out more please visit our Environmental Standards page here.

Sampling
 

The use of samples within our industry is an unavoidable necessity but with a limited lifespan and high production footprint it is a key area that we are working towards re-inventing. To achieve this, a significant amount of our standard sampling has been reconfigured into a smaller memo format, reducing the amount of fabric required and in turn the amount of waste fabric. 
 
Beyond physical samples, our suite of digital tools and services are revolutionising this aspect of our business. Fabrics can be visualised on curtains, furniture, or walls through our digital rendering programme, helping consumers to make informed decisions without requiring physical samples.  

Our comprehensive online ordering platform has greatly reduced the need for instore visits by customers or sales reps and orders are grouped together so only one shipment is sent per day from the sample or memo workstreams to a customer, limiting both freight and packaging.

In the USA we work with Material Bank who consolidate samples from a range of suppliers across a variety of industries into a specially designed box, reducing packaging and shipments. Unneeded samples can be returned to be reused by future customers, recycled, and at their end of life are donated to design students instead of being sent to landfill. Aggregating samples reduces Material Bank’s carbon emissions and the remaining emissions are balanced by purchasing carbon offset credits which support projects such as forestry conservation and technology that captures gas before it is released.

Textile Recycling

In late 2021 the James Dunlop Group became an official partner of TRAKS; a collaboration between Textiles Recyclers Australia and Karie Soehardi Consultancy. TRAKS operate a 'profit for purpose' model, working towards a circular economy by diverting textile waste from landfill where it cannot decompose and instead repurposing fabric to reappear on the market.

Textiles are collected by the James Dunlop team at our warehouse and showrooms in Melbourne and Sydney, before being transported to TRAKS’s sorting facility. The textiles are then shipped to TRAKS’s partner mills in India where they are shredded, washed, and rewoven into yarn which will become rugs and carpets.

As of September 2022, TRAKS have collected more than 1000kgs of recyclable textiles from our Sydney and Melbourne office and warehouse locations. By repurposing these textiles we are reimagining the concept of waste and helping to build a circular economy. One which is sustainable, profitable, and hopefully future proof.

“It’s disheartening to see our valuable fabrics going to waste and we know our customers are increasingly worried about unsustainable manufacturing practices. By joining TRAKS, we are not only helping to forge a viable resource recovery pathway for our unwanted materials but setting up these important recycling routes for the entire textiles industry to follow.”

- Andrew Mills, Managing Director of James Dunlop Textiles Australia.

We are committed to looking after our communities by investing back into our staff, their families and our local environment.

Bees

Honey bees play a significant role in the pollination of crops such as cotton and flax, and it is estimated that one third of the food we consume each day relies on their pollination. Despite the crucial role of the honey bee in our global ecosystem, their populations are rapidly declining. To aid in the rejuvenation of these populations, we have installed beehives in both our Auckland and Melbourne Distribution Centres. 
 
Our Auckland hive consists of 4 boxes housing 60 - 90 thousand bees during the productive summer months, most of whom become redundant as the harvest comes to an end and winter appears. The male bees are first to be moved on from the hive, but female numbers are also dramatically reduced until there are only approximately 5000 bees and the queen remaining. The queen lays through the winter, creating a new generation of life within her colony. 

Day for Good

To activate our culture and values, the team at James Dunlop Textiles have set aside days in the year to step outside of the office, showroom, or warehouse and give back to our wider community. 

This years ‘Day for Good’ we helped with facilities maintenance at Ambury Park Centre for Riding Therapy.

Ambury Park is a registered charity, established as a riding centre for people with disabilities. The centre has developed a range of services including equine qualifications for students aged 13 upwards and a full-time vocational training programme for adults 18 and over. There programmes include physiological and psychological therapies and educational, work training and social development programmes. 

On the first ‘Day for Good’ we focussed on clearing the waterway close to our global distribution centre on Penihana Place, Auckland. The health of the waterway and surrounding bush is fundamental to our local environment; however, it was overflowing with rubbish and rodents. Our intention is to help our native birdlife and delicate ecosystem to regenerate through setting rat traps, which reduce the number of predators, and clearing the rubbish away. 

In nurturing a green space outside our offices, we hope to provide better conditions for our team and other residents in the area. We are grateful to the Mangere Otahuhu Local Community Board for supporting this project and contributing to a cleaner, more sustainable future. 

Living Wage

 
The living wage has emerged as a response to the growing poverty and inequality which limits opportunities for many workers, their families, and our economy. At James Dunlop Textiles we are proud of our history and legacy, delivering excellence while caring for our customers and colleagues including ensuring that our team earn a wage reflective of the cost of living. We strive to pay the living wage to all permanent team members and are committed to reviewing the living wage as it is recalculated each year.

Download our SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE FUTURE REPORT to find out more about all of our sustainability efforts.