Towards sustainability

By improving our day-to-day operations, we can greatly reduce our impact on the environment. Our Melbourne warehouse has been equipped with solar panels to offset our power usage and our Auckland head office is soon to follow suit.

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

Read more about packaging materials

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. A study into the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by sea and air freight was conducted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the UK and concluded that two tonnes of freight transported 5000km by container ship emitted 150kg of CO2e, compared to the 6605kg of CO2e emitted by an aeroplane. Therefore, in this example, shipping by air emitted 44x the CO2e emitted by sea freight.

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.  

Working with mills and fabric suppliers that adhere to the highest possible environmental criteria is crucial to our sustainability journey. Two important international certifications gained by our partners and suppliers are Oeko-Tex, which confirms our fabrics are free from harmful substances and are therefore safe for people and the environment, and ISO 14001, which specifies management processes to ensure the continuous improvement of an organisation’s environmental impact through its activities, products, and services.

Read more about Oeko-Tex

The James Dunlop and Mokum design studios are working to create products with their ‘end-of-life’ possibilities in mind, thus in 2022 both studios will be bringing textiles containing recycled yarns to market. 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.

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.

Read more about our digital suite

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 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 technologies that captures gas before it is released.

Read more about Material Bank

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. Once collected from our warehouses and showrooms, the textiles are sorted and shipped to TRAKS’s partner mills in India where they are shredded, washed, and rewoven into yarn which will become rugs and carpets.

“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.

Read more about our textile recycling partnership

Engaging in smaller actions such as housing bees and improving our green spaces are equally as important to us because we are committed to looking after our community by investing back into our staff, their families, and our local environment.

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.

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 and give back to our wider community – dubbed our ‘Day for Good.’ The health of the waterway and surrounding bush is fundamental to our local environment, by setting rat traps, which reduce the number of predators, and clearing the rubbish away we can help our native birdlife and delicate ecosystem to regenerate.

Read more about our Day for Good

We are committed to being a socially responsible global enterprise, using textiles to bring health, comfort, beauty, and practicality to homes everywhere. How they reach their destination and where they go afterwards are of equal importance to us and while we are still at the beginning of our journey, we are excited to share it with you.