The Danish fashion brand Ganni has paved the way for other fashion houses to become more sustainable in their production process as well as their business practices. Ganni CEO Nicolaj Reffstrup has gone as far as to publish a book on how to make fashion companies more sustainable, titled The GANNI Playbook: How to Get Started Creating a Responsible Business. In a year in which most fashion companies have neglected their environmental responsibilities, Ganni has taken over the mantle in showing what a responsible fashion company should like in 2024.
Fabric of the Future Initiative
A driving force behind Ganni’s push for sustainability is its Fabric of the Future Initiative, created in 2022, which aims to innovate the materials used in fashion through methods such as regenerative farming, waste reduction, or the removal chemicals. A prominent feature of the initiative is that new designs do not necessarily need to be imagined when classic designs can just be recreated with more sustainable materials. This year, as part of the Fabric of the Future Initiative, Ganni decided to celebrate its 10th anniversary as a participant in Copenhagen Fashion Week by foregoing a fashion show. In its place, Ganni hosted an exhibition focusing specifically on the sustainable materials it now utilises such as an alternative to synthetic materials made out of petroleum and a plant-based fur alternative.
According to Ganni’s latest Responsibility Report (2023), materials alone are responsible for 58% of its total carbon emissions. This figure pushed Ganni to set a goal of using 90% “preferred materials” such as organic or recycled cotton, polyester, and wool by 2025. Ganni plans for the remaining 10% of materials to consist of the new materials from the Fabric of the Future Initiative. In order to ensure that it is able to achieve its goals surrounding the use of sustainable materials, Ganni currently has 100% traceability on stages 1-4 of its supply chain, publishing all of its stage 1 and 2 suppliers to the Open Apparel Registry to provide transparency. These goals represent the steps required to achieve the overall goal of Ganni to halve its absolute carbon levels by 2027.
Forest-friendly Fashion
Over 3.4 billion trees are cut down annually, around the world, to produce paper packaging as well as fabrics such as viscose. Consequently, fashion plays a large role in contributing to deforestation and the climate change that it perpetuates. In order to tackle this issue, Ganni recently collaborated with Canopy, a non-profit dedicated to protecting ancient and endangered forests, to ensure that its textiles and paper packaging are free from fibres sourced from climate-critical forests. The collaboration focuses on the supply chains in order to prevent the use of materials from ancient and endangered forests. As part of the collaboration, Ganni and Canopy will also advance the production of low-carbon, circular alternative materials such as recycled fabrics and packaging from agricultural waste produce. Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director of Canopy, stated “Ganni’s commitment to these initiatives aligns them with the most forward-thinking players in the fashion industry.”
Alternative Leathers
As part of its Fabric of the Future initiative, Ganni discontinued the use of virgin animal leather in its Ready to Wear line and is still phasing out virgin animal leather from shoes and accessories. Ganni has collaborated with Lenzing and Recyc Leather to create a new material called Pélinova which consists of Tencel Lyocell fibres mixed with recycled leather. Pélinova is manufactured using a process that involves pre-consumer recycled leather fibres which are hydro-jetted into Tencel Lycocell fibres. Pélinova uses 70% less water than traditional methods, with lower CO2 emissions in addition to being unfavourable to odour-causing bacteria. Pélinova is set to be used in Ganni’s slouchy boots this year in addition to an expansion to other leather good and accessories.
Conclusion
What sets Ganni apart from other fashion brands is the self-awareness it has when discussing the relation between fashion and consumption, which is inherently juxtaposing sustainability. Julie Verdich, Material Innovation Lead for Ganni, states “(Ganni) doesn’t identify as a sustainable brand, because at its core fashion thrives on newness and consumption, which is a major contradiction to the concept of sustainability.” What else is unique about Ganni is its approach to business when sustainability enters the conversation. Specifically, Ganni discontinued its highly-popular Western Boots due to not being able to produce the boots without using virgin leather- a decision which cost Ganni 2.4 million DKK (£300,000) in sales. It is refreshing to see such a global fashion company take such a progressive stance towards sustainability and the rest of the world can only hope that other fashion companies take inspiration from Ganni.
Sources used:
Ganni, The Ganni Playbook, 2024.
Simone Preuss, “Ganni Forgoes CPHFW in Favour of ‘Fabrics of the Future’ Exhibition” in Fashion United, 2024.
Karl Smith, “Ganni isn’t a “Sustainable” Brand. So What is it?” in Future VVorld, 2024.
Ganni, Ganni Responsibility Report 2023, 2023.
Emily Chan, “No More Leather, Carbon Squads and “Action Over Protection”: Ganni’s Guide to Creating a Responsible Business”, in British Vogue, 2024.
Canopy, Ganni Joins Canopy to Advance Forest-Friendly Fashion, 2024.
Apparel Resources, Ganni Partners with Canopy to Promote Forest-Friendly Fashion, 2024.
Rachel Lawler, “Ganni Partners with Canopy on Forest-Friendly Textiles and Packaging” in Just Style, 2024.
Rachel Lawler, “Lenzing, Recyc Leather, Ganni team on leather-alternative footwear materials” in Just Style, 2024.
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