Aligning values with action: How fashion retailer Elk is tackling climate change

Setting clear goals, tracking progress and measuring impact is how Elk The Label is working towards becoming a carbon neutral business by 2025.

With the United Nation’s COP26 climate conference taking place in Glasgow this month, a groundswell of support for bold action on climate change is stirring among businesses. But for the ethically designed clothing and accessories brand Elk, reducing its footprint has been a part of the fabric of its operations for more than a decade.

Founded by husband and wife duo Marnie Goding and Adam Koniaras in 2004 in Melbourne, Elk sells clothing, shoes and accessories made from a range of ethically sourced materials via its three standalone retail stores, e-commerce offering and 1200+ stockists around the globe.

From recycled fabrics, such as cotton, wool and nylon to vegetable- and chrome-tanned leathers, sourcing sustainable materials is fundamental to Elk’s design ethos. And while the business has been focused on sustainability since the outset, it recently doubled down on its sustainable production initiatives to achieve its ambitious goals.

Co-founder and creative director Marnie Goding explains that both she and her business partner are committed to driving Elk’s sustainability mission because it aligns with their personal values.

“The work that we’re doing is not being done from a marketing point of view, it’s being done because we believe it’s the right thing to do,” she says.

To find out exactly how Elk translates its goals into action, SmartCompany Plus spoke with Marnie Goding and Elk’s head of ethics and sustainability Erika Martin.

Key takeaways:

1. Set ongoing goals that allow you to measure continuous improvement.

2. Be transparent and show your customers how you are working towards your targets.

3. Get close to your product by visiting your suppliers and collecting information about how it’s being made.

4. Consider getting a life cycle assessment, or find publicly available data to figure out what impact your materials have on the environment.

5. Understand your limitations because having a supply chain that’s 100% sustainable is difficult.

Accountability is key

In 2017, Elk recruited its first ethics and sustainability manager and for the past three years has published a pioneering annual transparency report.

Goding says hiring Martin supercharged the business’ ability to make headway in its environmental projects. Prior to 2017, Elk would have consultants come in from time to time and carry out supply chain assessments.

“When Erika came on board we knew that it had to be absolutely everybody working towards the goals that we put in place,” Goding says.

“Fundamentally, driving change through business has to be led from every angle,” she adds.

Martin is largely responsible for producing Elk’s annual transparency report which is a staggeringly detailed document that outlines its social, ethical and environmental impact.

Goding says the report, which is by no means a perfect scorecard, keeps Elk on track to achieve its goals, holds itself accountable to the standards it sets, and demonstrate its values to its 77-strong team of staff and customers.

“We’ve gone from publishing a huge document to more of a snapshot because not everybody has the appetite to read through a 120-page document of data,” she says.

“But the information is certainly there if you do want to deep dive.”

Tackling climate change

Elk’s overarching goals are to become a carbon neutral, zero waste business by 2025.

To work towards achieving these ambitions, which are aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, Elk measures its partial carbon footprint to find out how its operations contribute to CO2 emissions.

Martin, Elk’s sustainability manager, says a carbon analysis has shown that electricity use, corporate flights and staff commuting are the main ways the business contributes to carbon emissions.

“So the environmental focus for us has been around electricity use, installing solar and LED lights throughout the business,” Martin tells SmartCompany Plus.

To reduce emissions, Elk installed 77KW of solar panels across three of its seven sites in 2020. The panels generated 71 MWh of clean, renewable energy throughout the year, providing 41% of its total electricity use.

Martin is also formalising Elk’s giving program, which has seen the business donate to organisations such as TreeProject. Between April and December 2020, Elk donated $2 to TreeProject for every online sale, amounting to $33,664.

“A few months ago, we joined 1% for the Planet and we’re about to announce that membership publicly,” Martin says.

Get to know your suppliers

For Elk’s co-founder and creative director, operating a sustainable business means “having a moral responsibility” for standards across the entire supply chain.

To realise this daunting task, Goding says Elk’s ethical production mandate even goes so far as to require the business to regularly visit suppliers.

“It’s about really making sure that we’re as close as possible to the product to notice whether or not there are any red flags,” she says.

Elk’s 2021 transparency report features a list of the business’ tier one suppliers, as well as an expanded list of its tier two, three and four suppliers. Most products are made in China, India and the Philippines. For example, 74% of Elk’s tier one production spend in 2021 went to 10 suppliers in China.

While the pandemic has prevented the business from visiting its suppliers over the past 18 months, Elk aims to visit its core suppliers twice each year.

It has also committed to working with a mix of small and large independent suppliers around the world. In fact, 100% of the business’ core suppliers, that is direct suppliers with an annual spend of more than USD$50,000 ($66,000), have globally recognised social or environmental credentials.

Sustainable design

The backbone of Elk’s ethical production efforts is sustainable design, namely using products and materials that are environmentally friendly.

Prior to joining Elk, Martin managed the supply chain and sustainability areas of the global skincare brand Aesop. Her experience has equipped her with the ability to source information about different materials to guide Elk’s business decisions. “I help the product design and production teams source more sustainable materials for our products because that’s where our biggest impact is,” Martin says.

“It takes a lot of time,” Martin explains. She says she spends hours collecting information about different materials, organising it in spreadsheets, and staying up to date with new designs, which change seasonally. 

But it’s the only concrete way the business can assess how it’s tracking against its targets.

In 2020, about 39% of Elk’s 2020 materials were environmentally preferred, meaning the business has to nearly double that figure ahead of 2025 to reach its goal. It also managed to use 41% of organic cotton across its total cotton use, which is a 29% increase on the previous year.

For every material that’s easy to source sustainably, there are often others that are harder to produce ethically. Martin says sourcing ethical leather for shoes, bags and accessories is one of the most challenging tasks.

According to Elk’s transparency report, 75% of its leather in 2020 came from Leather Working Group (LWG) audited tanneries. LWG is a non-for-profit that leather manufactures can join if they meet a range of best practices.

Consider a life cycle assessment

Martin says any business seeking to measure the impact of its production operations should consider completing a life cycle assessment. But she acknowledges how costly it is for most organisations.

“If you’re a smaller business, there are some publicly available resources, which provide footprint information on materials,” she says.

“But it’s challenging because fashion products change seasonally and you have to do those assessments with every single style.”

Martin recommends joining global supply chain organisations to access information about suppliers in different industries. Elk is a member of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex) and also looking to join the Higg Index. 

Asked how organisations eager to improve their footprint can make progress, Martin replies that businesses should aim to make small changes continuously.

“We’d love to be able to do everything, and address everything, but the reality is, you’ve got limited resources,” she says.

“Find out where you can actually make a difference to try and get the best return on your investment.”