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ANTWERP
ANTWERP
MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDERS
“Sustainability has become an important part of the design choices we make, while maintaining our DNA. We constantly look for better, more sustainable materials, yet it remains quite challenging. Organic cotton, for example, is scarce at the moment and innovative fabrics need to meet our standards and require new development processes. Luckily, we have fantastic suppliers who are thinking along with us to find qualitative and more responsible alternatives. Together we're taking significant steps forward.”
INGE ONSEA
Co-founder & Creative Director
“Traceability and ecology have become increasingly important. Three years ago, we made the switch towards more sustainable business practices. We are now also looking at our production from a sustainability perspective. We still face major challenges, but we are off to a strong start. We have already begun to work on the ethical aspect with our producers, and now we’re also taking a close look at our fabrics and designs. Most of all, I’m really proud to see that a shared sustainability mindset and commitment have grown throughout the whole company, in every decision we take. It’s amazing how we’ve reshaped our way of working from the past 20 years to now looking forward to even more change.”
ESFAN EGHTESSADI
Co-founder & CEO
We want to be transparent in what we do, what we don't do (yet) and where we can improve, because we want to do better. We have one clear goal in mind: creating a greener and more socially responsible Essentiel Antwerp.
As a result of our research, we have determined four strategic priorities for Essentiel Antwerp – areas where we want to make significant changes, both in the short and long term. These four priorities translate the Sustainable Development Goals into Essentiel Antwerp’s business context and provide a roadmap for the future:
Our company aims to be completely accountable for the social and environmental conditions under which our products are manufactured — accountable to the companies we do business with, to consumers, and ultimately to all those impacted by our choices in our shared world.
The signing of our Code of Conduct by our suppliers represents a strong commitment, however, this does not guarantee compliance in practice. For this reason, we also ask our suppliers for social audit reports, in which correct working conditions are evaluated by a third, independent party. We have received recent audit reports (no older than three years) from many of our suppliers. These are usually BSCI or SEDEX/SMETA audits. This means that more than 50% of our production is covered by social audits. Additionally, 30% of our collections are produced in Europe, where fair working conditions are guaranteed under the applicable European regulations.
From the available reports, no evident violations of human rights were identified. However, we will always stay alert as we are aware that systematic overwork and a lack of social dialogue are structural challenges in manufacturing countries, such as China. We are committed to further dialogue with our suppliers on these issues, to gain a better understanding of the root causes of this and whether we, as Essentiel Antwerp, can play a meaningful role.
In light of this, we developed a Code of Conduct at the beginning of 2020, which now guides all our operations worldwide. We aim to work with suppliers that are as committed as we are to operating in a responsible and ethical manner, by respecting social, environmental and economic standards and upholding them in their business practices.
We maintain good relationships with our suppliers in an atmosphere of trust. Last year we did our best to create more transparency in our own supply chains.
As of 2021 we are now working with a specific questionnaire for our suppliers. It not only helps us gather information about the number of employees in their factory, the proportion of men and women, but also asks them to identify their subcontractors and suppliers of fabrics, yarns and linings, with names, address and contact details. Many of our suppliers answered the questions in a very transparent way. As a result, we now have more insights in the daily business of our suppliers, their subcontractors and their suppliers (so-called tier 2 and 3 suppliers).
It is our ambition to create greater transparency in the supply chain of our garments as time goes on. It is a complex issue, but we have made a good start in this.
Over the last years, our ambition has been to bring more of our production closer to home, although each supplier and market has its own unique capabilities and know-how. In 2021 around 70% of our clothes were produced in China, India, and Turkey, and almost 30% in Europe.
The year 2021, just like 2020, brought a lot of challenges to the world and to our business. Various lockdowns and increased absenteeism amongst workers in countries such as Portugal and China due to COVID-19 delayed deliveries significantly. Prices for transport, energy and materials also continued to rise. As a result, the suppliers themselves were more conservative in holding onto a large inventory of raw materials, which obliged us to adjust our forecast. We communicated more than usual with our suppliers and looked for solutions together, and we took a share in the rising production costs, so they were not borne solely by the suppliers. Even though cancellations from B2B customers were unfortunately unavoidable, we agreed to still honor our commitments towards our suppliers, whether by paying the reduced production amount or by purchasing the fabrics for next collections.
“Over the last year, we have communicated with our suppliers even more than usual. Together, we sought solutions to the problems that arose, from delays due to restrictive measures and absent employees to the rising cost of transport and energy and the lack of stock.”
LUDO OLLEAC
Head of Production
If the quality of these sustainable fabrics meets our standards, they are our preferred choice, without a doubt. From our most recent Fall/Winter 2022 collection, 32% of the fabrics are (partly or fully) more sustainable. Our ambition is to reach 50% by 2025. To achieve this goal, we are currently exploring which environmentally friendly alternatives are possible for our best-selling products.
Our ongoing “green blue” denim is produced in an environmentally friendly way, with significant water and energy savings. In 2021, our Turkish denim manufacturer even invested in a fully closed water loop system. This manufacturer also uses computer-driven laser technology without water, chemicals or stones to finish our denim wear, and fully loaded washing machines have been replaced by e-flow technology, minimizing water and chemical use.
Our ambition is to reach 50% by 2025. To achieve this goal, we are currently exploring which environmentally friendly alternatives are possible for our best-selling products.
LOTTE LIJNEN
Assistant Designer
TOM DEPOORTERE
Art Director
We are aware that the fashion industry today still follows a linear model of take-make-waste. To decrease the impact of textile waste on our planet, we must move to a more circular economy, where reuse, upcycling and recycling are the new normal. Essentiel Antwerp wants to contribute by bringing new circular initiatives to life.
That is why we still regard inclusivity as a very important pillar in our policy. Although our organizational culture is defined by openness and acceptance, we still maintain a comprehensive policy on these topics to define best practice throughout the organization. This is because we believe we can use our brand and voice to promote our beliefs to our customers and our own organization.
As part of our passion for social justice, we also support initiatives that are close to our heart. Our choice of projects to support and collaborations we initiate ourselves are not governed by commercial concerns. They are an authentic expression of Essentiel Antwerp’s own values, with our passion running through them all.
"When the Essentiel Antwerp creative team and I were going through my sketchbooks, it felt natural to choose one of the pieces from my master's collection and to commercialize it. The concept for my collection was to work with a different front and back in every garment. We decided to work on my knit silhouette. Originally, the knitted dress had a totally open back, but we decided to close the back for the new silhouette, and it totally works! I really enjoyed coming up with new ideas and finding solutions together with the Essentiel Antwerp team. They were able to make some changes to the piece to make it saleable to a wider audience.”
Julie Kegels
Whereas in 2020, we could set new steps in our inbound distribution process, we faced major distribution challenges in 2021. Fortunately, due to previous improvements in our processes, we were able to act on and manage these challenges, still ensuring a timely and efficient delivery of our stock. However, we must admit that responding to the global container crisis had a major impact on our carbon footprint for inbound logistics, one that could not be avoided in order for us to carry on our business.
Apart from this negative impact, which we hope to see improved in 2022, we also managed to take steps forward in the management of our packaging and overall distribution process.
For all paper-based packaging – from hangtags and gift-wrapping materials to the shopping bags we use in our stores and the bags and boxes we use for our web orders – we have now switched to recycled and/or FSC certified paper. FSC certification guarantees that our paper materials have been produced according to industry standards. We also pay attention to the recyclability of our stationery, which is why no longer use laminated paper products. By switching to soy ink for printing purposes, we have reduced the use of harmful substances and improved recycling potential.
To reduce the total amount of paper we use, we examined all our stationery requirements carefully, and had already decided to stop producing paper look books and brochures in 2020. We also evaluated the number and use of shopping bags and made choices that entail lower volume consumption. This conscious use of paper has become the new normal within our team, resulting in a minimal use of printed materials for marketing purposes.
In 2022 we also want to measure our waste streams based on the use of polybags, Kraft paper bags and cardboard boxes for further transparency and analysis reasons. Today, we are compliant with local requirements for countries such as Austria, Spain, and Germany, paying taxes for the packaging materials we bring into these local markets.
Studio D is a small team but their passion (for sustainability) runs through their veins. That's where we saw our match. They helped us in making sure that all stakeholders are aligned and that all noses are pointing in the same direction. This journey is exciting, yet challenging and we're happy that we're not in this alone.
It’s also very encouraging to see our team become more confident and knowledgeable about sustainability, building internal expertise in the use of more sustainable fabrics and packaging, and embodying our views on equality and non-discrimination in each of our campaigns.
Join us in building a better future.
Every effort counts.