Restoring Ecosystems

In the current year, we have worked towards enhancing renewable energy with continued efforts in energy efficiency. Our energy efficiency initiatives yielded 4% reduction in energy intensity at garment manufacturing level

We sourced 33% of our energy requirements through renewables across our operations

 

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We perceive waste management as an opportunity of value creation, not only for the business but also for the stakeholders associated with. Also, through our streamlined waste management approach we continue to ensure 'Zero Waste to Landfill across all our own facilities' and our hazardous waste is disposed through authorised vendors.

• We achieved 'Zero Waste to Landfill' across all our facilities

 

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Green building mission has been adopted with an objective to minimise the environmental impacts from our built environment across facilities

• As on March 31st 2022, ~10 Lakh sq. ft of our total built area is certified under green building rating systems and another 2 lakh sq ft of area was verified as a final step in green building certification for one of our facilities.

 

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Our climate change strategy is aligned to the Paris Agreement and we are determined to work in the direction of decarbonization in an accelerated manner.

• We achieved 3% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions across ABFRL operations due to renewable energy usage and energy efficiency measures

 

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With ever increasing stress on water reserves, we have identified responsible water management as a critical area with focus on reducing freshwater withdrawal by Increasing rainwater collection capacity and Enhancing recycling & reusing the treated wastewater

• We sourced 41% renewable water across our own facilities due to rainwater harvesting and recharging
• 72% of treated wastewater is treated and recycled/reused within our facilities.

 

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We continuously strive to improve our existing systems and processes. Being a leader in the apparel retail sector, we have made a commitment to use 100% sustainable packaging material by 2025.

Our packaging strategy takes into consideration components, design optimisation, reduction and recycling. We started measuring packaging consumption in 2013 and have been taking the necessary steps to reduce pollutant content. Pantaloons has moved away from plastic bags and ships all products in either paper bags or corrugated boxes, which is also more customer-friendly.

Some of the initiatives are:

Sustainable Polybags:

we were able to identify some innovative packaging solutions and decided to implement biodegradable polybags as a substitute for HDPE/PP Polybags.

We have implemented the biodegradable sustainable bags in all our MFL brands and a pilot run is being implemented for other businesses. This project was presented at National Level Conference and received the Par Excellence Award from National Convention on Quality Conference (NCQC).

One Garment, One Tag:

To reduce the number of tags a new integrated tag was introduced. This is designed in such a way that it covers all the information such as a barcode, branding, special feature, storyline, etc.

Plastic-free packaging in Louis Philippe Green Crest:

We were able to develop a new-collar support which is made of 100% recycled paper board. This helps to eliminate the plastic collar traveler and butterfly and makes the LP crest product line completely plastic free and more sustainable.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR):

EPR is an environmental protection strategy that makes the manufacturer, brand owners and producers responsible for recycling and final disposal of plastic packaging material. EPR also encourages brand owners to gradually decrease the plastic they introduce in the market and adopt alternate non-polluting packaging.

At ABFRL, all our plastic packaging materials are single-layered plastic and recyclable in nature. To ensure 100% recyclability, last year we started working towards the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) commitment to ensure that nothing goes to landfill.

Please refer Sustainability Report for Details

Significantly reduced pollutant packaging material by exploring innovative means of packaging.

• We achieved 86% reduction in pollutant packaging material by using NON-POLLUTANT MATERIALS

 

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ABFRL is committed to build sustainable products which have a positive impact on the environment, community and the planet.

The five revised Sustainable Attributes of a product are: Sustainable Raw Material, Production Process, Manufacturing Facilities, Sustainable Packaging and Sustainable Livelihood. The product sustainability attributes are measured by volume half yearly and annually.

Some of the initiatives undertaken:

Sustainable Raw Material

We realise that to create sustainable products, it is essential to integrate sustainable raw materials and responsible sourcing into the product life cycle. To identify the most sustainable materials, we refer to Higg Material Sustainability Index (Higg MSI) and various other international standards.

We strive to source more sustainable materials and manufacture at factories that ensure environmental and social responsibility while maintaining optimal cost and highest standards of quality. At ABFRL, we use various sustainable raw materials such as BCI Cotton, Liva Eco, FSC certified Birla Modal, Recycled Cotton and Polyester etc. and its blends. We are also actively promoting handcrafted fabrics and garments that use indigenous techniques, to promote India’s cottage industries, which are threatened by the tough competition posed by mill-made fabrics.

Sustainable Product

In Product design section, some of the initiatives undertaken are:

      a. Peter England | Linen shirts infused with antiviral technology

These 100% linen shirts are breathable, feather-soft and infused with antiviral technology powered by Viroban, a Swiss fabric technology firm.

      b. Allen Solly | Duo Defence Face Masks

The Duo Defence Mask has been created in India, with VIROBLOCKTM, a Swiss technology that is tested to provide resistance against common viruses and bacteria as per AATCC 100 and ISO18184 global testing methods. Both the mask and filter are washable and recommended to be reused up to 20 gentle washes for the mask, and up to 10 gentle washes for the filter.

Lifecycle Assessment of Shirt

Product sustainability is at the core of our sustainability strategy. We identify risks and opportunities to reduce resource and material consumption through a Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of products from Cradle to Grave.

ABFRL has implemented numerous process efficiencies that have resulted in reduced environmental impacts and we further seek resource efficiency; and are including eco-design and decision-making as part of our LCA approach.

In the current year, we conducted the LCA study of two products (Casual & Formal Shirts) to map their environmental footprint across their entire value chains.

We have in place a mechanism for continuous monitoring of year-on-year progress of our initiatives by conducting LCAs periodically.

Brand Sustainability through Higg BRM

The Higg Brand and Retail Module (Higg BRM) developed by Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) guides brands on their sustainability journeys and identifies opportunities for improvement in the value chain. It encompasses cradle to cradle concept aligned to Business Operations identifying sustainability risks and impacts.

Higg self-assessment is carried out year on year, to redefine, outline and manage sustainability priorities, eventually comparing environmental and social performance at the brand level. In the reporting year, we have done assessments for 5 brands - Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, PFRL and Van Heusen Inner Wear for Higg BRM.

• 61% of our products by volume have at least 1 sustainability attribute

 

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At ABFRL, we strive to operate sustainably throughout the supply chain and believe that by working closely with our suppliers, we can collectively create a positive impact. We always look for ways to collaborate and further improve standards and set new benchmarks.

Apart from manufacturing products in a way that has minimum impact on the environment, ensuring a sustainable supply chain includes ensuring that the people who make our clothes are treated fairly and work under safe and healthy conditions.

Some of the initiative we have taken under:

Supplier Sustainability Assessment

ABFRL prefers to source from suppliers with sustainable practices at their manufacturing facilities. We have developed a priority list of Tier-1 and Tier-2 strategic suppliers on the basis of their sustainability performance and the long-term relationship we have cultivated. We have also taken steps to facilitate suppliers in implementing sustainability initiatives like Zero Liquid Discharge, Rain Water Harvesting, and Chemical Management etc.

Some of the initiatives related to supplier assessments are:

• Supplier Sustainability Index (SSI)

In the reporting year, we assessed 41 critical and high impact Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers for sustainability by using our own methodology, the Supplier Sustainability Index (SSI).It scores the suppliers on three key aspects - Quality, Social and Environment. It is a hybrid model and accepts various global standards to evaluate the suppliers’ performances on these 3 scales.

Based on the inputs provided by suppliers, we evaluate their sustainability performance and calculate a unique score for each supplier. The SSI allocates 100 points each to quality, social and environmental score. Based on the final score, suppliers are categorised into four Ratings – Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze.

• Higg Index

ABFRL has been an early adopter of ‘Higg Index – Suite of tools’ with more than 9 years of active engagement with SAC.

We have completed self-assessment of the Facility Environment Module and Facility Social Labour Module for all our 9 in-house manufacturing facilities.Higg FEM verification was carried out at 5 of our factories (FCL, EGL, HAL, EAL, LEA) through SAC nominated verifying body and we achieved Higg score of 80 in one of the manufacturing units Fashion Craft.

Vendor Code of Conduct

The objective of the Vendor Code of Conduct (Vendor CoC) is to mitigate risks associated with supply chain, comply with legal and statutory requirements and ensure workers’ health, safe work environment, minimum wages and other social responsibilities as outlined by the Indian Factories Act 1948, International Labour Organization (ILO), SA 8000 and WRAP standards.

Our Vendor Code of Conduct covers 11 principles and falls under five core focus areas of social responsibility.

• Legal Compliance

• Employee Rights

• Health & Safety

• Environment

• CSR

ABFRL mandates all its vendors and sub-contractors to strictly adhere to Vendor CoC policy and improve their Ethical, Social, Environmental and Health & Safety standards in the workplace.

This year we have expanded our scope to other businesses like Forever’21 and VH innerwear. With regular training and monitoring mechanism, significant number of vendors was transited from non-complied (red) to compliance level (green category).

• A total of 678 vendors (Madura-417 & Pantaloons-199, F21-34, VH Innerwear-26, Sabyasachi-1 and Shantanu and Nikhil-1) audited till 31st Mar 22. This covers around 96% of total vendors.

 

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