When it comes to how we do things, we believe it’s not just one thing – every little thing counts and it all adds up to significant positive impact.
We’re not perfect - but what we are is mindful, aware, and always striving to be better.
Super soft, simple basics,
that make kids look and feel amazing.
Timeless, quality, gender-neutral
styles that can be worn longer and passed along from child to child.
Made ethically, locally
and sustainably – kind to people
and kind to the planet
Nature can safely absorb some human-made greenhouse gases (GHGs) every year, but to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must eliminate all GHG Emissions from the business world. That’s because we are dangerously close to reaching atmospheric GHG levels that will be catastrophic for society, and any attempt to divide up the remaining carbon budget across companies is likely to be too complex, contentious and/or time-consuming to result in the scale and speed of reduction that is now needed. Net GHG emissions here means total GHG emissions, less any emissions that are permanently sequestered or adequately offset.
Source: Future-Fit Business Benchmark
We’ve built robust environmental responsibility and animal welfare programs to guide how we make our materials and products.
The clothing and footwear industries are responsible for around 10% of the global greenhouse gases emitted in the entire world—with the textile industry alone releasing more than 1.2 billion tons of CO2e into our atmosphere every year. The manufacture, transportation, and use and disposal of garments have a significant impact on the planet, which is only increasing as our consumption patterns continue to grow.
By 2025, we will be 100% carbon-neutral across our entire supply chain. We will do this by reducing our footprint, investing in impactful renewable projects and purchasing certified carbon offsets.
Circle collaborated with this Apparel Company in both the development and implementation of this emissions policy.
Oil, coal and gas are often obtained in environmentally destructive ways, and their use as fuels leads to greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, these resources are finite, and their value to society extends far beyond combustion. Companies should ensure that all the energy it consumes – as electricity, heat or fuel – is derived from renewable energy sources where possible and disclose when it is not. Renewable energy sources include solar, wind, wave and hydropower, geothermal resources, and biomass.
Source: Future-Fit Business Benchmark
Energy efficiency: Here the aim is to ensure that a minimum amount of energy is spent by implementing energy efficiency measures within our own operations as well as in the entire supply chain.
Renewable Energy: The energy that we use across our value chain must be sourced from sustainable renewable energy.
We commit to reducing our energy consumption per square meter and opening hour in our Stores by 25% by 2030, compared with 2016.
We commit to sourcing 100% of our electricity via renewable sources.
This apparel company uses Measurabl to monitor their energy usage across their operations. Circle was given access to their systems to authenticate both their objectives and data.
Through excessive withdrawals of water, discharge of polluted wastewater, or by adversely affecting the characteristics of any withdrawn water before returning it to nature, a company may undermine the quantity, quality, and availability of water at a local level.
Companies must ensure that their use of water doesn’t undermine the quantity and quality of water available for people and ecosystems that depend on the watersheds concerned.
To be considered sustainable, a company must do two things:
1. It must minimize – and in water-stressed regions eventually eliminate – its consumption of water for industrial and commercial purposes; and
2. It must ensure that any discharges do not degrade the quality of the receiving water bodies, the health of receiving soils, or in any other way cause harm to ecosystems or people.
Source: Future-Fit Business Benchmark
We seek to reduce water usage and more effectively manage our wastewater across all of our operations. Our use of eco-friendly materials limits the amount of chemicals, water and wastewater used in production. We also are proud to say that we use low impact and non-toxic dyes in our products.
Apparel Company is primarily invested in solution dyeing for its environmental impact: This process can result in up to 90% water use reduction and 96% CO2e savings overall compared to a conventional batch dyeing process (using synthetic dyes), with considerably less chemicals released from the overall process.
Solution dyeing diverts from traditional wet processing. Pigment is added to the molten plastic before making the fiber. Since the yarn is created in a specific color (versus being first created, and then dyed), the color becomes entrapped within the yarn. Imagine little pigment molecules that become trapped inside a plastic after it cools to a solid form. Because the color becomes intrinsic to the yarn through solution dyeing, it often yields stronger fibers than batch dyeing, which weakens and damages the fiber’s integrity.
For the purposes of this goal, waste means all materials generated as by-products of production and other operational activities which the company manages to contain, and which require treatment, repurposing, or disposal. Hazardous materials include toxic or inorganic byproducts of production.
To be considered sustainable, a company must do two things:
1. It must eliminate all avoidable waste generation; and
2. It must reuse, recycle or otherwise repurpose any remaining waste.
Source: Future Fit Business Benchmark
Unlike most apparel companies, we do not receive or ship any of our product in plastic or polybags.
Everything from our hangtags to our postcards to our shopping bags are made with recycled matter and can also be recycled. We only create purposeful marketing materials that add to our brand experience.
We run a year-round donation and upcycle program in all of our stores. Bring in your gently used kids clothing and footwear and we’ll donate it on your behalf. And as a thanks, you’ll receive a discount on your in-store purchase that day.
Growing demand for land is putting pressure on ecosystems, communities and plant and animal species.
Companies that do not adequately consider the impacts of their physical presence may cause irreversible degradation to natural processes and resources that they and others rely on, and may undermine the wellbeing of local communities.
Negative impacts must be avoided by:
1. Respecting the land rights of communities (e.g. zero tolerance of land grabbing);
2. Protecting aquatic ecosystems from degradation (e.g. avoiding coral reefs);
3. Protecting areas of high biodiversity value (e.g. no clearing of rainforest for farmland); and
4. Not encroaching on areas of cultural importance (e.g. oil pipelines running through regions considered sacred by Indigenous Peoples).
To be considered sustainable, a company must do two things:
1. It must protect such areas where it is already present; and
2. It must take steps to avoid or mitigate negative outcomes when moving into new areas.
Source: Future Fit Business Benchmark
Other product goals address the ethical marketing of the company’s goods and services, whether they have the potential to cause harm, and how to ensure that goods can be repurposed at the end of their useful life.
By living up to all of these goals, a company can minimize the number of concerns its customers have. However, it is still important that customers are able to voice legitimate concerns – and to have those concerns fairly addressed – if they feel that a company has fallen short of meeting its obligations.
These requirements cover both final products designed for end users, and interim goods which are incorporated or processed into final products by other companies.
To be considered sustainable, a company must therefore put in place effective policies and procedures to actively solicit, impartially judge and transparently address customer concerns relating to the environmental and social impact of the goods or services it delivers.
Source: Future Fit Business Benchmark
Our Quality, Assurance and Development teams in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, and China oversee every aspect of product safety and quality. They examine our goods to determine their physical, chemical, and mechanical properties as well as measurements and workmanship. For babies’ and children’s clothing, safety criteria receive specific attention. The team also helps our suppliers, factories, and colleagues understand safety risks and coordinates with legal bodies and industry associations.
Quality down to the last detail
Our commitment to quality extends throughout the manufacturing chain, beginning with fabric manufacture and continuing through production to the final random sampling of individual products in our stores.
Auditing of our production units
These quality audits ensure that only appropriate production units that meet all our requirements are allowed to produce garments for us according to all our quality standards.
Product sample inspection
Whether a certain product can be sold by us is determined after a sample of the item has been examined according to stringent criteria, such as workmanship and physical properties (resistance to tearing, shrinkage, colour fastness), chemicals, and various legal safety requirements (for example, small parts or restrictions on the use of cords that could pose a danger to babies or children). Once these and other criteria have been met, an item may be manufactured for us.
Quality and conformity inspection
These inspections take place during and after production so we can determine whether the product matches our requirements. Workmanship, measurements, and safety checks must be passed before items are allowed into our stores.
Some goods and services may cause harm to people or ecosystems, either because of the way they are designed, or because there is a chance that users could misuse them or dispose of them incorrectly.
The company must make potential users aware of such risks, to empower them to make well-informed decisions regarding the purchase, use and (in the case of physical goods) post-use processing of its products.
In addition, a company must ensure it markets its products honestly and responsibly by avoiding all misleading claims regarding product benefits, and by only targeting appropriate customer groups (e.g. not marketing cigarettes or alcohol directly to children).
These requirements cover both final products designed for end users, and interim goods which are incorporated or processed into final products by other companies.
To be considered sustainable, a company must do three things:
1. It must ensure users are informed about any negative impacts of its products;
2. It must ensure users are not subject to false or misleading claims about the benefits of its products; and
3. It must ensure products are marketed only to those capable of making informed purchasing decisions.
Source: Future Fit Business Benchmark
We always seek to eliminate plastic and emphasize reusable and/or compostable materials in our packaging and products. Our biggest challenge has been with pick labels, explained below.
We found the placement of the pick label to be a challenge. We placed the pick labels on both the product and the hang tag to determine where it was most effective. The pick label did not stick to 12 of the 40 materials. In a real product order, the pick label cannot be placed on the hang tag because it will cover up the bar code for the product that must also be scanned in the outbound product packing process.
A company should do all it can to ensure that the physical goods it provides to others can be responsibly repurposed at the end of their useful lives.
These requirements cover both final products designed for end users, and intermediate goods which are incorporated or processed into final products by other companies.
To be considered sustainable, a company must do two things:
1. It must ensure that whatever remains of the goods it supplies can be separated at the end of their useful life, to maximize their post-use recovery value; and
2. It must ensure that its customers have ready access to recovery services capable of extracting such value.
Source: Future Fit Business Benchmark
Our goal has always been to create simple, soft, easy elevated, timeless basics – things we would wear just in mini form. We offer over 30 gender neutral styles year-round, that are made for everyday wear + play.
Every company relies to some extent upon goods and services procured from other organizations, which are collectively referred to as suppliers.
Common examples include energy, water, computers, transport, machinery, furniture, accounting services, and materials required to make products.
All companies are mutually accountable for the environmental and social impacts caused by the production and delivery of the goods and services they depend upon. Only when a company has effectively avoided or addressed such negative impacts can it consider itself to be Future-Fit.
This goal requires a company to implement policies and procedures that continuously seek to increase the future-fitness of its purchases, with a particular emphasis on anticipating, avoiding and addressing issue-specific supply chain hotspots.
To be Future-Fit, a company must do three things:
1. It must have policies and processes in place that enable it and its employees to anticipate where negative supply chain impacts are likely to occur;
2. It must avoid them where possible; and
3. It must take measurable steps to address concerns that arise.
Source: Future Fit Business Benchmark
The purpose of our Supply Chain Environmental Responsibility Program is to measure and reduce environmental impacts of manufacturing our products and materials. We implement our program at supplier facilities all over the world and cover a broad range of impact areas, including environmental management systems, chemicals, water use, water emissions, energy use, greenhouse gases (GHGs), other air emissions and waste.
This program utilizes industry-wide tools, such as the Higg Index, and recognizes third-party certification programs, such as the bluesign® system, as ways that our suppliers can show how they are meeting our expectations. Beyond the program’s minimum requirements, suppliers are encouraged to demonstrate environmental excellence by implementing better and best practices, so we can recognize them as environmentally responsible supply chain partners.
We regularly evaluate manufacturing facilities used by our suppliers and potential new suppliers to assess whether they meet our minimum requirements and environmental performance against best practices. This informs how we make supply chain decisions, such as approving and managing new and active suppliers and their manufacturing facilities.
Over the years, we have reduced environmental-related impacts in our supply chain as we learn more about our suppliers’ facilities and work with them on training and improvements where needed. For example, some supplier facilities now have wastewater treatment and air-emission treatment systems that go beyond what is legally required to meet our more stringent global requirements. Other facilities have eliminated hazardous chemicals and implemented safe chemical-management procedures. And some facilities are not able to meet our expectations, and are not approved to be our suppliers.
As our suppliers surpass our minimum requirements, we are focusing more on best practices, benchmarking and continuous improvement. We are currently working on a major initiative to meet our goal to be carbon neutral by 2025, including across our supply chain.
We seek to reduce the carbon footprint of manufacturing through a wide range of resources and incentives that prioritize energy efficiency and renewable energy in order to reduce our collective impact on the climate.
Collaborating with suppliers and with other brands is our best opportunity to drive improvement in a shared supply chain. We have founded several collaborations, including the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index, the Outdoor Industry Association’s Sustainability Working Group and the recently-launched Climate Action Corps., the Textile Exchange and the Regenerative Organic Alliance. Each year, more and more companies are joining these initiatives and utilizing these tools to measure and communicate their environmental impacts, which allows for industry-wide benchmarking and large-scale collaborative improvement.
As demand for natural resources increases, so does the pressure placed on the ecosystems, people and animals that contribute to their delivery. The emphasis here is on causing no harm as a result of the physical management and extraction of natural resources.
This includes but is not limited to:
1. Harvesting renewable resources, such as trees or fish, at rates that do not reduce nature’s capacity to regenerate them;
2. Extracting non-renewable resources, such as metals, in ways that do not systematically damage surrounding ecosystems and communities;
3. Respecting the welfare of animals; and
4. Avoiding conflict and human rights violations when mining valuable minerals.
Note that this goal applies to a company’s own activities. Natural resources which are purchased from suppliers are covered separately, by the Procurement goal.
To be considered sustainable, a company must do two things:
1. It must preserve the health of all natural resources it manages; and
2. It must protect the health of any ecosystems and communities impacted by its own harvesting and extraction activities.
Source: Future Fit Business Benchmark
Our fabrics are knit locally in Toronto using premium GOTS organic cotton and bamboo. Our cotton is grown in India and Korea from non-genetically modified plants, and without the use of synthetic agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers or pesticides.
Our fabrics are all dyed ethically and locally in Toronto using non-toxic, low impact dyes from natural sources.
The information on this page has been verified by Circle, a sustainability consulting company based in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, click here.
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