April 2019 to April 2020
We created this sustainability report as a means to transparently share Poppy Barley’s social and environmental goals and—in a year’s time—the results. We believe in sustainable fashion and in driving Poppy Barley towards a more sustainable future.
This is (and we are) not perfect. However, with incremental steps and relentless focus, we are changing the fashion industry.
Our Pillars
Our Pillars
Donate 1% of sales back to our communities.
We believe part of being in business is giving back to our communities. We donate 1% of sales to inspiring and worthy organizations and causes.
Launch a shoe recycling program.
We love to wear our shoes to death, repairing them along the way, but what do you do with old leather shoes? We will find a way to properly recycle worn out leather shoes.
Conduct in-person visits to all factories and recertify them.
One of the pillars of our sustainability efforts involves screening every factory, ensuring they provide a living wage, safe working conditions and uphold all human rights. We visit each of our factories in-person and recertify them based on our questionnaire and audit criteria.
Reduce our packaging (freight & consumer) footprint by 25%.
Our packaging is made from recycled materials but we strive to challenge ourselves and continually reduce our packaging.
Choose certified sustainable products for our office supplies 80% of the time.
We minimize the amount of disposable products we buy and purchase green 80% of the time for our day-to-day essentials (paper products, cleaning supplies, and all the coffee!)
Create and fund a loan program for our Mexico factories.
Extremely high interest rates (20-50% for business loans) are a barrier for our partners in Mexico. We will loan money at much lower interest rates to help them achieve their goal of scaling their business or improving the working conditions (e.g. new ventilation systems, adding solar panels on the roof.)
Join the Leather Working Group (LWG) as a Brand Partner.
The LWG certifies leather tanneries for environmental compliance and sustainable production practices.
One of our largest environmental impacts, tanning leather uses copious amounts of water and chemicals. While we only buy leather from tanneries that clean water and properly dispose of chemicals, The Leather Working Group develops and maintains protocols that assess the environmental compliance of the leather industry. They will audit and certify our tanneries.
Elevate our community by engaging our customers to join us in inclusive sustainable challenges.
Including a commuter and capsule closet challenge, #NoJunkJuly and other activations
As an office, we participate in sustainable challenges and encourage our community to do the same. We create a community that supports each other in reducing our environmental impact on a daily basis.