Time of responsible decisions in the new reality. LPP sums up another year of implementing the sustainable development strategy.
• Almost every fifth item in the offer of all the company’s brands comes from the Eco Aware line of more environmentally friendly products, and in the flagship Reserved it is already every third garment.
• All online orders of the LPP brands offer are already free of single-use plastics. In 2020, the company eliminated a total of 300 tonnes of the plastics.
• Last year, the Gdańsk-based company implemented the Eco Aware Production programme and joined the ZDHC international organisation with a view to implementing best practices in chemical safety throughout the supply chain.
• In 2020, the company recorded a 2.2% decrease in CO2 emissions per item of clothing sold.
For the entire market the past year was marked by difficulties resulting from the pandemic. For LPP too – it was a time of great challenges. However, despite the crisis and the struggle for survival, the company consistently continued to fulfil the commitments it made in the framework of the sustainable development strategy “For People For Our Planet”, planned for the years 2020-2025. In parallel, the ESG standards for non-financial assessment of companies are becoming increasingly important in the market.
– The idea of evaluating companies that assumes the need to conduct business with concern not only for economic interests, but also for social and environmental ones, has been implemented in LPP for years. We announced our first sustainable development strategy – “LPP More” – in 2017 and two years ago another one, “For People For Our Planet” as our response to global climate and social challenges. Today, our focus is on four pillars: design and production, plastics management, chemical safety of production and green buildings. This is a comprehensive approach to our business. Our sustainability strategy is an integral part of the company’s business plans and is in line with today’s reality that is increasingly subject to ESG standards. We can see that social and environmental issues are becoming increasingly important for all market participants – customer awareness is growing, and we are also experiencing the requirements of investors and financial institutions which expect companies to meet climate-related standards. On the one hand, this motivates us to implement further positive changes, on the other hand, it requires consistency in pursuing goals. That is why we can proudly say that in 2020, despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, we managed to meet all the goals set for this year, and some of them even to a greater extent than we had originally planned – says Przemysław Lutkiewicz, Vice-President of LPP.
Successively implementing the idea of sustainable fashion last year, the Polish company significantly increased the share of more environmentally friendly collections – up to 19% in all its brands. In the flagship Reserved, clothes labelled Eco Aware already accounted for 32% of the total. According to the company’s plans, by the end of this financial year, the share of Eco Aware in the offer of all the brands in its portfolio will have increased to 25%.
More environmentally friendly fashion is not only about ecological raw materials but also a sustainable process of clothing production. That is why in 2020 LPP initiated the Eco Aware Production programme for its suppliers by starting consultations with 40 producers from South-East Asia. As part of the programme – which aims to reduce water and energy consumption in the clothing manufacturing process – quality and environmental standards were developed, such as using energy recovery systems in the factories or introducing closed-loop cycles of water circulation. Currently, 16 factories are already producing LPP collections according to this standard, and others are preparing to follow in their footsteps. According to the assumptions, this year the programme will cover 30% of South Asian factories sewing for the company.
Cooperation with suppliers in the area of sustainable fashion also concerns the chemical safety of production. Intensifying its activities in this respect, in August last year, LPP – as the first Polish company – joined the international Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals initiative, supporting its suppliers in their efforts to eliminate harmful chemicals from the production processes applied in their factories. As a result, already 23 factories in Pakistan and 42 in Bangladesh, which sew the collections of LPP brands, are associated within the framework of this initiative, and it is planned to ensure complete compliance with ZDHC standards in the entire LPP textile supply chain by 2025.
While developing standards for sustainable production, the company also supports the idea of responsible consumption among customers by collecting used clothing in its stores.
– Over the last two years, since the launch of the action, we already collected and handed over 5.3 tons of clothes, which are distributed through St. Brother Albert’s Aid Society to people in need all over Poland. In 50 selected Reserved, House and Mohito stores located in most large cities in Poland, we accept donations of clothes with any label, thus giving them a second life and reducing the amount of textile waste, while supporting people affected by the homelessness crisis. Our plan is to have our second-hand clothing collection system operating in the entire LPP sales network by 2023 – says Patrycja Zbytniewska, President of the Management Board of the LPP Foundation.
The company, committed to the ideas of circular economy, acting within such organisations as the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment or the Polish Plastics Pact, continued the process of eliminating single-use plastics in 2020. At that time, the company removed 100 percent of this raw material from the packaging used to ship online orders of Mohito and Reserved brands, while in the remaining ones – only recycled film is used. LPP also diversified the size of parcels, which – in addition to minimising the use of raw materials for packaging – made it possible to eliminate artificial fillers, but also to optimise the size of courier shipments and reduce the number of trips to customers. As the reduction in disposable film also applies to the supply chain, the company asked its contractors to do away with plastics when packaging commercial samples, reducing this issue by 50%.
– By successively implementing further measures in the area of plastics management, we managed to reduce the consumption of this raw material by as much as 300 tonnes – therefore doubling the 2019 result. In total, over the past four years, this already amounts to 570 tonnes less single-use plastics in our packaging. Thanks to all the actions we have undertaken, by 2025 we want to be using only reusable, recyclable and compostable packaging – concludes Sławomir Ronkowski, Director of Internal Communication and CSR, LPP.
The sustainable development strategy which drives LPP’s operations, encompassing the entire value chain of the company, also applies to the headquarters buildings or the sales network. This is why all newly constructed office buildings, such as the latest building in the LPP Fashion Lab complex, meet the requirements of BREEAM certification. Moreover, currently, already 88 LPP stores are located in shopping centres with such certificates. Last year, the company also began implementing the Eco Aware Stores programme which involves optimising HVAC and lighting installations. Where the company could choose the supplier, 25% of the energy consumed by LPP stores came from renewable sources. Last year, at selected locations, the company also introduced SolarCool technology which uses solar energy in the cooling system of air-conditioning equipment.
As a result of all the measures taken by LPP last year, the company managed to reduce CO2 emissions by 2.2% year-on-year per item of product sold. In 2019, the company, as the only one in the clothing industry in Poland, calculated its carbon footprint based on the volume of goods sold, taking into account, among others, the process of manufacturing or growing raw materials, production of clothes, transport or emissions at the sales stage, as well as the phase of use of products by customers.
– Based on this data, we set a target for 2025 to reduce GHGs by 15%. It is true that in 2020 we recorded a reduction of GHG at the level of 14%, and by 2.2% per item of clothing sold; however, we know that this record result was mainly influenced by the closure of stores due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we are aware that we still have a lot to do in this area – remarks Sławomir Ronkowski.
The past year was a difficult time of enormous challenges – both in the business and social dimensions, where responsibility for people and the environment gained particular significance. Also for LPP employees, who were involved in bottom-up aid actions.
– The very first lockdown mobilised our employees to support both local communities and national beneficiaries – from the production of masks and protective aprons to meals for senior citizens or employee volunteering programmes. We are very pleased with this attitude of the teams and it gives us energy to engage in further activities – emphasizes Patrycja Zbytniewska, President of the Board of the LPP Foundation.
In 2020, despite the crisis and the ongoing struggle for the company’s survival, LPP and the LPP Foundation carried out the biggest aid campaign in its history – #LPPpomaga. The Foundation also carried out projects as part of its statutory activity. In total, last year nearly 500 medical institutions, social welfare homes, children’s homes and foundations caring for people at risk of social exclusion received in-kind and financial support worth PLN 9 million.
Full version of the LPP’s integrated report for 2020/21 financial year is available at
https://www.lpp.com/en/sustainable-development/annual-report
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LPP is a Polish family business and one of the fastest growing clothing companies in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. For 30 years it has been successfully operating in Poland and abroad, offering its collection in traditional stores already on 25 markets, including in such prestigious capitals as London, Berlin, Tel Aviv or Moscow. LPP SA manages five fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito, and Sinsay. The company has a chain of over 1800 stores with the total area of 1.4 million sq.m. The online offer of the brands collections is available on 30 markets. On the basis of a global supply chain, the Polish clothing producer distributes over 259 million pieces of clothing to three continents. LPP plays another important role as it employs nearly 22 thousand people in its offices and sales structures in Poland, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the WIG20 index and belongs to the prestigious MSCI Poland index.