Greener, Fairer, Better - 2022

Introducing our first annual update

In line with our commitment to transparency, we’re pleased to be delivering our first annual update, presenting for customers those actions we’ve taken this year under our programme of continuous improvement, and those we have planned for the next.

Projects and activities we undertake under our continuous improvement programme are all based around our three enduring core values:

• Respect for the planet
• Respect for people, and
• Respect for quality

You can read more about our core values, and exactly what each one means to us here.

We’ll be providing a similar update each autumn, looking back on what we’ve achieved in the previous year, measuring those achievements against our commitments, and looking forwards at what we’re planning on tackling in the coming year.

As with all else we do at ColieCo, we don’t want this process or this discussion to be a one-directional conversation. We owe so much to our customers for the contributions you have made over the years – your ideas, your feedback, your support – and we hope that you'll continue to help us shape ColieCo, our collections and our future.

Our 2022 report

In the three sections below, each focused around one of our core values, you’ll find details of the activities we’ve completed in the past year under our continuous improvement programme, and activities we have planned for the coming year.

Respect for the environment

What we've been doing

Materials - Pledge on Sustainable Fabrics

Late last year, in accordance with the commitment we made in our Pledge on Sustainable Fabrics, we completed our transition to the exclusive use of sustainable fabrics, as defined in the pledge.

This means that across the entire ColieCo collection, we are now using only fabrics meeting one of the three following criteria:

• The fabric is made from an inherently sustainable and sustainably processed natural fibre
• The fabric is made primarily from recycled materials
• The fabric is reclaimed from fashion industry deadstock, line-ends or off-cuts otherwise destined for landfill

ColieCo customers can rest assured that now - and forever - each and every fabric used in the creation of their lingerie, underwear and swimwear will meet one of these three criteria.

Materials - TENCEL™ Lyocell

In May, we launched our TENCEL™ Intimate collection, our first to feature TENCEL™ Lyocell, a fabric widely considered as one of the most sustainable options available to the fashion industry.

The fibres used to produce TENCEL™ Lyocell are derived from sustainably grown wood harvested from certified and controlled sources, and processed using a unique closed loop system which recovers and reuses the solvents used, minimizing the environmental impact of production.

You can find out more about the environmental credentials of TENCEL™ Lyocell, as well as its other valuable attributes, here, and explore our TENCEL™ Intimate collection here.

Other components - elastics

Earlier this year, we were pleased to enter into a new partnership with an elastic manufacturer here in Portugal, which has brought a significant proportion of our elastic supply closer to our place of production.

Our new supplier is an OEKO-TEX STeP programme-certified manufacturer, and their Level III accreditation (the highest level achievable in the STeP programme) means that auditors have rated their production standards as ‘ideal implementation in the sense of Best Practice examples’ from a sustainability perspective.

The rest of our elastic continues to be manufactured in Germany by another supplier carrying OEKO-TEX STeP programme certification.

Other components - thread

We have also completed our transition to the use of 100% RPET recycled polyester thread for the construction of all of our garments.

Packaging

We’re delighted to announce that all of our order packaging is now 100% plastic-free.

Smaller orders are now packaged and shipped in 100% recycled and recyclable (or compostable) kraft paper mailers. These new mailers are sturdy, safe, lightweight, and we believe the most environmentally friendly option on the market.

We will continue to ship larger orders in recycled and recyclable cardboard boxes, enclosed in biodegradable and home compostable mailers.

What we have planned

Our targets for next year include:

• Completing the switch to 100% renewable energy to power the ColieCo Studio and office
• Expanding our TENCEL Intimate collection, with TENCEL Lyocell to represent a growing proportion of the natural-origin virgin fabric we use
• Increasing the proportion of our elastic which is manufactured locally
• Continuing to examine new fabric options to ensure that we’re using the most sustainable fabrics available for the creation of your lingerie, underwear and swimwear (whilst continuing to maintain a balance between natural-origin virgin, recycled and reclaimed fabrics)
• Providing customers with more information on how they can best use, care for and dispose of their garments from an environmental perspective.

Respect for people

What we’ve been doing

Supply chain

To help guarantee the highest standards in the treatment of the workers in our supply chain, we have continued to increase the proportion of the materials we use which are produced within the EU.

EU regulations on workers’ rights, working conditions and health and safety are widely considered to be the most robust anywhere in the world, and we will continue, for both this and environmental reasons, to look to source more fabric and other garment components from within the EU.

Our TENCEL Lyocell (from raw source material through to ready-to-cut fabric), reclaimed Italian-knit lycra, RPET fabric (including both production and printing), elastics and RPET thread are all manufactured within the EU. Of our virgin fabrics, now only our bamboo silk is manufactured outside the EU.

You can learn more about each and every fabric used in the ColieCo collection here.

Equity and community - pricing

At this year’s price review, we committed to freezing retail prices across the entire ColieCo range (with the only exception being some garments using larger amounts of RPET fabric, due to the direct increased cost of this fabric to us).

Affordability has always been a key objective for ColieCo – for us, it is critically important for the growth of the slow fashion movement that ethical and sustainable options are accessible to the widest possible market. It is also important that the industry does more to ensure that conscious consumers with more limited budgets aren't excluded from what has historically been too aspirational a marketplace.

Considering the current global economic climate, we also believe that businesses must recognise that they have responsibilities to help with the immediate cost of living crisis facing people around the globe, and to help control inflation, rather than using it as an opportunity to inflate profits by making unjustified price hikes.  

Equity and community - diversity

We have continued our commitment to ensuring that ColieCo represents and supports racial and ethnic, sexual and ability diversity through our collaborations with minority-led and minority-championing individuals and organisations, and with our support for those working to provide a voice for people suffering with disabilities which impact their ability to find comfortable clothes to wear.

Equity and community - activism

ColieCo continues to actively campaign for the improvement of rights, conditions and pay for textiles and garment workers in the developing world, supporting Labour Behind the Label and Fashion Revolution's Good Clothes, Fair Pay campaign. 

Civic engagement

We continue to actively support the Sagres Beach Clean project, a local volunteer initiative removing plastic waste, fishing gear and other refuse from the shorelines and coastal waters of the Costa Vicentina Natural Park, and aiming to raise awareness of the damage to the environment caused by plastic pollution.

What we have planned

Our targets for next year include:

• Publishing our first formal Code of Conduct (by end-2022), setting standards for working conditions, environmental protection and transparency across the ColieCo supply chain
• Completing the assessment of all of our suppliers against the new Code of Conduct to further strengthen standards across our supply chain
• Reinforcing the representation of plus-size customers in our marketing materials and product photography.

Respect for quality

What we’ve been doing

Garments - TENCEL™ Lyocell

The latest addition to our roster of sustainable fabrics - the TENCEL™ Lyocell used in our new TENCEL™ Intimate collection - has further levelled up our selection of natural-origin virgin fabrics.

Not only does it boast exceptional environmental credentials, it also has outstanding tactile and technical properties, including a feel-it-to-believe-it softness and smoothness, extraordinary breathability and strong durability. It is also OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified free from any and all harmful chemicals. You can find out more about the impressive physical properties of our TENCEL™ Lyocell here, and find our TENCEL™ Intimate collection here.

Garments - elastics

After we switched elastic suppliers last year, some customers contacted us to tell us that the shoulder straps of their new ColieCo bras had firmer edges than those of their previous purchases, and that the new straps could be softer on the skin. We immediately got to work searching for a replacement, and found what is, we believe, our softest ever strap elastic.

This new elastic is manufactured by our new supplier here in Portugal, and, like all our other elastics, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified perfect for your skin.

Garments - sizing

In addition to continuing to offer a custom, made-to-measure service for customers between sizes, outside our standard size range or with specific or unique requirements, we have extended our standard size range to 2XL across the entire ColieCo collection.

Garments - post-sale services

In order to help customers get the best and longest possible wear from their garments, we’ve also extended our free alteration service to include free repairs to garments damaged through wear and tear throughout their lifespans.

What we have planned

Our targets for next year include:

• Completing a further sizing review to consider a further expansion of our standard size range, and how we can make it easier for customers to request and order both custom-sized items and other popular garment customisations
• Providing customers with more information on how to get the best and longest possible use from their garments.

A message from our founder

I hope you’ve found our first annual update informative and interesting.

I’ve always wanted ColieCo to be an open, progressive and innovative project, and I hope that these updates will offer a useful window through which customers will be able to keep up with what we’re doing to ensure that we continue to be the very best business we can be.

I’ve also always wanted ColieCo to be an inclusive and collaborative project, and that means engaging with, listening to and working with our customers.

If you have any comments or questions about any of the activities in the review, if you think we’ve missed or haven’t been specific enough about something, or if there are other areas of the business you’d like to learn more about or think we could be focussing on, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

You can contact us via email at info@coliecolingerie.com or connect with us via Messenger, Instagram or Twitter (you'll find all these links under 'Connect with us' at the bottom of the page), and we promise that we’ll get back to you super quick.

In closing, I’d like to take the opportunity to offer a heartfelt thank you once again, not just to all of those who have supported ColieCo again this year, but also to all of those who have supported any other indie activist brand fighting to further the slow fashion cause.

The movement doesn’t survive, and we can't drive the change that we all know we need to see, without you - so thank you.

Nicole x