Our team at South Pole has worked with Reformation, a US-based lifestyle brand that proves fashion and sustainability can coexist.
Our team at South Pole has worked with Reformation, a US-based lifestyle brand that proves fashion and sustainability can coexist. The brand combines stylish, vintage-inspired designs with sustainable practices, releasing limited-edition collections for individuals who want to look beautiful and live sustainably.
When Reformation approached South Pole, they had already been calculating and compensating all of their emissions for several years but they knew being climate neutral wasn't enough. That's why they made the public commitment to become Climate Positive by 2025. While there isn't a standardised or agreed upon definition of what Climate Positive means yet, Reformation defined it as achieving their GHG reduction targets in line with verified science-based targets and removing more emissions than they produce. Most importantly, the client clearly defined what they meant when using the term "Climate Positive" on their website to avoid risks of greenwashing.
We reviewed Reformation's baseline to understand emission hotspots and potential reduction activities to help inform the right level of ambition that was both challenging and achievable given their anticipated high business growth. As a fast-growing company, they are facing increased challenges to decarbonise. South Pole developed a data-driven and actionable roadmap to achieve the client's targets for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by identifying key interventions across their raw materials sourcing, transportation, circularity and energy use (within operations and value chain). The suggested interventions were assessed and prioritised through a consultation process with the company's internal stakeholders based on reduction impact, feasibility, and alignment with their product and sourcing strategy. The roadmap provided the client with a clear understanding of how much the interventions contributed towards their Climate Positive target and where to focus investment efforts.
One of the priority areas identified was engaging with Reformation's direct suppliers to decarbonise their energy systems. South Pole is supporting them in developing a supplier engagement program and launching a pilot project with suppliers in China to help them transition to renewable energy sources. The program includes supplier workshops hosted by South Pole, direct training using South Pole's RE-Powering Toolkit, consultation services for suppliers during the development of their decarbonization roadmaps, and the establishment of a REC/EAC purchasing platform to facilitate bulk purchasing agreements.
