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Hanna Svedman - Auckje Verdonschot - Francesca Taylor - Emily Pirie - Mari KörgesaarInnovating Sustainable Fashion - Group 3 - 2011/07/13 - Copenhagen

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Summary

In essence, cradle-to-cradle ideology attempts to imitate nature and ensure that whatever waste you create can be reused, thus creating an eternally circular system. This report suggests how the Japanese clothing brand UNIQLO can implement the cradle-to-cradle philosophy into their organization. UNIQLO is already a very socially and ethically aware company, but can still be improved

as regards ecology and sustainability. The report’s main goal is that UNIQLO should reclaim all its sold garments in order to have maximum control of its waste. The result of re-search into both the com-pany and cradle-to-cradle has resulted in concrete proposals on what UNIQLO could do to make sure that the clothes do not end as landfill.

Fulfilling a responsibility as a global company through bold new initiatives that offer value to the world.

July 2011

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2011 - 2012 2012 - 2020 2021 - 2050July 2011Find suitable manufacturersStart marketing campaign

August 2011Approach manufacturers

September 2011Finalize contracts

September 2011Collaboration with Tokyo Insitute of Technology to pioneer innovative reuse of materials and find alternatives for chemical processes.

October 2011Approach RE-QLO webdesign team

January 2012Start producing Tote bag

February 2012Press release

July 2012Finish Project (Stores, POS, Website)

August 2012Completion of marketing

September 2012RE-QLO Launch

January 2013First material results of REQLO research by TIT.

2015Start researching additional functions to products

2018Publish results and integrate findings into the collection.

2020UNIQLO no longer issues plastic carrier bags, only its reusable Tote bag.

2021Introduction of new clothing concepts with additional functions

203050% of the sold goods will be recollected and reused.

2050100% of the clothing produced should be returned to store and be processed in the most efficient and sustainable manner possible.

UNIQLOZero wasteRoadmap

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Table of Contents

Research methods 5.

MainGoal 6.

C2C 7.

About UNIQLO 8.

New Approach UNIQLO 14.

Marketing Strategy 15.

RE-QLO 16.

Collaboration 17.

TEE-BAG 18.

Material Reusage 19.

Old value chain 20.

New value chain 21.

Analysis 22.

Conclusion 22.

References 23.

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Research Methods

Lectures on the Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy have given the authors increased understanding towards a more sustainable business practice and provided the foundations for the adaptation of a broad global retailer into a sustainably sound business with impressive CSR. UNIQLO, renowned for quality basic apparel, was chosen for its pure and simple mono-fabric designs. These basic material blends allowed the possibility to form re-cycled and even re-used clothing under the title of RE-QLO. Information from the UNIQLO site indicated that they are already socially responsible. In 2010 approximately 13% of sold goods in Japan were returned to the store, 90% of which are passed on

to deprived third world economies. The remaining 10% were recycled via such industries as upholstery. Findings proved that the Asian re-tailer views sustainability and over-consumption as paramount, yet isn’t aware of the higher benefit of a Cradle-to-Cradle practice. Here bio-degradation and use of waste continues the clothing lifecycle as opposed to ending it through donation to the third world.Analysis of the brand’s output generated ideas of re-using wool components, returning worn items and making new garments sourced from old. To understand the consumer, quantitative answers via survey-monkey.com directly asked how buyers viewed their Uniqlo purchases.

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“All the clothesthat leave UNIQLOshould return toUNIQLO”

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The basis for this report is to implement the cradle-to-cradle way of thinking into the UNIQLO Company. There are many things that could be done throughout the different stages of the textile value chain in order to make it more “cradle-to-cradle” such as developing more sustainable materials, focus on natural dyestuff, creating better production systems and changing the way

customers use their product.Here, the focus is on changing the ways customers dispose of unwanted products; the main goal is for UNIQLO to recover all sold garments creating opportunity to continue the products’ life. The main challenge - to actually get the clothes back into the store – is a major focus for the report.

Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) is a regenerative approach to design with the view that industries must protect and enrich ecosystems whilst still maintaining high product quality. The philosophy is bio-mimetic, modelling itself on nature where materials are viewed as biodegradable nutrients, hence leaving no waste and avoiding “down cycling” where materials’ value is eventually depleted. Re-used materials provide enriching food for the environment, meaning the new crops gain optimum minerals for the following batch of fibre. While this process handles natural materials, yet the C2C ethos also accommodates that what cannot biodegrade. Using processes with no toxins or harmful synthetics, these materials can be used in continuous cycles

without losing their integrity or quality. Furthermore C2C can improve economic function as it is designed to be energy efficient, often employing methods which generate rather than consume energy meaning that overall production costs can be lower than regularly produced goods.

‘Waste = Food’ is a founding principle of C2C where organic waste materials become food for insects and other small forms of life who digest and decompose it, returning it to the natural environment to then be indirectly use for human food. Thus, the food and raw materials generated through cradle-to-cradle effectively help sustain the planets’ resources.

C2C

Introduction

Yeonju Sung, an artist, worked in a biodegradable way when using fruit and vegetables to sculpt dresses - see above a piece using tomatoes. She creates compostable designs that challenge the modern culture of disposable fashion.

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THE COMPANY

Japanese-born global retailer UNIQLO – whose names derives from Unique Clothing Warehouse - aims to provide fashionable, high quality, basic casual wear at the lowest prices in the market. The high quality cash-mere, wool and cotton for men and women’s apparel provided the company with a turnover of € 5.3 billion in 2010. It is owned by Fast Retailing, which owns several brands from the high-end retailer Helmut Lang to the popular lingerie label Princesse tam-tam.The store - now Japan’s leading clothing retail chain - has now expanded successfully throughout the US, Europe and the Far East thanks to its “casual wear that anybody can wear“ philosophy. Collaborations with the likes of German designer Jill Sander, Agyness Deyn and Lady Gaga have placed UNIQLO on the style watchers map, creating highly sought after, covetable pieces. This focus on quality, minimal design and contemporary thinking enables the brand to dress the world casual.

THE PRODUCTS

UNIQLO products are distributed through 944 stores (in fiscal year 2010), providing simple but quality clothes at reasonable prices. It designs bi-annual collections for men, women, kids and baby plus a sportswear collection for men and women as well as shoes and accessories. The brand is not known for being fashion forward, UNIQLO thrives on basic casualwear.Their signature is a large variety in colours. Their diverse range of staple affordable products triggersconsumption.

MATERIALS

UNIQLO uses high quality materials in their products yet maintains low prices by negotiating directly with fabric manufacturers. It uses cotton, linen, merino wool, cashmere and silk, plus functional materials such as its patented HEATTECH fabric and endeavors to source from reputable countries.

About UNIQLO

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Stakeholders

Customers

Employees

FR Group Business Partners

NGO’s

UNIQLO treats its em-ployees well making sure that manufacturers are well paid with good living accommodation and working hours. Its CSR report is based on goals concerning staff and the three challenges stated are; ‘Achieving the world’s highest standards in clothing production’; ‘Cultivating individuals who are competent on a regional and global level’; ‘Creating positive change in communities through the power of clothing’. Employees in-store are also well informed and given qual-ity training to inform the client about the brand and it’s values

• UNIQLO • COMPTOIR DES COTONNIERS • PRINCESSE tam•tam • G.U.• HELMUT LANG • PLST • Theory

The businesses UNIQLO works with are global; in order to obtain the best quality products, it they sources the best factories. Under the new initiative, these factories will be contracted to guarantee animal welfare (Cashmere and merino wool are main materials for UNIQLO) and some factories will have to develop their abilities to recycle the materials. This will not only increase sustainability but also profitability as it reduces the volume of raw material needed, giving long term benefits to both UNIQLO and its partners.

UNIQLO customers are loyal to the brand for many reasons. Research indicated associ-ations with the words ‘quality’, ‘wardrobe essentials’ and practical’ – principles that cannot be compromised through re-making and recycling garments.

NGO’s that are concerned with possible changes to UNIQLO are organisations such as:- B-LIFE21 - JFS - Oxfam Novib - PETA The first two organisations and involved in sustainable fashion whilst Oxfam Novib may take interest because UNIQLO has previously donated clothes to third world countries and refugee camps; something Oxfam Novib believes detrimental due to conflict with the local market. PETA’s possible interest concerns the animal welfare issues such as mulesing surrounding merino wool and cashmere. UNIQLO will consequently be recommended to contract ethical sheep holders.

Brand Message

UNIQLO is a modern Japanese Company that inspires the world to dress casual.

Vision

To make the world a better place through clothing, one of life’s basic necessities.

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About UNIQLO

Etnoraid

Consumer profiling for the store proved gender fairly equal with the majority being aged 20-30. 86% claimed pricing and good range of affordable basics as their main motivation to buy which is not surprising as this fashion conscious demographic are often seeking fast fashion on modest incomes. This further incentivizes the introduction of a Uniqlo Cradle-to-Cradle approach, as consumer behavior is extremely disposable. On being asked ‘which three words would you associate with UNIQLO?’ interviewees stated “quality”, “wardrobe essentials” and “practical”. Being deemed good quality encouraged the team toward re-selling stock as consumers feel they have long wardrobe life. The emphasis on wardrobe essentials

and practicality shows garments are likely to sell as their versatility has less limitation than highly designed one-off pieces. Further backing toward re-selling was confirmed after questioning how customers would dispose of the textiles. 20 out of 35 shoppers asked lean towards charity indicating that clothing is still in fit condition. For garments not fit for direct resale it was decided to re-use the cotton, re-spin the wool and re-cycle cashmere through material banks to generate new clothes. From this, unique and one off pieces would be available for special purchase online to promote the eco-friendly ethos of RE-QLO.

Practical

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Quality

Practical

Wardrobe|Essentials

Charity

20-30||year||oldsBasics

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CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

UNIQLO already is very engaged in corporate social responsibility. One example is its collaboration with Grameen bank in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of its production countries and together with the Grameen bank UNIQLO helps to provide women with micro-loans so that they can

start their own business. UNIQLO Japan also provides jobs for people with disabilities. Currently there are employees with some sort of disability in nearly 90% of the Japanese UNIQLO stores (7.19% of all employees in Japan).

Furthermore UNIQLO is also engaged in disaster relief, providing money and clothes to victims of disaster since 2001. After the earthquake in Japan the “SAVE JAPAN!” project was launched were UNIQLO col-laborated with the Condé Nast Group, VOGUE JAPAN and GQ JAPAN to create t-shirts with encouraging messages to Japan from ten artists. The profit of the sales -approximately 100 million yen/€890 000 - will go to the Japanese Red Cross Society. This also shows how they collaborate with celebrities to create desirable items.

About UNIQLO

Message from Karl Lagerfeld:Hope and Courage

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Nicole Kidman Lady Gaga Gwyneth Paltrow

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THE GENERAL IDEA

The ultimate cradle-to-cradle minded goal is that UNIQLO should regain all the products it sells in order to mini-mize the use of natural resources and have maximum control of the products they provide. When the UNIQLO cus-tomer no longer finds any use for their UNIQLO garment it should be returned to store. The company can then find the most efficient use for the garment.

THE QUEST

The main difficulty is to convince the UNIQLO customer to actually return the garment to store. A lot of work needs to be put on the marketing and launching of this campaign to create awareness of the opportunity to return the clothes and to motivate the customer by mak-ing them see the multiple advantages of doing so. Since last year UNIQLO has be recollecting clothes in Japan and donating them to refugee camps. This has so far been hugely successful with approximately 13% of sold goods being recollected. By introducing this worldwide, UNIQLO can massively re-duce its environmental impact.

THE SOLUTION

To create awareness of the new campaign, different initiatives will be communicated both in store and through other media channels. In store there will for instance be a perspex container where some of the returned clothes will be kept to both illustrate the new recycling initiative and to create awareness of how much old clothes we have that we either do not use or have simply thrown away.

New ApproachUNIQLO

Using returned t-shirts that are not quite good enough to be directly resold, UNIQLO will locally produce totes to reduce the use of plastic bags. Some other products will also be created from returned garments via collaborations with sustainable designers that will be exclusively available online under the RE-QLO policy. In order to incentivize custom-ers to return clothes, they will earn RE-QLO points; credits that will be

put into a personal UNIQLO account. Members will receive a RE-QLO bar-coded key ring from recyclable plas-tic containing the necessary informa-tion for their account and credits. This credit can be exchanged for discount vouchers or used to buy the specially designed limited edition items available on the RE-QLO site. In rewarding the customer, they will hopefully be motivated to participate in the RE-QLO initiative.

The barcode on the badge is scanned when returning clothes to register the credits to the customers account.

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MarketingStrategy

Perspex container as seen in display window, Soho New York

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Presently, the UNIQLO site of-fers an e-commerce facility, this also provides and ample platform for the donated stock to be sold. RE-QLO will feature as separate tab on the home-page offering information about the recovery project and selling good condition second hand stock at 20% of its original val-ue. There will also be limited

edition, highly covetable col-laboration lines with sustain-able designers only available for purchase with RE-QLO points. The profits gained from the second hand stock will be put towards the teaming with university’ Tokyo Institute of Technology’ and their work towards sourcing eco-friendly fabrics eclusively for UNIQLO.

RE-QLO

Re-Offering our clothes to the customer

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After recycling customers will be able to use their credits for special designed items.

8045 is a brand that works with organic textile manufacturers and local production companies to develop knitwear for men, based on the principle of sustainability. They could be interested in collaborating with UNIQLO, to design limited editions for the RE-QLO credit system

FROM SOMEWHERE, Recycling since 1997, is a creative sustainable fashion label run by designer Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricci. All their collections are made by up-cycling

textile surplus into beautiful clothes. They use pre-consumer waste such as proofs, swatches, production off-cuts and end of rolls.UNIQLO could cooperate with them, offering their surplus as a raw mate-rial and let FROM SOMWHERE de-sign a limited collection from used garments for the credit system.

World´s Largest Scrap Metal Sculptor Dr. Evermore. He could de-sign UNIQLOs jewellery, accessories and belt buckles for collection, that customers could buy only from credit points.

8045 FROM SOMEWHERE Dr. Evermore

RE-QLOCollaboration

Collaborating with likeminded designersto create special items for faithful recyclers

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UNIQLO is already trying to reduce the amount of carrier bags used upon purchase. Combining this with the RE-QLO ethos RE-QLO fabric totes formed from a donated t-shirt will be avail-able for a very small number of RE-QLO credits. It is intended to have zero waste as the t-shirt base will be sewn across and the scraps cut away from the top part will be re-cycled along with the returned items

not fit for direct resale. Furthermore the bags will be made according to geographical location; the t-shirts donated from each country be made into the recycled bags for use by that public, removing logistic costs and also minimizing carbon footprint. The bags will be made in social work-places to provide working opportuni-ties for people with disabilities, in line with the current UNIQLO philosophy.

TEE-BAG

Offering alternatives to our customers

Did You Know.... Plastic shopping bags are typically used less than 30 minutes and only 1 % are recycled. The average American adult uses approximately 288 bags a year, or 22,000* in an average lifetime...

*Source: 2008 Piedmont Environmental Alliance, NC

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The clothes that UNIQLO receives that are not in mint state and that will neither be resold nor be remade into totes or other goods still have several ways of being put to use. Since many UNIQLO products are made of mono-material - wool, cotton or polyester for instance they can easily be decon-structed and recreated as recycled materials. If the garment cannot be

remade into a fabric for clothing it is possible that it could be made into a coarser material suitable for interiors, construction or agro-technical use. Organic material, as suggested by the bio-mimetic cradle-to-cradle ideology that cannot be used for anything else could be processed into biodegrad-able organic waste.

Material Reusage

Offering new life to our products

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Old Value Chain

UNIQLO keep their products at low cost by direct contact with material manufacturers. Their Takumi team helps partner factories with technical guidance and education in order to secure a minimum quality. UNIQ-LO does not own any factories. 85% of all production is today made in China but UNIQLO aims to lower that number to 66% to be less dependent on the Chinese manufacturers. At current day the value chain end at the customers. Except for 13% of the Japanese sold products that goes to the All-product Recycling Initiative where clothes are left to refugee camps or used as stuffing in chairs.

The new value chain is circular without a final destina-tion. Customers return clothes to UNIQLO and receive credits which they can use for discount vouchers or special items from the UNIQLO collaboration with designers. The mint state products are sold again on the RE-QLO website. As part of the initiative to abolish plastic bags t-shirt tote bags will be issued from the t-shirts that are still in decent state. Worn out clothes that cannot be sold again have four potential outcomes. Firstly, they could be recycled to generate new materi-als for UNIQLO such as recycled-polyester, cotton and wool. The clothes could also become a part of research to develop new production techniques and new materi-als. Thirdly, natural materials could be biodegraded. Materials could also be used in other industries, such as agriculture or construction industry. With the mem-ber key chain UNIQLO will gain knowledge about their customers and their shopping behavior. This can be very useful both for product and business development.

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New Value Chain

Development and

procurement of materials

R&DDesigners and pattern makers

Merchandising

Materials manufacturer

Development and

procurement of recycled materials

Production planning

Marketing

Production departments

Partner factories

Warehouse

Inventory control

UNIQLOOnlineStores

UNIQLOJapanStores

UNIQLOInternational

Stores

Customer LocalUNIQLOStores

RE-QLOWebshop

ColaborateDesigners

Factories to reuse the materials

Customer Centre

Local social workplace-ment to sew tote bags

Customer

Tokyo Institute of Technology for research.

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Most of the information about UNIQLO has been collected on the UNIQLO and Fast Retailing Group websites. The researchers’ attitude towards the brand might therefore be unfairly biased since company webpages tend to emphasize the positives. However due to their background and knowledge of the textile industry, the researchers have still critically examined the company to see where it could improve. Presenting the whole UNIQLO cradle-to-cradle concept in 12 000 characters has also physically limited the research by giving little chance to go in depth. Thus, the report focuses on regaining customers’ clothes, which is only a small part of the whole cradle-to-cradle system. If report length were not an issue, factors such as logistics and material recycling would need to be examined in order to actually introduce this initiative. It is however a very realistic and business minded report that could be realized today.

Analysis

If UNIQLO could regain all the clothes it sells; the brand would be able to signifi-cantly reduce its environmental impact. With sustainable systems for production, recycling materials and proper disposal of materials the fast consumption ideology need not be a bad thing. The biggest chal-lenge lies in convincing the consumers to return the clothes; whilst in Japan the All-product Recycling Initiative has al-ready reached a high overall percentage, mindsets in the eastern and the western world are notably different. It is therefore possible that the western world might need increased incentives to encourage returning their clothes to the store. Hopefully the suggested initiatives in this report could be the first step in motivating customers to return their clothes and make UNIQLO a more sustainable company.

Conclusion

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Fast Retailing Co. 2011, Fast Retailing CSR Report, (online PDF), available at http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/csr/report/pdf/csr2011_e.pdf accessed 6th July

Fast Retailing Co. 2011, UNIQLO Business Model, (online), available at http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/strategy/uniqlobusiness.html accessed 7th July

From Somewhere Corp. 2010, From Waste to Want, (online),available at http://www.fromsomewhere.co.uk/ accessed 11th July

HOLMES, Robert, 2007, Forevertron: World’s Largest Scrap Metal Sculpture by Dr. Evermor, Neatorama.com, (online article),available at http://www.neat-orama.com/2007/09/11/forevertron-worlds-largest-scrap-metal-sculpture-by-dr-evermor/ accessed 8th July

http://www.eightyfortyfive.com/

NOLAN, Kelly, 2006 Japanese retailer Uniqlo plans expansion into U.S. market, BNET, (online article), available at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0F-NP/is_1_45/ai_n16002700/ accessed 8th July

UNIQLO Co. Ltd, 2008, Feel just as good as our extra fine merino sweaters, (online), available at http://www.uniqlo.com/uk/news/2008/09/08-09-08_efm.html accessed 7th July

UNIQLO Co. Ltd, 2011, Disaster Relief, (online PDF), available at http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/csr/community/emergency.html accessed 7th July

UNIQLO Co. Ltd, 2011, Good Materials makes good clothes, (online) available at http://www.uniqlo.com/us/corp/material/ accessed 9th July

UNIQLO Co. Ltd, 2011, Heattech Technology, (online) available at http://www.uniqlo.com/ht_w/us/ accessed 9th July

UNIQLO Co. Ltd, 2011, Save Japan T-shirts!, (online), available at http://www.uniqlo.com/ut/savejapan/us/ accessed 7th July

UNIQLO Co.Ltd, 2011, Japan, Kids, (online), available at http://store.uniqlo.com/jp/store/feature/season/kids/ accessed 10th July

UNIQLO Co.Ltd, 2011, Premium Linen, (online), available at http://shop.uniqlo.com/uk/store/clothing/linen/men/ accessed 8th July

References

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