About a month ago winter sports and outdoor brand Peak Performance joined STICA, the Swedish Textile Initiative for Climate Actions. Their overall objective for each of their members? 30% less climate impact by 2030. ‘No time to delay’, said Åsa Andersson (CR & Quality Manager at Peak Performance). Time for a 1-on-1.
Åsa Andersson, CR & Quality Manager at Peak Performance: “In the STICA project our main task is to align all the member companies to agree on how to measure our impact, found out each companies baseline and according to that set our first activities for year 2020 and ongoing. Parallell to the STICA project we have also signed the UN Fashion Charter for climate action so that means that we will have both a Swedish perspective but also a global, working with the gigants like PUMA, Kering…”
“The STICA project hope to see that we can go further than the 30% that we promise but it’s difficult to say today, before we have actually got the figures in hand. We need to work through the full supply chain, looking into what fibers that we are using, how they are processed, what impact our suppliers has as well as we as a brand and company. We have started to do that on all areas but I think that a strength going forward is that we as an industry will find out a “standard” on how to do it so we as well can benchmark against each other.”
“One of the most important goals in the Sustainable Development Goals is goal number 17 that is all about Partnership, meaning that you need to cooperate to be able to reach the goals and to improve. There are so much knowledge in the industry that can be shared. There is a common agreement that when it comes to sustainability, we are not competitors, that we can be on the shop floors, in sustainability matters we are all having the same challenges. I as well think that it is important that we have companies like Adidas, Nike, H&M and IKEA going in the forefront with requirements against for instance suppliers. That is helping the industry a lot!”
“I think that no one would like to be left behind, no matter if it’s about sustainability or not! I have a strong feeling that if you neglect those issues you will lose in the end, maybe as much as that you don’t exist in the future!”
“Talking about trends I need to mention, Circular economy, transparence, SDG 17 as well as cooperation! The challenge and the difficulties is a lot about resources and time as well as changing the mindset, both internal but as well when it comes to our B2B partners and end consumers. Fast fashion should be out, but still there are requests of new models, new colors, new materials instead of thinking long term and build on what resources there is.”
“I think that we as an outdoor brand might have advantages comparing to fashion brands. Active people seem to care more about the nature and how to convert into a more sustainable business. There are already a lot of materials and technologies, maybe more than in the fashion industry and the outdoor industry can always relay on making products that will last over a long time, not only for a season. Challenges for the industry is to make sure that the full supply chain is doing their best something that might be difficult since we don’t own any factories!”
“Longevity and high quality is super important for us and we know that the end consumer is coming to us with that expectation. We are trying to always have the end consumer in mind when developing our products and we are saying that we would like to exceed their expectations, not only meet them. We are also trying to work with colors and silhouettes that last more than one season. We are also having a repair service, to make sure that we can prolong the life of a product if a zipper breaks or you are making a tear in the fabric. When the life is over for the product, you can leave it to us and we send it to our charity partner Human Bridge who make sure that it gets used for another purpose again.”
“If we would like to change this world and leave something better for the next generation everyone need to think about how they travel, what they eat and what they buy! You need to make sure that you think about your behavior and change your mindset. Start to request more sustainable products from your favorite brand and learn about what is making a difference!” Examples are RDS en Peak Performance L.I.T.