ZALORA, Asia’s leading fashion and lifestyle e-commerce platform has officially launched its inaugural Sustainability Report, setting out the progress that the company has made against its Sustainability Targets, while also outlining the challenges that they have faced over the last year.
Following the establishment of its five-year Sustainability Strategy in 2020, ZALORA has been consistently and progressively introducing concrete measures to take accountability for its own environmental impact and help drive People and Planet positive change. This includes involving all stakeholders in the fashion ecosystem, from customers, brands and vendors to ZALORA’s own employees, and working across four key sustainability pillars – namely, Environmental Footprint, Sustainable Consumption, Ethical Sourcing, and Responsible Workplace and Community Engagement.
Gunjan Soni, CEO, ZALORA Group shares, “Sustainability has always been a core value for us in our organisation, but to ensure that our work remains truly meaningful, we have always aligned our efforts with five key principles – Focusing on ZALORA’s direct impacts before looking at the wider sphere in which we operate; Understanding where we can make the greatest difference; Facing ZALORA’s biggest challenges head on and setting high targets; Regularly testing progress against the Strategy and revising the plan where necessary; and Committing to transparency and regular reporting.”
As part of its efforts to inspire its customers to shop more consciously, ZALORA partnered with luxury marketplace reseller, StyleTribute to drive momentum on the circular fashion front by providing consumers in Singapore and Malaysia with access to an extensive range of Pre-Loved fashion luxury items. ZALORA also released its first sustainable capsule collection in collaboration with TENCELTM fiber, under its ZALORA Basics Label. In recognising that 90% of its customers are interested in shopping for sustainable products, ZALORA also introduced Earth Edit – a curated assortment of pieces and brands that meet their carefully defined sustainability criteria.
Other milestone achievements from the report include:
- 86% of ZALORA’s warehouse waste has been diverted from landfills, mainly through recycling
- 68% of ZALORA’s delivery and internal packaging is made of sustainable material, with its delivery flyers now incorporating 80% of recycled plastic
- 5% of ZALORA’s retail branded portfolio already meets its sustainability criteria, as part of its Earth Edit range
- 100% of ZALORA’s Tier 1 private label factories are engaged in training programs
- More than 50,000 EUR of customers’ donations, collected through its platforms and charity partnerships, supported frontliners and communities in need during the COVID-19 crisis
“In the last year, we have seen more than ever how people, communities and the planet are inextricably linked, and sustainability is becoming even more pertinent against the growing awareness of fashion’s pollutive impact on the environment. As an e-commerce platform working with over 3,000 brands and serving millions of customers across the region, we recognise that we have the scale, capacity and responsibility to inspire more conscious and ethical consumerism. While we have made some strides towards our 2022 and 2025 targets, we still have a long way to go before achieving a fully sustainable fashion ecosystem in the region. However, I believe that with the continued support of our team members, brand partners and customers, our collective action CAN and WILL create incredible change,” adds Gunjan.
The significant progress made by ZALORA in its sustainability agenda forms part of Global Fashion Group’s journey in achieving the ambitious 2022 targets set out in its People and Planet Positive Report below.
People-and-Planet-Positive-ReportPatrick Schmidt, Co-CEO of GFG, said: “With over a billion potential customers across our footprint and more than half in Southeast Asia, we are uniquely placed to drive adoption of sustainable practices in growth markets, where sustainability is often not yet a front-of-mind concern. We recognise our responsibility and our potential to scale both our sustainability agenda and our positive impact. The progress made by ZALORA since the establishment of its Sustainability Strategy in 2020 brings us closer to realising this potential.”
Zalora-Sustainability-Report-2020You can read more about ZALORA’s Sustainability journey here.
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