S05 Episode 239 | Ganni on the importance of action over labels & their 44 responsibility gameplan goals

In episode 239, Kestrel welcomes Lauren Bartley, the head of sustainability and CSR for GANNI, to the show. A Danish contemporary ready-to-wear fashion brand, Ganni is known for building a cult following in the fashion space.

“Nowadays, sustainable or sustainability — it means different things to different people. To you, it might mean plastics and to me, it might mean human rights or circularity or carbon. You know — it’s so broad. I just think we need to move away from this broad brush approach to the subject and I guess, be more specific with which issues actually we’re trying to tackle.” -Lauren

On this week’s show, Lauren shares a bit of background on her distinct way into the fashion industry, and how she found her way to working with Ganni.

We talk about the brand’s resistance to labeling themselves as “sustainable”, how their 44 responsibility gameplay is driving them, and some of the ways they are working to creatively reduce their overproduction and waste, by adjusting their business model.

• Soil Association - their mission is to help everyone understand and explore the vital relationship between the health of soil, plants, animals and people. Lauren worked with them in the past.

• “For us, we’d like to focus the conversation on trying to become a more responsible company and making responsible choices. In saying that — when we say we don’t identify as a sustainable brand or sustainable company, it’s not excuse-making essentially. And I think that’s where maybe some of the confusion is coming from lately — just to say, “we’re not sustainable” is not an excuse not to act. It's more so that it’s so complicated and it’s so convoluted and there’s so many things to it, that we just prefer to focus on saying responsible and becoming more responsible.” -Lauren

• “Out of what we’ve seen so far, we have a higher amount of reorders from all channels — wholesale, resale and e-commerce — instead of an initial large volume purchase, so it already means that we’re buying much closer to demand than previously, and then reducing that risk of wastage. However, with reorders and what we now need to measure actually is if the impact on multiple shipments actually balances out the potential of the waste that’s been saved.” -Lauren speaking about Ganni’s findings thus far, addressing Goal 14: MEASURE IF BY CHANGING COLLECTION DROP STRUCTURE IT HAS AN IMPACT ON OVERPRODUCTION BY 2021

• Open Apparel Registry, an open map of global apparel facilities

• Fair Wear Foundation, Ganni is working with a consultant to further explore what a living wage means throughout their supply chain

• Fashion On Climate Report by McKinsey x Global Fashion Agenda

• circular.fashion

• Ganni’s 2020 Responsibility Report

• Ganni Repeat, Ganni’s rental platform

• Ganni’s Responsibility page

• Follow Ganni Lab on Instagram >

• Follow Ganni on Instagram >

This week's episode is brought to you by OEKO-TEX® - a worldwide association of 18 independent research and test institutes that sets standards for safer textile and leather production and products. The OEKO-TEX® portfolio of independent certifications and product labels help all of us make responsible decisions to choose products that are safer, more environmentally friendly, and manufactured in a socially responsible way. 

Learn more about their labels at www.oeko-tex.com.