The apparel industry is no stranger to packaging pollution. Individual bags and boxes that clothes are packaged in are full of single-use plastic that end up as unrecycled waste. In 2018, China's e-commerce sector alone generated over 9.4 million tonnes of packaging materials - weighing the equivalent of 130 million adults – and an estimated total of 851,800 tonnes were plastic.
Packaging is critical to protect garments during the long journey to reach the end consumers. Damaged products get discarded, adding additional waste in the landfills, causing a far greater environmental cost than packaging materials alone. As essential as packaging is, we believe we can be better about our material choices, starting with plastic.
An ongoing switch to paper packaging is one of those small steps. All trims from shirt board, collar band to butterfly are made with recycled paper certified by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Smaller-sized orders are packed in paper envelopes rather than boxes that are lighter and translate to a smaller carbon footprint. We also purposefully use no stickers, glues, or metal fasteners to take the hassle out of recycling.
Breakthrough development of biodegradable plastic packaging materials mean our polybags are 100% recycled LDPE certified by Global Recycling Standard (GRS). Our polybags are fully biodegradable and compostable in anaerobic landfills after around 2 to 7 years.
There is no one-size-fit-all answer to fashion packaging, yet DETERMINANT is staying the course to be part of the solution. Our sustainability team is monitoring the industry for better solutions. New packaging changes are just the beginnings. For all we have learnt, collaboration is the driver of innovation. We welcome all ideas on sustainable packaging that can optimize the packaging process with minimal environmental impact and risk of product damage.
