DREAM TOMORROW
We picture the future by looking ahead and around us.
We picture the future by looking ahead and around us.
It’s a matter of rethinking the materials we use, the ways we create and spoiling you. Changing our transport and logistics practices. Managing to reduce our impact throughout a product’s entire life cycle.
It is an approach that we are gradually developing and that we wanted to share with you from the outset, season after season.
In Product , Planet and People, you will find the concrete progress we're making in 2022 in all of these areas.
PRODUCT
WHAT DOES ECO-FRIENDLY MEAN?
What exactly does it mean to be eco-friendly? Natural, organic, biodegradable, recycled or upcycled materials, manufacturing conditions which produce less pollution, the limitation or elimination of toxic products, reduction of the carbon footprint, local production, zero waste design, or products made to last...
These are all areas in which we try to make improvements each season.
We should point out that, today, an item of clothing can be considered eco-friendly even if its composition includes very few certified eco-friendly elements.
We have decided to go even further. At Maje, an item of clothing is only considered eco-friendly if at least 50% of its composition is actually certified eco-friendly.
THE PROGRESS OF THE SUMMER 2022 COLLECTION
Today, our efforts are focused on the six most-used materials in ready-to-wear: denim, viscose, polyester, cotton, wool and leather. Each of these materials have their own eco friendly certifications, depending on the environmental challenges they create.
For the Summer 2022 collection, 44% of our ready-to-wear & accessories collection meets our eco-friendly criteria. Last season, we were at 43%. Our goal is to reach 50% by winter 2022 and be above 60% in 2025.
For three seasons, more than 90% of our denims are eco-wash certified.
As of 2020, all of our labels are now made from recycled polyester. For linings and fusible components that we occasionally use, we have achieved our goal of using 80% eco friendly materials. We want to reach 100% in the years to come.
For information: LWG Gold or Silver LWG Leather Working Group: a label that guarantees more eco-friendly processes. There are different levels of certification: Audited, Bronze, Silver and Gold. Gold is the highest level of certification (and therefore has the most demanding criteria).
PLANET
Together is better
In 2018, we launched a major systemic review of our carbon footprint. It was important to specifically identify our carbon emissions and how we could reduce them in each area.
A new study of our carbon footprint is currently underway and will enable us to gain some perspective on our progress over the past 4 years and to establish specific areas of progress for the coming years.
Each season, Maje is an actor for change, involving all its teams in this initiative. Here, everyone feels concerned. This commitment and collaboration drives us to go even further.
Progress in Summer 2022
We made a lot of progress in accelerating change in the Summer 2022 season.
We made progress with the collections but also everything surrounding the product, how it is shipped, how it is designed, the store environment. There are also new ways of contemplating the life cycle of a piece of clothing.
To finally eliminate single-use plastic
We have finally managed it! Starting from this season, the polybag packaging (the plastic which protects the clothes) is made from 100% recycled plastic.
For our hangers, there is still work to be done. Those in our stores are made from wood from eco-certified forests. As for the plastic hangers in our warehouses, we are looking for better alternatives and hope to have good news to share for next season. The e-shop packaging is also an issue. We are assessing new collections, contacting new partners to make quicker progress in achieving more eco-friendly packaging. Our recyclable shopping bags are made without plastic lamination and from wood from FSC-certified forests.
Fewer planes each season
This year, Covid has had a big impact on transport and has led to many delays in delivery. That is why, exceptionally, in some cases air transport has been favoured. Maje continues to do everything possible to achieve its objectives: fewer planes each season.
In 2021, we used 52% air transport, 27% maritime, 19% road and, finally, 1% rail.
In order to have a better understanding, you need to know that, on average, 600 grams of CO2 are emitted per tonne and per kilometre travelled. Trains only emit 22 grams and boats 3 grams.
The challenge, each season, is therefore to reduce the proportion of transport by plane in the era of fast fashion.
Each season, we have to optimise the timing of our deliveries, better anticipate our needs, in order to gradually reduce our dependence on planes.
There is no need for wastage, everything can be transformed. Let’s get frugal!
This season, we have developed our model, by making it a priority to anticipate the amount of fabric required and be responsive regarding manufactures in an effort to give you exactly what you want without wasting.
If certain already-created materials turn out not to be as popular as we had hoped, we either gift them to charities and fashion schools, or turn them into goodies and small, practical accessories. A way to give materials we don’t use a second life.
Spaces and stores: we are making progress here too
Redesigned stores
A lot of effort went into developing our store concepts while focusing on standards and environmentally friendly, certified, recycled and locally-sourced materials. This transformation of sales spaces is gradual. In this approach, we have recently inaugurated a new flagship store on rue Montmartre in Paris where we have chosen to manufacture less furniture and favor vintage furniture to encourage more responsible consumption.
In all of our stores, we opt for LED lighting which consumes much less energy. We are also replacing all of our air-conditioning systems so that they no longer use water running to waste and we are establishing partnerships so that our carbon emissions can be reprocessed effectively. All of our cleaning products are also eco-certified.
We are also reviewing the conditions in which our employees work in order to offer them workspaces adapted to new requirements.
In the heart of Paris, in the heart of Maje
This year, a new partnership with the waste management company Cèdre will enable us to recycle waste generated at the headquarters with greater solidarity by collaborating with a specialised company whose staff includes 65% of people with disabilities, but also by investing in a more circular economy, as the industries in charge of recycling waste are entirely French.
Our new Parisian headquarters have been granted the HQE (High Quality Environment Standard) label, having been awarded level 3 for “Excellent”. The design as well as the management of the renovation of the historical building in which we set up shop are all part of a sustainable development approach and effort to offer our employees improved comfort.
Let’s take things even further
Once you get a taste for commitment, you always want to do more. In 21 years of existence, Maje has played a major role in promoting causes close to its heart, along with the men and women fighting for them. This human commitment is continuing and being developed this season. New collaborations and new ways of contemplating the future are driving us to take action. All of our progress is detailed here: Maje People.
PEOPLE
Our discussions with our friends “Un cadeau pour la vie” helped us understand that the hands and faces of our healthcare workers were suffering from irritation related to use of masks and hydroalcoholic gel. We naturally though about Absolution, a French organic cosmetics brand with whom we had already collaborated at the start of the year, to offer healthcare workers natural and high quality skincare products.
In recent seasons, we have established multiple collaborations combining fashion and commitment with Jump, Absolution, 24Bottles, Vestiaire Collective. Various and varied projects, all related to our desire to go even further with our eco friendly actions.
An entire community
It is in our nature to get involved in causes that affect us. Sometimes far removed from the fashion world, in contact with several associations like Mécénat pour la chirurgie cardiaque, Women for Women International, The Red Cross and Amnesty International.
Because they are relentlessly working for causes that we deem to be essential, we have been following and supporting them for several years.
