Lindex releases sustainability report for 2020

‘As I reflect on the past year I am proud of how we, as Lindex, have stayed true to our values and continued to stand by our commitments and operate in an ethical way. We have faced unprecedented challenges across our entire operations, while simultaneously working to protect the health and wellbeing of our employees and the people in our global value chain. Thinking about the learning, the growth and the struggles we as a global community have faced, I am reminded that a crisis has the unique ability to highlight strengths as well as vulnerabilities. And I believe we, as Lindex, are emerging with an even stronger sense of who we are as a company, what we stand for, and which direction we want to lead the industry. Now is the time to embrace innovation, and take this opportunity to intentionally create the new normal we all would like to see: a fashion industry that is resilient, empowering, regenerative, and truly sustainable’ says Susanne Ehnbåge, CEO at Lindex.

In the sustainability report, Lindex summarises the year 2020 and describes its progress and challenges, including how the fashion company has handled the pandemic. Some highlights from 2020 include:

• Lindex honoured its commitment to responsible buying practices with no harsh cancellation of orders during the pandemic and worked together with its suppliers to ensure that no workers lost their job because of the pandemic.
• By the end of 2020, Lindex managed to repurpose 100 per cent of the liability fabrics that resulted from the early days of the pandemic, creating 700 000 pieces from fabric that could otherwise have gone to waste.
• Lindex reached 119 000 factory workers – of which 70 000 are women – in Bangladesh, Myanmar and India with WE Women by Lindex, where the fashion company acts for more gender equal and inclusive workplaces in its supply chain.
• Lindex exceeded all its goals on number of people reached through its collaboration with WaterAid to improve access to clean drinking water, sanitation and education.
• Lindex initiated the launch of a new brand called Closely – a model for brand actions related to carbon emissions.
• Lindex piloted second hand sales of kidswear as part of the Switching Gear project.
• Lindex scored among the top 10 per cent of the global fashion brands ranked in the 2020 Fashion Transparency Index.
• Lindex rolled out the platform The BHive® to 43 factories in 5 countries, as a step in phasing out unwanted chemicals and increasing the transparency of chemical content.
• Lindex increased the share of organic cotton to 80 per cent of its total cotton use, and increased its share of recycled or more sustainably sourced materials to 68 per cent.

Lindex’s 2020 Sustainability Report is available here.