Material choices mainly contribute to our business’ adverse effects on people and our planet. This is why we have developed a material strategy outlining the areas in our transformation towards a more responsible company. To better understand our process and goals, we have broken down our approach to the three following regions; chemicals with care, recyclable fiber mix, and involvement of more responsible materials.

Creating clothes with high performance can have an environmental impact, leaving a trace on our environment. We work towards neither the environment nor the health and well-being of our customers are affected by such. Chemicals from clothing may contaminate water or cause allergic reactions when using the garment. Still, we strive to adopt a precautionary approach to the use of chemicals and ensure that there are, in fact, no chemical residues in the clothes that can cause these effects. The application of fibers is another essential element of our responsible development. To increase the possibility of recycling and hence minimize extracting new virgin materials, we work to improve our use of clean fibers starting throughout future collections. In addition, we also introduce organic cotton and increase the application of more responsible fibers such as Tencel and linen.

Design for conscious consumption is about minimizing the pressure on virgin materials by maximizing the use of resources and ultimately reducing the waste of applicable fabrics. This demands a transition in our sourcing and design process, as the primary task is to investigate which and where the materials can be procured and how the design is conducted.

No matter how responsibly a garment is produced and delivered to the consumer, the responsibility of the product plunges if it ends up in landfills shortly after purchase or if it is left in the wardrobe un-used or unloved. The design style of Les Deux has always focused on clean lines, classic aesthetics, and comfort. The design is meant to last and to be flexible, which ultimately displays a timeless design and an ability to combine with styles from previous and future collections.

These slow consumption characteristics for longevity and durability significantly contribute to a responsible use phase, where the utility value of the product is maximized – as a backlash against the fast-fashion practice dominating the industry.

To us, responsible supply chain management is about providing fair, safe, and legal working conditions for everyone with whom we do business and being able to account for our operations and the impacts we cause throughout our supply chain. This demands a fundamental understanding of the necessity within the organization and the overall purpose of this transition. The immense web of processes coherent with a more responsible supply chain management will not happen overnight. However, we will take responsibility for our activities by implementing proper due diligence at our production sites. We are mapping the possibilities of creating a trustful network of experts within this area who can conduct professional audits at our manufacturers and report back to us to ensure that they comply with the contracts.

To succeed, we will increasingly monitor our supply chain and increase overall transparency. Our code of conduct strongly supports these initiatives, focusing on safe production, anti-slavery, and anti-child labor. Suppose we detect any breach of contract. In that case, we will immediately initiate a crisis plan and investigate all the associated parameters to solve the issues as fast as possible and in the best interest of all parties. Read more.

Our first step towards accommodating SDG 12 was the launch of our upcycling collection, which is made entirely of leftover fabrics, thus reducing the need to extract virgin materials from nature’s resources.

Life below water is under threat and exposed like never before, which is why we have engaged in reducing marine pollution of all kinds. Our first initiative was to reduce the plastic usage of polybags by 50% on all our t-shirts, simply by folding them in half at the various production sites. Next, we have made a co-lab with Spanish brand Eco Alf where the output was a jacket made 100% from recycled polyester solely deriving from plastic bottles in the ocean.