KappAhl plan to make all cotton in its range sustainable by 2020

KappAhl, Swedish apparel retailer and fashion brand has increased the proportion of its sustainability labelled fashion range from 24 to 38 per cent over a 12 month period. The company has nearly 400 stores in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Poland, includes garments which have been made using organic and Better Cotton Initiative cotton as well as recycled materials in its sustainable range.

CEO Danny Feltmann said that their ambitious sustainability work have produced results. The goal is for their share of sustainable fashion to continue increasing every year. This is the only possible way forward to create a sustainable business. Sustainability and profitability are two sides of the same coin for them.

Feltmann said that by 2020, all cotton in KappAhl’s range will be sustainable – produced using identity cottons such as Better Cotton and organic cotton. At present, all cotton in KappAhl’s men’s shirts is produced with organic or Better Cotton while KappAhl’s children’s collection Kaxs, is made using organic cotton – as is the baby collection Newbie.

KappAhl’s ambitious sustainability work is gathered under the concept “Future Friendly Fashion”, where work is carried out in everything from materials, water consumption, and reduced use of chemicals to clothes care and textile collecting.

KappAhl is part of the Sustainable Water Resources (SWAR) initiative, a pioneering project which works to improve water, energy and chemicals management at textile supplier production units in India, China, Bangladesh and Turkey. SWAR is a joint initiative between Stockholm International Water Institute and Swedish fashion brands Indiska, KappAhl and Lindex and their Indian suppliers.

KappAhl has online stores in Sweden, Norway and Finland and, from 2015, in Poland too. Our online sales are an important addition to the physical stores and enable us to offer our customers affordable fashion around the clock. Hundreds and thousands of customers visit KappAhl online every day.

The Group head offices are located in M̦lndal, just south of Gothenburg which is also the distribution centre that handles over 50 million garments every year and supplies fashion to all their stores. KappAhl does not own any factories, but is one of many customers of independent manufacturers. They have their own offices in all their main production countries РBangladesh, India, China and Turkey.